The Maine SEO Blog

Monday marked the release of the newest search engine rumored to overthrow Google: Cuil.  I gave it a few days to test it out.  I waited mostly because so many people were on it that I got too frustrated and stopped searching.  As far as I can tell, the SEO world is in an uproar over it, and negative comments abound.  I though giving it a solid chance would help…not so much.

Perhaps I’m just a Googler at heart, but Cuil, as for countless others, was a big let down for me.  Now that the speed is a little quicker, I’m still not impressed with the search quality.  I don’t know what is in Cuil’s algorithms, but the pages they have indexed seem to be older (when I searched for my name a search result came up from a page at my alma mater that I know for a fact was updated - where my name was removed - not less than six months ago.)

The one actual cool thing about Cuil (pardon the pun) is the image links partnered with text links.  However, this leads again to their downfall: Rich was telling me just this morning how in searching for his own name, Cuil’s search engine result page (SERP) showed a picture result of his flyte baby picture coupled with a text search result of an article about Rich Brooks, the football coach.  Further down the SERP, you’ll find a photo of the Coach Brooks with a story about my boss.  I run into the very same problem nearly every time I perform a search…not cool, Cuil, not cool.

So, Google, fear not.  I think I can confidently say you are safe through yet another newly released search engine.  Mike Moran from Search Engine Guide wrote about Cuil in this blogpost. Moran suggested that whatever site overthrows Google will not be another search engine, but a social network perhaps.  I knew one day Facebook would rule the world…or will it be Twitter…?

Nicki Hicks
Hardcore Googler

The world of SEO is such a strange one. No one really knows what is best to do. So it’s not really a science: it isn’t as though there’s a proven formula to follow in order to rank better (and therefore profit). It’s really much more of an art: where certain artists have had more success with different tools (be it graphite, watercolor, or oil pastel), with different mediums (canvas, paper, multimedia), and with different styles (impressionism, modernism, abstract). Sorry for the tangent, I’m a dabbling artist myself - it’s easy to relate.

Back to search marketing…I had my second official SEO training seminar with Jill Whalen at High Rankings last Friday. (My first was with Dan Thies in Texas.) Jill is an SEO guru and has an incredible amount of knowledge and experience in the field.

Today, as I sifted through the notes I took and Jill’s presentation, there are so many new things I learned! I’m just going to touch upon a few: some “freebies” if you will - specifically the ones that made me say, “Woah! REALLY?!” This is where my art tangent comes in: even between just the two trainings I’ve been to, I’ve seen differences between what SEOs think/say. Which is what makes it so great! Each SEO will teach what has worked for them, so these are some of the things that have worked for Jill:

• You do not need to update your site frequently. That isn’t to say NOT to update your site regularly. Basically, all you need to do is update naturally. Most good SEO policies follow this “natural” growth idea. Another is that your copy does not need to be a certain number of words, simply what is (you guessed it) natural.
• You do not need to submit to directories or search engines. Gone are the days that search engines will only find you if you submit your site to them! To check what Google has indexed, use the site:your-site command.
• The most important on-page optimization is in the title tags, body text, and anchor text. Headers don’t need to be keyword rich, according to Jill.
• Finally, you do not need a sitemap, or even a Google Sitemap for that matter. Sitemaps are really only good for sites that have a large number of products - that way, products can be found more quickly and efficiently.

That was just a taste of tips and tricks I found from this training session. To find out more, why not take Jill’s class, or better yet call flyte today!

Nicki Hicks
Student for Life

As I’ve mentioned before, flyte uses a program called Keyword Discovery to research our clients’ keywords.  There are quite a few keyword tools out there, but we’ve had the best results with this program.

After clients supply us with 20-30 keywords (those specific terms and phrases they believe their customers use to search for their website).  We start with these words, add many others we found through our research (via the client’s website and their competitors’ sites), as well as those words Keyword Discovery finds that users have been searching for.  Essentially the program comes up with synonyms and related terms to the query.  In the end, we discover approximately 10,000 keywords and phrases that our client’s customers may use to search for their site.

Basically this means that there are a TON of opportunities to capitalize on!  If you’re interested in increasing your search engine visibility, call flyte today!

Nicki Hicks
Search Engine Marketer

I’ve never been a fan of giving guarantees on search engine optimization. Sure, it would be nice to promise that we can get a client on the first page of Google, or that their traffic will increase 100% or their business increase 10 fold.

Unfortunately, guaranteeing search engine results is like guaranteeing a fishing trip will bring in fish. You can have the best boat, the best bait, and the best gear, but if the fish ain’t biting, they ain’t biting.

What a good fishing guide can do is increase your chances of success; making sure that you’re using the right bait, that you’re going to fishing grounds that have traditionally fished well but not been over-fished, and bring sandwiches and beer if things don’t go well. You want guarantees that the fish will bite? Call Aquaman.

What a good search engine marketer can do is put you in the best position to rank higher at the search engines. She can do her research, help you craft effective titles and copy, and encourage quality incoming links. But she doesn’t own Google, or Yahoo or any other search engine.

This all came about after reading an interesting post entitled Manage Client Expectations And Reduce Your Risk By Including A Warranty In Your Client Contracts by Sarah Bird. The warranty is meant not to promise the world, but to manage expectations.

Clients often think search engine optimization is a trick, some sort of magic. More often than not, when I explain that their search engine visibility comes directly from the words they use on their site they’re stunned. Like I’ve just pulled back the curtains on Oz.

Ms. Bird also gives some language they use on their contracts. I have to admit, the first half was a bit too lawyer-y for me to understand, but I definitely liked the second half:

By signing this agreement, you acknowledge that SEOmoz neither owns nor governs the actions of any search engine. You also acknowledge that due to fluctuations in the relative competitiveness of some search terms, recurring changes in the search engine algorithms and other competitive factors, it is impossible to guarantee number one rankings or consistent top ten rankings, or any other specific rankings for any particular search term.

From a client’s perspective I can understand the allure of a guarantee. However, as a vendor, I know that it’s like guaranteeing that it will be sunny on our camping trip in a month. The best I can guarantee is that I’ll bring an umbrella for you. And a change of dry clothing. And the number of a nearby motel. That has cable.

Rich Brooks
Guaranteed

What’s the difference between a search engine and a directory?

–Searching in Scarborough?

Dear Searching,

Search engines and directories are both tools people use to find information on the Web. The difference is in how they get and organize their information.

Search engines use little programs called spiders or bots that scour the Internet, follow links, and bring back this information to the search engine’s index. When you use Google you’re not actually searching the Web, you’re searching Google’s index of the Web. Search engines use complex algorithms to determine which Web pages are most likely to answer the questions you pose and return these pages on the search engine results pages (SERPs.)

Directories, by contrast, are human-powered. Site owners submit their sites to directories (sometimes for a fee, sometimes free) and human editors determine the value of the site and whether it should be included in the directory. Directory visitors can search the director or drill down to the appropriate category, i.e., Arts & Humanities > Museums, Galleries & Centers > Modern & Contemporary.

Although directories have fallen out of fashion (even Yahoo’s directory is now hidden at Yahoo.com under the “more” tab), there are still benefits to being listed there. Being listed in an important directory helps your search engine visibility because it counts as an incoming link, which is one of the variables in the search engine’s algorithm.

Rich Brooks
Maine SEO