LMNHP Gives Higher Rankings

Frequent readers will know that LMNHP is an acronym for a new way of handling the front page of a WordPress blog.   It gives an immediate 301 redirect to the latest post displayed as a single blog post web page.  Such readers will also know that this method gives improved search engine rankings in keyword queries.

Four SMM blogs are being tested and the search engine ranking results for all posts are being measured.  Where possible, we are also writing in these blogs about topics that are involved in very competitive keyword searches to better illustrate the improved results.  In some cases the results are so dramatic that we are also showing them in a blog post, such as this.

Perhaps the most dramatic example to date involves a keyword search for Google Adsense Split, which was covered in a recent post on this blog.  Such a search has 304,000 results so it is a relatively competitive topic.  The following is what was obtained in a keyword search for Google AdSense Split done today, May 26.  This was tested using the Google Global extension in Firefox, which checks the query in a number of different Google databases using non-personalized search.

Ignoring the first result from News search, what is most surprising is that the search engine results page (SERP) has two apparently similar items from staygolinks.com with different URLs showing as #1 and #2.  The first shows the domain itself, www.staygolinks.com, and the second is the individual post about the Google Adsense Split.

What is particularly gratifying is that the post by Danny Sullivan on Search Engine Land on which the blog post was based comes in at the #4 position.  Out-ranking such a post is a significant indication of how well the LMNHP approach works.  The order in some of the national databases was different but in all cases the Staygolinks post outranked the Danny Sullivan post.

Insights On Google’s URL Indexing

Looking more intensively into the results portrayed in the image above, we see some most intriguing behavior.

The entry for the domain is shown with a cache date and time of  24 May 2010 23:58:41 GMT. As it happens that was very shortly before a new blog post was added, which bumped the post on the Google Adsense Split off the front page of the blog.  That new blog post was published at 24 May 2010 25:22 GMT.  If it had been published two hours earlier, then its Title and meta description would be what would appear against this domain item.  However from what is seen in other keyword searches, if that new post had been indexed, then the order in the SERP would likely have been reversed to show the single post first followed by the domain.

The second indented entry for the blog post itself shows a cache date and time of 18 May 2010 00:51:22 GMT.

The blog post that now appears if you go to the domain and are redirected (Professional Writers Blogs Are More Visible With LMNHP) has been indexed and does appear in relevant keyword searches.  However the URL for the individual post is attached to that listing in such  keyword searches, rather than the URL for the domain. 

How Google indexes URLs and the content to be found there may always change, but it would appear that the following happens based on the cache dates.  On a first pass, the spider indexes the URL to which it is redirected together with the content there.  On a second pass, the spider indexes the domain itself since there was no record on the previous pass and uses the redirected content for that URL.  This description must be taken as highly speculative, but is perhaps a most intriguing glimpse into what may be happening.

Post from: StayGoLinks

Google Adsense Split Post Shows Power Of LMNHP

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Danny Sullivan tells us that Google May Finally Disclose AdSense Split. For the moment, that is true only if you’re an Italian newspaper. Thanks to an anti-trust investigation in Italy, Google may share how much it keeps. At least, that is, to Italian newspaper publishers.

Sullivan is rightly critical of Google’s stance on the Adsense split. That is the amount of money that Google keeps for itself from AdSense ads that publishers carry. As he points out:

Google’s incredibly hypocritical in its failure to disclose its AdShare split. For years, the company has run a campaign that the web should be more open with data, though it’s most vocal about being “open” in areas where it is behind competitively. Google’s the leader in contextual ads that AdSense provides. Apparently, it sees no need to be open there.

Google also has tried to fend off claims that it has a monopoly or should be subject to anti-trust action countering that people can take their data with them and leave Google. … Google’s lack of disclosure when it comes to AdSense payments has long seemed the chief area it might be vulnerable on anti-competition grounds.

This topic is of extreme interest to the host of people who are now using AdSense ads on their blogs. They all of course wish to maximize their revenues and indeed if they follow Patrick Sexton’s advice in his In Depth Guide to Improving your Adsense Revenue, they may do very well.

However the unknown in this scenario is the proportion of the revenues that Google receives on those advertisements which it will remit to its publishers. Perhaps the principal reason why Google does not wish to reveal that AdSense split, is because it wishes to retain the flexibility of adjusting the split up or down during hard times. That is fine for Google but leaves its publishers feeling they are at the mercy or whim of Google.

A stable AdSense split would avoid alienating their publishers. Losing the flexibility of adjusting the split up or down is only a small price for Google to pay for a better relationship with some important stakeholders in AdSense.

Post from: StayGoLinks

Google Adsense Split To Be Revealed

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The LMNHP approach is now being applied in all four SMM blogs and the keyword query SEO rankings are being monitored.  Higher rankings are being seen and are maintained even after individual posts are no longer on the blog ‘front page.

As an additional test, blog posts on somewhat competitive topics are being issued to see how well the posts can outshine their competition.  As an example, Google Maps is finally showing the Golden Ears Bridge in British Columbia, which is extremely tardy performance.  A post was written on The Other Bloke’s Blog entitled Golden Ears Bridge BC now on Google Maps.

At the time of the launch, a search for ‘Golden Ears Bridge BC’ showed the following results:

This includes some real heavyweight opposition.  Wikipedia seems to have a special Google relationship, Translink the owner of the Golden Ears Bridge has a PR7 website and Google has a PR10 website.

Some 36 hours after the post had been launched, here is what was appearing in the SERPs.

Thus we see that relatively quickly only the Wikipedia item is topping the new post item.  The blog has two entries with the first shown as the domain URL but with the Title and the snippet reflecting the new individual blog post.

Now a new post has been added to the blog and is now the new ‘front page’.  Again a relatively competitive topic is being covered: Online Business Coaches.  It will be interesting to see how this post does against its own competition.  At the same time we will observe how the post on the Golden Ears Bridge maintains its rankings in the SERPs once it is off the ‘front page’.

Post from: StayGoLinks

Higher SEO Rankings With LMNHP

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These barcodes are not those Google was celebrating back in October.  That marked the 57th anniversary of the first patent on the bar code.

Its inventors were Norman Woodland and Bernard Silver, who filed the patent in October 1949, which was granted in October 1952. The original patent suggested encoding data in circles (a bulls eye pattern), so that it could be scanned in any direction.

Now Google has moved on to squaring that circle and is offering stickers bearing Google’s logo and a QR code.  QR stands for Quick Response.

What could be easier.  Your phone must be able to scan a QR code with its camera, either with an application that you download or via software that’s already installed on your phone.

When you see a QR code, you can then use your phone’s application to scan it. If you’re scanning a QR code on one of the window decals that Google has sent to thousands of U.S. businesses, you’ll quickly be taken to that business’ mobile Place Page on Google.

This is a way in which Google is promoting its local business listings in storefronts around the U.S. with QR codes.

Stickers have been distributed to 100,000 of the most popular businesses in Google’s Local Business Center database.  Starting this week consumers will be able to use code-scanning applications on modern phones to look up the Google listing for a particular restaurant, store, or dry cleaner. The stickers will be prominently displayed in store windows of participating businesses, and represent a shot across the bow of companies like Yelp which offer similar branded services.

As Bill Slawski points out there is one question that needs to be asked.  Why would Google rely upon stickers for a system like this instead of using something like Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) information, or cell phone triangulation, or some other method that would avoid the need to use your phone’s camera to take an actual picture?

According to a Google patent just filed, GPS systems have some limitations, such as:

• Subscription to a GPS navigation system may be expensive, and difficult to use
• GPS Functionality requires unobstructed skyward views, which may not be possible in some places, like metropolitan areas with skyscrapers
• Privacy concerns with GPS may keep some people from using a device that permits precise tracking of their location without their consent

Barcodes stickers are not limited to just the windows of businesses.  They could also be located on the pavement of parking lots or on signs associated with those lots, near the entrance to an office building, on a traffic light pole, at or near the base of a monument, or in many other places. … and of course they can be of any size.  It’s all just another way that mobile world is becoming so very much easier.

Post from: StayGoLinks

Google Puts Bar Codes On Favorites

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If you rely on local customers to come to your store or service facility, then it is most important that these customers can find you on Google.

If they do their checking before they leave home using their desktop PC, then they may well use Google Local Search. It may be a problem for you to rank well in such a search as a recent Cre8asite Forums discussion points out. As the topic author pointed out, there are Completely And Utterly Farcical Google Local Verification Procedures. The problem is that Google does not support this local search facility with a customer service function. They rely on computer algorithms to identify the location of particular businesses. If that algorithm handles your website incorrectly, then it may be very difficult for you to get that corrected.

You may not be aware, but if such a customer does a Google search for your business on their mobile device that may give them a very different result. Since your more interesting prospects may be using a Blackberry or an iPhone, this can be an important challenge.

To check out whether you appear in Google Mobile Search for appropriate keywords, the following is a way for you to check this. This is a simulation of how Google mobile search appears on an iPhone using landscape display.

In all likelihood you may be surprised at the results. As usual Google does not reveal details of its Mobile Search algorithm. However it is likely that if your website does not give a good user experience on a mobile device, then it may be downgraded in the listings. Notice also that there is a link to Google Local Search. That of course in this case must be Google Local Mobile search. The results will be different from the regular desktop Local Search.

It is also of interest to note that it is only on mobile devices that you have this direct link to local search. In the regular Google desk top research there is no such link. In that case Google relies on an analysis of the search terms to decide whether to give you local search results. You can try your desktop search using Google Maps but this does not give you an easy route to find local suppliers.

If you wish to make sure that potential customers find you, it is important that you cover all all these different ways customers may try to find you. Contact us if you need help in handling these challenges.

Post from: StayGoLinks

Check Mobile Customers Search And Find Your Website

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Search by voice and transit directions comes to Google Maps with a whole host of new features.

You can now search Google Maps for Android using your voice, making it easier than ever to look up places while on the go. Just speak your query and Google Maps will find it. The voice recognition engine currently understands English in American, Australian, and British accents. After you search, you will see a map of places. To help you decide where to go, business listings includes content such as store hours, prices, ratings, and reviews.

See Official Google Mobile Blog: Search by voice whatever your accent for more details.

Post from: StayGoLinks

Google Mobile gives search by voice whatever your accent

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We have suggested elsewhere that Google should adopt a Weakest Link approach in its search algorithms.  There are far too many people spending far too much time amassing more and more links to their websites.  They do this with the mistaken understanding that this may help their websites be more visible when people do Google keyword searches.  If only Google would rely only on links with more authority, this time wasting and irritating activity could cease.  Unfortunately it has not happened yet.

The only links worth having are links that do command some authority. That is true now and will continue to be true however the keyword search algorithms may change.   Darren Rowse of Problogger as usual provides some excellent advice in his post on 11 Ways to Increase Your Chances of Being Linked to By a Blogger.  Here are his 11 items of advice:

1. Write something worth linking to
2. Suggest a Link to a post not your site
3. Develop a Relationship
4. Demonstrate Knowledge of the Blog and Blogger
5. Research
6. Add Value
7. Stay on topic
8. Be selective in what you promote
9. Reciprocate
10. Build on the Experience
11. Be Link Worthy

Most of these are almost self explanatory.  However his article is a good one if any of them are unclear to you.

Another way of trying to get on a blogger’s radar screen is to follow them on Twitter.  Most bloggers do tweet their Twitter followers to let them know when they have written a new blog post.  If you happen to spot such a tweet, then by retweeting their blog post tweet, you may well find they will start following you and the relationship begins.  I think this is sufficiently valuable, that it might usefully have been included in Darren Rowse’s list, if he had wished to extend it  to 12 ways. 

Of course only your followers see your tweets.  Only if the blogger does a Twitter search, will s/he see what you have retweeted.  To increase the chances it may be seen, you could always try using a hashtag.  If for example, your post is about TGIF then in your retweet add the #tgif hashtag. Others who find that of interest may spot it and retweet it and perhaps word will get back to the original blogger.

If you have found hashtags useful in making connections and gaining links, why not add your experience in the comments here.  Non-spamming comments are welcome and do get a link in consequence, which should be worth having.

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• Darren Rowse: The Changing Face of Interlinking Blogging Culture [And the Impact of Twitter] (via ProBlogger Blog Tips) (problogger.net)
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Post from: StayGoLinks

Getting Links With Twitter Hashtags

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It was Ben Franklin who said “but in the world nothing can be said to be certain except death and taxes.“   I was somewhat surprised at a recent article by Adam Penenberg in Fast Company that covered Google Bombing and the IRS.  He found that someone had cleverly arranged by manipulating search results that Google searches for IRS forms ended up on websites that could create serious online damage.  Google is everywhere now. 

I did some Google searches on some very popular topics and the results may surprise you.  The following shows the number of web pages on each of these very basic words. (M stands for million here.)

• 1,700 M for Google
• 1,420 M for Yahoo
• 747 M for air
• 660 M for water
• 611 M for sex
• 404 M for fire
• 395 M for death
• 238 M for search engine
• 230 M for seo
• 134 M for taxes

Death and taxes may be certain but it is quite clear that some other topics are much more on our minds.  Indeed there is much more written on seo (search engine optimization) than there is on taxes.  It is perhaps indicative of how ‘top of the mind’ Google is and why there should be such a demand for search engine optimization services.  Even if you go for quite local services such as MA seo or CT seo, you will find quite a slew of web pages on these topics.

Since people seem to use Google now-a-days rather than following some URL they may have, perhaps it is time for the IRS to be using some seo services to guard against these Google bombers.  After all, if you cannot trust the IRS, who can you trust?

Post from: StayGoLinks

Death, Taxes And Google

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John Markoff in his New York Times blog post, Google, iPhone and the Future of Machines That Listen, raises some important issues. He is talking about Google’s new speech recognition service for the iPhone, which was released on Monday. 

He suggests that it will understand you most accurately when you speak to it just the way you enter queries into the Google search box. .. The accuracy is far from 100 percent, and probably not even 95 percent (Google execs demurred when I asked if they had any meaningful accuracy statistics). My experience is that it captures your voice query substantially more than half the time, and that in itself is a revelation.

More and more people seem to be finding that voice recognition systems can often do the job.  As cell phones become smaller, it seems likely that speech technology will become the preferred way to input instructions and questions.

Another important influence here may be changing population age structure.  Senior citizens may prefer to talk to their cell phone, rather than trying to hit those incredibly tiny buttons.  Even if someone mumbles, what they say includes extremely rich data.  With the right software, the cell phone can undoubtedly figure out what is wanted.  At worst it can ask a question or questions for greater precision.

On the other hand (no pun intended), if you hit the wrong key, the cell phone may still assume that this was intentional.  Trying to figure out when the cell phone should question you on whether you intended to hit that key would not be easy.  It would also lead to much frustration as the cell phone refused to accept your command.

There are challenges either way, but I believe those facing speech technology will prove to be solvable in very user friendly ways.  With all the resources the big guns are applying here, it is likely that acceptable, commercial solutions will be seen within 18 months

‘

Post from: StayGoLinks

Voices mumble, fingers fumble

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A story this weekend makes me wonder whether Botch your Buzz (ByB) is a new way of feeding the social media frenzy.  Botch of course is a blunder, an embarrassing mistake.  However we humans more often talk about others’ weaknesses rather than their strengths.  Perhaps ByB could join other fundamental organizational processes that rely on basic human nature such as BbB (Bullshit Baffles Brains).

The genesis of this story is an item from Michael Arrington giving an Update On Google iPhone Voice Recognition App: Look For It On Monday.  As he recounts:

Google’s voice recognition search application for the iPhone, originally set for launch on Friday, will likely go live sometime Monday, we’ve heard from a source with knowledge of the situation.

Google was under the impression that the application would be live on the App Store on Friday (obviously, since they pushed all significant press attention to it). Sometime Friday they found out Apple wouldn’t be pushing it, despite the fact that Google submitted it for review earlier in the week and got a thumbs up for Friday.

Who knows why Apple delayed the application, or why they tend to treat every application developer equally poorly.  But in this case Apple really screwed up in our opinion.  ..  Google could have launched for the Android first and pushed sales of phones on their platform. They didn’t, and Apple should have embraced them for that.  Next time I expect Google won’t be so trusting. And I don’t blame them.

That is probably what really happened.  Nevertheless it may well be that more people talk about this online than if all had gone smoothly on Friday.  If all had gone smoothly, then all we could talk about is the technology.  This way that technology talk is now leveraged with the scandal of an organizational blunder.  It perhaps is a good example of what I like to call Crikey! Surprise Marketing.

Post from: StayGoLinks

Botch Your Buzz (ByB)

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