Category: Google

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Who Do You Watch?

So when you want to know what is happening in the world of organic search engine placement who are you watching? Whose words are you hanging on, checking out the techniques, and monitoring their blog and Twitter traffic?

Here’s my list of who I watch to find out what to keep tabs on:

Matt Cutts

Matt is a Google software engineer. He is the voice to the industry for Google. Currently he is in charge of the Google WebSpam Team. He is a high profile blogger and is active on Twitter. You can check out his blog to see if you should be keeping an eye on him. I have to say that some of his blog posts are about his cat and weird stuff, but sometimes he has excellent nuggets and insight into Google that are very important to be aware of to stay at the very top of your game.

Danny Sullivan

Danny is a pillar in my industry. He is the editor of Search Engine Land and previously the creator of Search Engine Watch which was one of the most popular blog/ezines in my industry until he sold it to Jupiter Media and lost control of the content. Danny has excellent insight and is one of my most watched experts. You can visit Search Engine Land to see what you think.

Kevin Marks

Kevin is a new Google Engineer that I am just starting to watch. I haven’t decided if he is important to watch yet, but I am checking out his blog.

Webmaster World News

Although this is not one person, but rather a forum, this is the place to watch new topics surface. You’ll find out what others think about new algorithms that search engines have rolled out, hot topics, trending topics, and personal commentary. All the major search engines have forum monitors to see what the professional community is saying about them and problems. They post answers, take threads to higher ups and allow professionals to have open commentary with them there in the forum. I find it an indispensable assets. When you see a drop in SERPs you can find out if a new search algorithm has hit and what the early impact is on website. You can visit Webmaster World News to see what you think.

I am a free member, but you can pay a subscription there if you want. I post under the name Nancy99 on Webmaster World. You will frequently see my posts there under the AdWords topics.

If you have someone who you watch, I would love to know so that I can follow them too. Just leave their name and link in the comments below.

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Google – Will It Lens? Sure!

Man, these Google Engineers have way too much time on their hands! If you want a chuckle for today, click in to read the full post on the Google blog.

At lunch Googlers are going out on the deck to see what they can burn up, cook, and destroy with a huge lens. Hey not all of them are guys, but this is clearly a “guy thing”. You can see that they have burned up pennies, cooked popcorn, smoked a soda can, and just what else these techies have had fun messing up.

I’m sure we’ve all fooled around when we were kids with ants and magnifying glasses, but Google needs to do everything big. Their lens is four foot by three foot Fresnel lens. So if you need something light to start you day off with, check out what Googlers are frying up today on their break!

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Check Out McCord Web’s e-Newsletter

Hey guys come check out our most recent e-newsletter at McCord Web. It talks about the new addition to Google, the Friend Connect. This is a new fun way to get noticed using your website. It gives your site social networking if you put the Friend connect application into the source code. It will allow you to use your Yahoo, AOL, and Google base accounts to join and find friends. It allows its users to be able to leave comments, rate the page or website with a star based rating system. Also you can upload videos. Over all it will allow you to extend your reach on the Web.

Content overview

Google created Friend Connect Gadgets

  1. Member panel gadget
  2. Comment gadget
  3. Rating gadget

Also the e-newsletter touches on the top content viewed in 2008 on the McCord Web Services website. In this article we give you links to the most viewed pages and content from the past year.

Concluding the e-newsletter we mention that we have four blog writers employed at this time. Most of the writer have been with McCord Web Services for about a year and a few writers for over 2 years.

To learn more or read our full e-newsletter visit this link to McCord Web Services. http://www.mccordweb.com/e-newsletters/2009/jan-09.html.

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Finding Your Website in the Google SERPs

Google is king when it comes to web searches. Nearly 84% of web surfers start on Google for their first search. So, it shouldn’t surprise you to know that your website’s position in Google or the Google SERPs (search engine results page) is crucial to your online success.

Just how do you find out some of the key information that impacts your website’s organic placement in Google search results? First, it is important to know that Google has over 150 different factors that it uses to determine the SERP or your organic placement. Some of these factors are the age of your domain name, the number of pages from your website in their index is another, and another is the number of websites linking to yours.

Tips to See Where You Stand

To find out which and how many sites are linking to your website use this in the search query box in Google link:yourURL (ex. link:McCordWeb.com).

To find out who and how many sites are linking to you in Yahoo enter this search query: linkdomain:yourURL (ex. linkdomain:McCordWeb.com).

Microsoft has disabled both of these queries in their search engine recently and so you will not be able to identify results in Live.com or MSN’s searh engine using either of these queries unfortunately.

To find out which pages and how many pages Google has in their index for your website enter site:yourURL in the search query box (ex. site:McCordWeb.com).

Checking your website out this way will at least get you started in evaluating where your website is. I also recommend that you select search phrases as well and every 30 days or so monitor your site placement in the organic results. It is not unusual to see a small fluctuation in position but if you fall completely out of the results a careful review of your website, terms you are using, and tactics that you have tried for placement is definitely in order.

Your PageRank on Google

PageRank is a trademarked term that Google uses to identify organic position factors of a website. It used to be that websites rose and fell on their PageRank, but not so now. Nearly a year ago, Google revealed that the PageRank indicator that it used to show (as a green bar in a graph from 1 to 10 from the Google Toolbar) and that some webmasters used as a measure of Web visibility and authority, was not refreshed on a regular basis. Google is now concealing true PageRank results mainly to cut out manipulation from webmasters. As a result of these developments the webmaster field is widely divided on the importance of PageRank. I for one consider PageRank just one more measure, like a ranking in Alexa – just not something to get spun up on or to hang your hat on as a measure of real importance. In fact, I don’t even monitor PageRank for my own site or for clients at this time as I used to when it really meant something.

Although there are some factors that you can review, there are some that you cannot review, one of those being TrustRank. Google determines the TrustRank for a website based on many different factors. This appears to be a measure that is becoming more meaningful in organic placement and is affected by the age of the domain and the informational content on the website.

If Google leaked out what impacted their SERPs, businesses, in an effort to achieve top placemenet, would work to “scam” the system; which Google hates. What determines real organic page placement on Google is one of their most highly guarded secrets and truly a secret to their success and popularity on the Web in regards to providing the best quality results for a search.

So How Can You Know What Impacts Placement on Google Exactly?

Well, you really can’t unfortunately. I however, have found that by reading Google’s patent disclosures you can get a snap shot of the technology they are actively introducing that will impact their algorithm for search placement. I also follow the blog of Matt Cutts, the voice to my industry from Google. Matt is a search engine algorithm engineer who speaks for Google to professional webmasters and search engine optimization professionals. Although his blog has many mundane posts, periodically Google will use him as a mouthpiece on an important topic or thrust in the search field. Review Matt Cutts blog and see what you think.

Another key way to understand what impacts placement on Google is to be constantly testing new tactics and approaches and to watch to see what others are doing in the industry. I’ve tested a number of tactics and have found some highly workable and others to be highly touted yet ineffective in regards to impacting organic placement. By watching industry forums I also glean trends and tactics that others are trying or find interesting new approaches to test on my own website for further evaluation.

Regardless what anyone tells you, there is simply no silver bullet or special recipe to get placement on Google. Placement is achieved by many factors working together with quality content, search engine friendly web design, and savvy persistance.