Back in December there was a lot of talk about Sam’s Club offering SEO and SEM services. I haven’t seen a follow up on the service and wonder how the service is working out. I have not seen or heard of a business actually using the service.

Over at Search Engine Journal they discuss “Sam’s Club Search Marketing: Good or Bad for the Industry?” I haven’t seen a follow up since the rumblings started. I would like to get a hold of a solid review of the service. Let me know if you can review it objectively and show proof of the service.

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.

The three primary Meta Tags for SEO and the others have little or no bearing for search engines due to past abuse or overuse.

1. Title – <title>The name of your page should go here</title>
2. Description – <meta name=“description” content=“The description of the content should be contained withing these quotation marks” />
3. Keywords (less relevant in recent but may or may not be read by search engines so should be used with less focus) – <meta name=“keyword” content=“keyword1, keyphrase2, keyword 3″ />

By putting these between the head tags in the html source code give significant help to Search Engines. Using these tags should describe the page. A page about cooking oil should look like these:

1. <title>Cooking Oil proper disposal</title>
2. <meta name=“description” content=“Cooking oil disposial done correctly is environmentally safe and has the least damage to our environment” />
3. <meta name=“keyword” content=“vegetable oil corn oil olive oil disposal” />

In the past there has been debate about whether to use commas or not in the keyword meta tag since they aren’t really all that important don’t get caught up in the debate. Do what ever flows or isn’t included in the other tags. Spend more time SEO copywriting the page than on the Keyword Meta Tag.

Meta tags are not required for display in a browser. Meta tags are invisible to the eye or at least relatively. You can see meta tags by right clicking a page and viewing it’s source. They are typically near the top of the page. So what makes Meta Tags important to Search Engine Optimization? The content in meta tags are displayed in Search Engine Results.

Displays:

In the case when meta tags aren’t used, search engines typically generate the description used in search results from text on page. For the obvious reason pages that don’t have the description meta tags don’t typically perform well.

Using the meta tags properly will come in another post later that you will be able to find over at Birmingham SEO.

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!

The story isn’t about internet marketing as much as it is about recruiting to the Priesthood. If you want to read the article, go here.

After reading the article I had to see their website. I somewhat expected a Microsoft Word Style website from 1995 (not much better than mine). At first click I found a very powerful Flash Page. Somebody really did a great job on creating their website. It is neat, clean, and well laid out. One thing that surprised me – it didn’t look very “Churchy.” A good bit of thought went into it and it paid off.

As to the NYPriest.com SEO… There are very few Search Engine friendly elements and though they have a solid page rank could do considerably better. It looks like they have a $1million marketing plan without a complete online marketing campaign.

• Target Keywords and Key Phrases
• Targeting your audience
• Writing effective content

 Simple right?  If you can maintain and understand those basic things you have a the basis for an effective SEO campaign.  There are many detail postings and strategy oriented Search Engine Optimization articles, always remember to keep it simple.

The word optimization means streamline, simple, and easy.  Keep it simple.  If it seems complex then you should change it. 

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.

If you do a quick search on Search Engine Marketing you will find all types of answers. The most practical answer is advertising through search engines. Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Marketing are two different marketing techniques. Both use search engines, both use keywords, both can be found on the same search engine result pages (SERP), but both are different. They are different in their approach. Search Engine Marketing, or SEM, is paid or sponsored search often called Pay-Per-Click. The most commonly used tools for sponsor search is Google Adwords or Yahoo Search Marketing. Search Engine Optimization is for free organic results and used with page content and many other factors discussed at this site.

Both Google Adwords and Yahoo Search Marketing use keywords. They use keywords as a way to sell advertising space. Advertising space? If you have ever noticed along the top and bottom of most Search Engine Result Pages there are links. Those links are being paid to be there. Most all the times the ads are purchased based upon search terms or blocks of search terms.

What does this have to do with search engine optimization? With a joint effort of search engine marketing and optimization can produce a major Return on Investment (ROI). SEO is a long term investment and SEM should be used for the interim. Together the two different approaches can make a big difference on ROI. Using a Pay-Per-Click campaign to "kick start" a marketing campaign is a good idea. Pay-Per-Click offers very little direct SEO advantages besides traffic and visibility. Visibility leads to the potential of bookmarking and linking. Traffic brings search agents to the site also.

Back in the old days, summer 2007, search marketing occasionally gave excellent links. With many sites hosting paid listings on their site, much like SEO by Chris, search bot crawlers would occasionally index paid ads from these text link advertisements. Hosted ads are not supposed to be indexed or crawled, errors do happen (after all humans program the search agents). An ad appearing on a page often means that the ads are contextually relevant giving a credible link. Since October 2007 less of these type of indexing errors. Since these errors are not supposed to happen and should continue to be phased out as indexes are updated.

So what is Search Engine Marketing to Search Engine Optimization? Together in tandem they are part of complete online marketing strategy. Effectively used they will produce a maximum return on investment.

PDF’s are becoming an internationally recognized format for sharing documents.  They are easy to create and offer a certain security.  With readily availble resources and tools for PDF’s it appears that there usage is getting stronger. 

Tim Nash an SEO in the UK caught my eye with a test of searchabilty on PDF’s. Though his conclusion on the worth of making PDF’s search engine friendly is not decisive, I feel that the ease of making the document search friendly is worth it.  Take a look at the post and if you have questions on making PDF documents search engine friendly contact Search Engine Optimization by Chris or comment below.

Over the past few weeks increased additional security has been added. An Secure Socket Layer (SSL) to secure and encrypt data via the internet has been installed.

I have also done a lot of server work. Including .htaccess like the previous article. I have also been doing some design work for Bagley School. What started out as fixing broken image tags turned into a design and upgrade. You can see the work in progress here. Suggestions are welcome. I have taken this on for free using open source and currently available resources.

If you have been following this blog you know that I do this for entertainment and hold down a regular day job… Well, over the past few weeks I have been undergoing career changes. I am currently between jobs and actively seeking full-time employment. Being between jobs theoretically leaves more time for blogging. I have found that assumption to be the opposite. If you know of job opportunities please let me know. Don’t hesitate to share my online portfolio which includes my resume. portfolio.chris-estes.com Comments and corrections are greatly appreciated.

In other news you will notice some changes to Search Engine Optmization by Chris. In the month of January a new brighter more colorful design has been added. Also, Yahoo Publisher Network ads sponsored ads have been added. A different placement of ad’s has been put in to offer you a a much better range of services. As a supporter of Search Engine College I recomnd taking a look into one of their classes. All thought a class will help you get up to speed on SEO basices but n0thing is going to be as sufficient as an experienced professional. As always I have some affiliate marketers online that would like to put ads on the blog. So stay tunned to some deals I am tyring to work out for you the readers Discount programs and discounted SEO and other equipment.

You don’t want to miss out on some of the exclusive deals I am working out with companies like, Apple, Itunes, and dell stay tuned by subscribing to my feed.

.htaccess File and commentary

There are several standard components but most of these I am using to try and prevent access. I also use the robots.txt standard to block Search Engine’s from indexing my portfolio.

Sample .htaccess file

The”order allow, deny” section with all of the IP addresses are listed to prevent spam and to deny total access from those IP addresses. Over time I have assembled these IP addresses from list, recommendations, and spam received. If you see that I need to add or delete an IP address drop me a message.

order allow,deny
deny from 68.239.83.76
deny from 66.117.254.
deny from 66.249.64.
deny from 63.148.99.
deny from 65.118.41.
deny from 63.148.99.
deny from 65.118.41.
deny from 128.121.217.
deny from 207.87.178.
deny from 63.100.73.
deny from 63.100.163.
deny from 207.87.178.68
deny from 209.49.118.24
deny from 38.100.
deny from 38.105.83.
deny from 38.112.21.
deny from 38.118.42.
deny from 63.146.13.
deny from 65.213.208.
deny from 65.222.176.
deny from 65.222.185.
deny from 151.173.0.
deny from 66.194.6.
deny from 208.80.192.
deny from 204.15.64.
deny from 208.17.184.
deny from 69.36.144.
deny from 82.80.248.
deny from 62.0.8.
deny from 206.28.72.
deny from 217.169.46.
allow from all

The “DirectoryIndex” section is meant to show which file should be called up as the root of the directory. You can edit this line to specify any file to be called as the root file for any directory.

DirectoryIndex index.shtml

The Mod Rewrite in this section is to rewrite file extension. Sample usages would be changing scripting languages from html to php.

RewriteEngine on
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^(.*)\.html$ $1.shtml [R=permanent]

The following is an interesting rewrite tool. This section blocks all of the listed agents to be redirected to a specified URL. If the agent is registers on this list I choose a blank domain for them to be redirected to. Agents, robots, Search Engines, or anything that isn’t human is supposed to register itself as an agent. In the data transmitted when they access a website includes part or all of the user agent names.

Most of this is based on information from forums and other websites. This is a pretty complete list feel free to use this list in your website.

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^EmailSiphon [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^EmailWolf [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^ExtractorPro [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Mozilla.*NEWT [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Crescent [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^CherryPicker [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^[Ww]eb[Bb]andit [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^WebEMailExtrac.* [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^NICErsPRO [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Teleport [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Zeus.*Webster [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Microsoft.URL [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Wget [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^LinkWalker [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^sitecheck.internetseer.com [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^ia_archiver [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^DIIbot [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^psbot [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^EmailCollector
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^attach [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^BackWeb [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Bandit [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^BatchFTP [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Bot\ mailto:craftbot@yahoo.com [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Buddy [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^ChinaClaw [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Collector [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Copier [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^DA [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^DISCo\ Pump [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Download\ Demon [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Download\ Wonder [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Downloader [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Drip [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^eCatch [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^EirGrabber [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Express\ WebPictures [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^ExtractorPro [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^EyeNetIE [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^FileHound [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^FlashGet [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^GetRight [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^GetSmart [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Go!Zilla [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Go-Ahead-Got-It [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^gotit [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Grabber [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^GrabNet [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Grafula [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^HMView [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^HTTrack [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^InterGET [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Internet\ Ninja [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Iria [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^JetCar [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^JOC [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^JustView [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^larbin [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^LeechFTP [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^lftp [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^likse [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Magnet [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Mag-Net [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Mass\ Downloader [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Memo [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^MIDown\ tool [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Mirror [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Mister\ PiX [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Navroad [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^NearSite [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^NetAnts [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^NetSpider [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Net\ Vampire [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^NetZip [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Ninja [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Octopus [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Offline\ Explorer [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^PageGrabber [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Papa\ Foto [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^pcBrowser [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Pockey [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Pump [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^RealDownload [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Reaper [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Recorder [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^ReGet [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Siphon [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^SiteSnagger [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^SmartDownload [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Snake [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^SpaceBison [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Stripper [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Sucker [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^SuperBot [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^SuperHTTP [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Surfbot [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^tAkeOut [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Teleport\ Pro [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Vacuum [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^VoidEYE [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Web\ Image\ Collector [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Web\ Sucker [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^WebAuto [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^WebCopier [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^WebFetch [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^WebReaper [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^WebSauger [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Website [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Webster [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^WebStripper [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^WebWhacker [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^WebZIP [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Wget [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Whacker [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Widow [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Xaldon
RewriteRule /*$ http://www.domain.com [L,R]

This rewrite is being used to prevent hot linking. Hot Linking or using images from other websites is very common. Since the images are hosted remotely away from the website someone else is using your website bandwidth and resources.

RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^$
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://portfolio.domain.com/.*$ [NC]
RewriteRule .*.(gif|GIF|jpg|JPG|png|PNG|doc|DOC|pdf|PDF|txt|TXT|pl|PL|ico|ICO|css|CSS|js|JS)$ – [F]

Edited for security for my online portfolio.

I came across Andy Hagaans’s Ultimate guide to link baiting – a great post about crafting an article to for linking and social media popularity.

The debate on the “No Follow” continues. – It isn’t much of a debate as much as controversy

I met a new social media friend and rising blog star that goes by the handle Spostareduro and authors the blog Learning SEO Basics

I am going to leave you with one last article about online profiles, avatars, and online reputation.

Subscribe to my feed so when my writers block is over and I complete one of the new and exciting articles I have started you wont miss out.

This article points out good techniques of boosting traffic by commenting on other blogs. I agree this is a great way for exposure and popularity. As a contributor to a few blogs I can say first hand that commenting is one of the best ways to boost traffic. You can help control the links, information, and public image of your blog/company/you.

With the fallout of the “Google Smack Down” in the fall most blogs use nofollow attributes on all external links from their blog. There are some rouge blogs, and movement along with them, that fight the system and aren’t using the attributes. Linking from blog comments will have little effect besides boosting traffic. Ultimately getting more traffic is whats important. As Ramkarthik pointed out some of the visitors will subscribe to your blog feed and become some of your chief commenter’s and most loyal visitors.

I have a few rules of my own when it comes to commenting.

1. Be Polite and Tasteful
2. Always share your opinion in a polite way
3. Don’t use fowl language
4. Use good grammar (this can be hard for even me, as you can tell)
5. Spell Check
6. Only put in links when relevant to the topic
7. Keep the length short no more than two paragraphs (write your on rebuttal and link back to the original post otherwise)
8. Always make a comment that you thought the article was good, interesting, loved it, found it hard to understand your point, an interesting take, or some other nice phrase. The point of this is to make the author and reader know your stance on the article.
9. Only comment if you can contribute to the topic
10. Be Polite and Tasteful
11. A bonus: The author should always be considered the winner of any debate unless they are blatantly wrong. It can be taken as an insult to the author any other way. I learned this the hard way.

I can not state it enough that you must be polite. There is nothing wrong with disagreeing, in fact I disagree with many people (persons wearing black hats and doing SEO for one), that can lead to a positive engagement. All comments should be positive in nature and written with the best intentions. If you aren’t able to be positive then just don’t comment.

I look forward to reading what Ramkarthik has to say in future articles about blog commenting.

Happy Blogging,

Chris Estes

The non profit I have chosen is Wake up WalMart Americas campaign to change WalMart. We all know the terrible stories of walmart driving down wages and hurting the small business while its leaders make billions in profits. WalMart has started a business that has the potential to hurt freelance and corporate SEO’s. So for my charity I choose them to hopefully help them strike back against Walmart with Free online Marketing.

I have chosen to freelance part-time outside of my full-time job. I work full-time on a team of world-class IT and Search Engine Optimization specialists for a niche small business that has risen over the past few years to a medium size business in no small part due to SEO.

Being apart of such an organization gives me valuable experience in helping grow a small or startup business. The truth be known I enjoy working with small business due to atmosphere, the lack of “red-tape”, and the ability of understanding seems to be much higher. Plus a small business has room to grow. I have worked for government, large-business, and major corporations. My passion is small business and sharing information in hopes to raise awareness for growth is important.

Subscribe to my feed or shoot me message as I hope the information to follow will be beneficial.

Regards,

Chris Estes