SEO isn’t Spam
Today “Google’s Spam Cop” Matt Cutts admitted that search engine optimization isn’t spam. Matt Had this to say:
I’ve always meant to do a post to say that search engine optimization (SEO) is not spam and that Google doesn’t hate SEO, but I never seem to get around to it. This presentation gave me a chance to slip those facts into the minds of several thousand tech-savvy folks.
This is first omission or at least direct omission I can remember from a Google Employee of the nature. Matt said this in a keynote presentation.
You can read Matt’s complete story on his blog along with seeing the video here.
SEO by Chris only practices White Hat SEO practices within the realm of standard Webmaster Guidelines.
Google Page Rank Update
I am coming to you live from a hotel somewhere in the middle of nowhere Pennsylvania. This will be a quick blog as I have to get to sleep.
This might be a day or so late but it appears Google has done a Toolbar Page Rank Update. This is great to hear as this blog moved up from a page rank 1 to 2. I am sure in the next couple of days there will be more Google Smack Down talk and chatter about Nofollow. Stay tuned for more updates on Page Rank updates as it is always a fun time!
I did notice this one post from our friend Kimberly over at yicrosoftdirectorygirl.com. Congratulations!
SEO Experiment
This SEO test will be a part of a series I want to write about on the effects of the sitemap protocol and if it is really working. Hopefully by the end we will all better understand sitemaps and core principals about XML sitemaps. Stay tuned for more articles on the different sitemap related posts and the tools used.
The experiments
I am going to run an experiment testing sitemap.xml and hanging pages. This will not be a flawless test but it will help me prove my assumptions.
I have been telling clients that if you add a url to an XML sitemap that it will be discovered. Why do I say this? Often times due to different varying factors search engines have a hard time finding pages inside of dynamic content pages. This test is not going to be about accessibility or how content is delivered. The SEO Experiement is only about sitemap files.
The test is going to be limited to hard coding the url into an xml sitemap and see if it can be found. My assumption will not be a solution to linking or standard url structure.
We already know that Google, Yahoo, and MSN will index urls similar to http://www.domain.com/?=123. We also know that pages with session id’s are usually not indexed because of the session variables. What I am trying to prove is that a url listed in an XML sitemap will be found by Google, Yahoo, and MSN without back links and only submitted through the different search engine webmaster tools .
How I am going to do this test is by creating a unique page that is not linked by any other pages and add it to its very own xml sitemap to be discovered. Once I created the pages I will add the sitemap to the webmaster tools section of each search engine. I am going to create another page and add it to a urllist.txt (an old protocol used by Yahoo. In the xml Sitemap I am going to put in 1 page only that is free floating and see how long it takes to get indexed by each search engine. In the urllist.txt file I am going to add another page and see if it is indexed.
Assumptions/problems/and forecast - Hypothesis
The file will be picked up in Yahoo and cached much fast than Google with xml sitemap file. The urllist.txt file will probably not be found on MSN which will be one problem. The other problem with MSN is they don’t yet have a way to add multiple sitemap files through their portal, even though they read robots.txt. The files from the urllist.txt will be picked up first by Yahoo and Google will follow.
Scope
2 html pages
1 sitemap.xml page
1 urllist.txt page
Result
To be continued
Because I don’t want to spoil the experiment I won’t give the specifics locations of the files or exactly how I am going to do it. The experiment could take 1 day or 2 weeks. For now we will see. Stay tuned for the results and summary. More experiments are coming.
Find your Name Match
Have you ever met somebody with the same name as you? Have you at least cyber-stalked them? I have. In fact I have been working to push them from the top rankings for my name. On an SEO note all I may have been doing is legitimizing their prescience. My name pressence isn’t the point of this post. One of the fascinating things for me living in New York is having the New York Times at my door every morning before I go to work.
Today I opened the paper to find an interesting article about "googling" your name and making contacts with people with your same name. This is snapshot of the article. To read the whole article: Names That Match Forge a Bond on the Internet.
Names That Match Forge a Bond on the Internet
From time to time Sam Blackman, a pediatric oncologist in Philadelphia, checks up on people other than patients. Namely, other Sam Blackmans.
No stethoscope is needed to take the pulse of his namesakes, though — just a Google search. And while he has never met the men he refers to as Sam 2.0 and Sam 3.0, when one of those other Sam Blackmans posted a photograph of his wife on the Internet, Dr. Blackman, 39, couldn’t help but feel a twinge of pleasure.
“I’m like ‘Oh! Sam Blackman got married,’ ” he said. “I felt like I should send a card or check his registry on Amazon.”
Now that the telephone book has been all but replaced by the minutiae-rich Web, searching out, even stalking, the people who share one’s name has become a common pastime. Bloggers muse about their multiple digital selves, known as Google twins or Googlegängers (a term that was the American Dialect Society’s “most creative” word last year).
In “Finding Angela Shelton,” a book published this month, a writer named Angela Shelton describes her meetings with 40 other Angela Sheltons. Keri Smith, an illustrator, has posted drawings of six of her Googlegängers on her blog. There are name-tally Web sites like SameNameAsMe, and Facebook coalitions including nearly 200 people named Ritz (their insignia is a cracker box logo) and a group aiming to break a world record by gathering together more than 1,224 Mohammed Hassans.
But while many people are familiar with Googlegängers, a fundamental question has gone unanswered: Why do so many feel a connection — be it kinship or competition — with utter strangers just because they share a name?
I have never met someone with my same name. I think it would be interestingly creepy. What if they were better than you? What if they were worse? What if they were a criminal? These are all good questions. For now I belive I am content just "cyber-stalking" their name.
SEO World Update
In the world of SEO there is constantly some new tool that is forever popping up. Well I just found a user input search engine that is fully interactive and user contributed, Stumpedia. I have added several keywords and links. I have already found a couple ares that can and will be abused. I am not going to share them as it may cause problems and that isn’t right.
Google is updating
In addition to that gem of a find I have also started noticing a Google update happening. Webmaster tools are updated and Page Rank is being adjusted. I haven’t heard any official word but some major update is going on.
I couldn’t help but share those two bits of information as I begin final preparations for the beginning of the move. I am still seeking Guest Bloggers.
. 29 Feb 08 | Blogging, Fellow Blogger, Google, SEO, Search Engine Optimization, links | Read on | Comments (0)
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