SEO/SEM Resources

Need to "get smart" about Search Engine Optimization & Marketing?

Start with these SEO/SEM Resources

Search Engine Ranking Factors v.2

Search Engine Marketing 101

Why Do Some SEOs Want Toolbar PageRank To Go Away?

Top Search Engine Ranking Factors

1. Keyword Use in Title Tag
2. Global Link Popularity of Site
3. Anchor Text of Inbound Link
4. Link Popularity within the Site’s Internal Link Structure
5. Age of Site (Age at which the first visit of search engine spider occurs to today's current date)
6. Topical Relevance of Inbound Links to Site
7. Link Popularity of Site in Topical Community
8. Keyword Use in Body Text
9. Global Link Popularity of Linking Site
10. Topical Relationship of Linking Page

Some of my general (unoffical) rules about Search Engine Optimization:

1. Don't over optimize your site, be natural.
2. Strive to be an authority in your niche.
3. A strong domain is priceless.
4. Don't spam the search engines, or use techniques that might be deemed risky enough that you will loose your site completely from the search engines
5. Usability is essential, think about your users, the people you are targeting first. The search engines will adapt.
6. Always stay up to date, search engines change frequently, techniques change, business changes for better or worse. Don't assume what worked last month will work as well this month.
7. Don't be overly concerned about optimizing just one particular area of your site. See the big picture and do a complete optimization and plan for growth.
8. Simple website changes can have profound changes in your search rankings. Seek these opportunities out and solve server/website problems rapidly.
9. Build links as if your business depended on it.
10. On the subject of content, this quote from Aaron Wall I think is perfect: "the barrier to entry (and what is needed to be considered remarkable) keeps increasing. Do whatever you can to set your content apart from the thousands of other similar sites and pages - especially on featured content... the extra effort produces nonlinear increases in links and profits."

Introduction Into Search Engine Optimization by Danny Sullivan

Search Engine Ranking Factors

So Google Changed their PageRank Algo - How? - Interesting post on Webmasterworld about recent Algo changes.

Search Engine Roundtable - Excellent well rounded view of current SEO forum events and the latest SEO news.

Search Engine Land - Danny Sullivan's new venture and great resource for the latest news and opinions from leading experts.

SEO Consultants.com Resources Page

Personalized Search

Personalized search got you annoyed too? Part of the fun of searching is finding new sites and information, not the same stuff over and over again. Try adding the following parameter to the end of a search url string to prevent personalization from happening. Still working as of 12/2009.
Add: pws=0
So the url will look like: http://www.google.com/search?q=dallas&pws=0 or http://www.google.com/search?q=dallas+cowboys&pws=0

Local Search

Local Search Ranking Factors - Survey of local search experts that gauges the factors most helpful for ranking well in the Google Local and Yahoo Local algorithms, as well as techniques to be avoided.

Get Listed.org - This is an excellent service I wish I would have thought of. It searches Google, Yahoo, MSN, BOTW for your local business listing. If not found it then helps with setting it up.

How to Get Your Business Listed in Local Search Engines and Online Yellow Pages - Most comprehensive list I have seen for this.

Yelp for Business: New Tools from Yelp.com

Requesting Removal and Reinclusion of Content From the Google Index

Instructions on using Google's Content Removal tools - Including how to reinclude pages into the index, 6 month term content is excluded and other good information on types of removals.

Opt-Out Search Engine Behavorial Ad Targeting Google/Yahoo

http://www.google.com/privacy_ads.html
http://info.yahoo.com/privacy/us/yahoo/opt_out/targeting/details.html
http://networkadvertising.org/managing/opt_out.asp

Server Header Check & Page Load Times

URI Valet by SEO Consultants - Excellent free tool details a wide range of stats on pages load times, server header codes, objects on the website, internal/external links.

Sitemaps

XML Sitemap Generator - Just plug in your url and it does everything for you.

Robots.txt

Robots.txt Generator - This is a very easy to use robots.txt generator from Ian McAnerin

Submission

Baidu.com Chinese Search Engine Submit
http://www.baidu.com/search/url_submit.html

Search Engine Optimization Tools & Keyword Research Tools

Majestic SEO

Hittail.com - Longtail Keyword Tracking

Free Wordtracker Keyword Research Tool (the paid version is much much better)

Yahoo Site Explorer (A lot of SEO's favorite link checking tool these days)

New Millennium Thesaurus

Urban Dictionary

Neat-O-Backlink Tool

Yahoo! and Google Keyword Suggestion Tool

Link Suggest Tool - Nice tool for finding suitable link partners based on unique searches

Keyword Misspelling Generator

Google Advanced Keyword Rank Checker - Check your rank in Google's Regional databases

Page Text Rank Checker

Class C Range Checker

Search Engine Friendly Redirect Checker

Sandbox Detection Tool

DigitalPoint Keyword Suggestion Tool

Check for Duplicate Content or Copyright Infringement - Copyscape.com

Blogs & RSS

RSS Footer - Wordpress plugin that adds an extra block of content at the end of your RSS feed. This will help add a link back to your original source content.

Wordpress SEO - Beginner's guide to WordPress SEO

Structured Data / Microformats & RDF

Alert Google About Your Rich Snippets Implementation - Use this form to tell Google you have rich snippets markup on your website

Rich Snippets Testing Tools - From Google, helpful to see how snippets will look!

Microformats.org - Information, wiki, community, everything about microformats markup.

hCard Creator - Insert address and it will create hCard code

Marking up structured data - Google explains how to do it

Introducing Rich Snippets - Plus coding examples and implementation

Conversion Optimization - A/B and Multivariate Testing

Amadesa - Website test software to improve conversions, improve shopping cart abandonment, registration, lead processes.

Tracking Google Sitewiki Comments

Subscribe to an RSS feed to monitor Sitewiki comments for your website.
http://www.google.com/sidewiki/feeds/entries/domainpath/www.YOURDOMAIN.com%2F/default?sortorder=updated&includeLessUseful=true
Replace "yourdomain.com" with your site address for it to work. Next, just plug it into a browser and subscribe.

Domain Tools

DNS Stuff - Okay so not an SEO Tool but still some great tools SEO's and Webmaster can use

Domaintools.com

GlobalWhois

Advanced Domain Auction Search

Link Building & Popularity - Text Links & Linkbaiting

Bad-Neighborhood.com - Text Link Checker

SoloSEO - Link Checker *Great little tool

131 (Legitimate) Link Building Strategies

Link Building Tricks

eMarketing - What is Link Popularity?

Google PageRank Primer

Search Engine Penalties & Unscrupulous Search Engine Spam Tactics

1. First check to make sure you are penalized. A lot of "penalities" are not penalities at all, just adjustments in the algorithms that have caused their website not to rank so well.

2. Try a search for your site name "domainname.com". Does it show up? where? Next try:

3. Try a site search for "site:www.domainname.com". Does it show results from your website? If not, then its possible you have penalized. If you have a new website less than a couple month, then do not worry Google probably has not had a chance to spider your entire website.

4. Add your site to Google Webmaster Central. Look for any errors that Google tell you are occuring. Fix them.

Do a Safebrowsing Diagnostic

Check to see if Google lists your site as suspicious. Plus your url into this url:
http://www.google.com/safebrowsing/diagnostic?site=http://yourwebsite.com

Possible Search Engine Penalties & Ranking Demotions

Duplicate Content & Duplicate Websites
Search engines apply content filters and apply post processing techniques to analyze content and structure of website. Symptons: Duplicate website dropped completely, with alternative website left unpenalized. Duplicate domain and pages become supplemental results, cache reverted back to a time before duplicate content or architecture was not present. Note: This is not always a symptom of a penalty but a search engine removing pages that contain duplicate content. Read more about how Google defines duplicate content and how to prevent it.
Trailing slash can cause duplicate content issue. Use 301 to Fix
Fix 'index.php' duplicate content issue through a 301
Fix 'www' subdomain canonical duplicate content issue through a 301
Remove all defective and/or thematically irrelevant links
JavaScript onMouseover Redirects
Often included in discussion on the wide spread penalizations of Traffic Power clients. JavaScript onMouseover used in the body tag of the page, and upon moving mouse/cursor over area, user redirected to another website, doorway page or domain.c Symptoms: Removal of website from index
Interlinking / Crosslinking of Websites
Linking to a Bad Neighborhood (Less Desirable Website Banned in the Search Engines
Spammy Subdomains
Hidden Text
Keyword / Link Stuffing
Link Page Devaluation
Deceptive Cloaking (Unrelated Content)
Link Farms
Link Reputation or PageRank Penalties
DHTML Layering (Hidden Text)
Paid Inclusion Feeds Hijacking Organic Placement (Business.com)

Google Recovery

If you believe you could be penalized in Google:

To request reconsideration of your site:

Sign in to Webmaster Tools with your Google Account.
Make sure you have added and verified the site you want reconsidered.
Request reconsideration of your site.

Note Google is no longer accepting reinclusion request via email, it's advisable to use Webmaster Tools for this.

Need to expedite the removal of your information from Google? Use this form here.

Yahoo Recovery

If you believe you have been penalized in Yahoo, please visit this page to request a review. Watch for times when Yahoo is actively watching their index and making changes as these are best for getting a resubmission (has worked multiple times for me). Get your site verified with Yahoo Site Explorer.

Ask.com Recovery

Auto-discovery is best. You can follow the open-format Sitemaps protocol, which Ask.com supports and submit a sitemap. In the past, emailing an engineer was useful, if you can find a working email they will most likely look into the problem. You can also email the CEO or call them if you can find a phone number (most likely doesn't work anymore).

Bing.com Submission

Presently, you can use this form to submit your site to Bing.com. There is no telling how long this form will last however. Ideally, auto-discovery is the best option. Advisable that you set up your site in Bing Webmaster Central.

Google & Search Engine Easter Eggs

Recursion - Clever little joke having to do with the meaning of the word.

Business Strategy & Startups

Why Some Companies Get Acquired Early

Reviewing Incentives - Yelping For Dollars

Motivating Communities - Beyond Coffee, Gas Cards, and the Benjamins

How To Double Your Valuation

Web Development & Design

Fresh and Illustrative User Interface Design Patterns - Excellent library of front end user interfaces and designs. Great for ideas.

Krop.com Excellent resource for finding creative designers and developers. A lot of excellent designers and high end companies on here. Post a job available.

Odesk.com Another good resource for finding freelancers, designers and programmers.