I had a chance to spend some time with my buddy Rand from SEOMoz.org this week, and he gave me a peak at some of the cool new things they’re working on. I’ve always been a big fan of Rand and crew’s work, and they’ve proved me right again with the release of some of the toys in their lab.

This is a great way to see if you have a chance to rank for a phrase visually. If you are out of balance in any of the six major variables, you will see it here:

The tool incorporates several elements of linkscape including:

• mozrank
• external links
• domains linking
• domain mozrank
• external mozrank
• moz trust

.

This is a really great way to checkout where your site needs balance in your ranking equation. The only place the data falters is in incorporating anchor text (which is a computational pain in the ass to collect and process). Great job as always Mozzers. Don’t miss these tools, they’re getting better by the day. Be sure to check out all the tools in the Moz Labs

Link development is tough. Not everyone can create amazing linkbait, as easy as the experts make it sound. It’s not an easy proposition to get people to link to your website if you’re a local realtor, mortgage broker, or holistic doctor for that matter. It is POSSIBLE though with the right approach to actually solicit and develop links that will help your search engine rankings. From LOTS of trial and error, here’s the process I’ve developed for training link developers to become true link ninjas that will hunt and pursue links that actually make a site rank high for targeted terms.

The updated "How to Train a Link Developer for 2009 Guide"

Teach them why links are important and the basic criteria for establishing their value

1. Overall value of the link theme (use cost per click as a rough metric)
2. Total links
3. Total unique linking domains (find with linkharvester)
4. Anchor text and surrounding text variables
5. Placement on page
6. Check Age (Archive.org)
7. More link value factors

Explain the contradiction of pagerank mattering

1. It is a quick indicator to dismiss low value websites
2. Toolbar pagerank is for entertainment purposes only, and can be spoofed
3. Finding high pagerank (or global link popularity) sites is a great starting point to finding authority links

Show them how to find good starting points
(and WHY this is important)

1. google directory (sorted by PR)
2. keyword combination tool
3. creative queries (soloseo link tool)
4. Competitor backlinks

Explain how to find contact information

1. Page search for name or webmaster
2. Whois.sc or other whois tool
3. Phone number search
4. People search

Explain how to search source code and within the browser to find things quickly on a page

1. Firefox – control+U to view source
2. Control+F to find text
3. Find text on the actual page
4. Open tabs with shift+click or other methods
5. Mouse gestures FF plugin

Explain the 12 different types of links

1. Order of importance
2. How to get each
3. How much time to spend on each type
4. Links is to SEO’s what Snow is to Eskimos.

Explain how to write contact emails (see pickup tips below for more)

1. Explain how to write converting titles to improve open rate
2. Explain how to write an link request

Write some descriptions and anchor text

1. Explain getting content for article links
2. Explain writing titles and description
3. Explain varying anchor text
4. Explain current keyword strategy
5. Co-citation techniques

Demonstrate how to negotiate

1. anchor text or alt text
2. type of link
3. rates
4. term
5. exclusivity

Explain how to tell if a webmaster is cheating or if a site sucks

1. Non-cached pages
2. Linkfarm pages
3. Sneaky redirects
4. Robots.txt
5. Nofollow
6. Buried links pages

Let them go out and get some links

1. Setup a paypal account with limited access
2. Setup a one time credit card with a limited amount
3. Have them verify purchases

Allow tool use for link development

1. Link Harvester
2. Linkscape
3. Hubfinder
4. Local Rank tool in SEObook community
5. Majestic SEO
6. Link Management tools (like Raven SEO Tools, or BuzzStream)
7. FF Quick Searches
8. Other tools?

Explain how to mine a competitors backlinks

1. Linkscape
2. Link Harvester
3. Yahoo Site Explorer
4. Quirk Search Status plugin for FF
5. Hubfinder (in SEObook community, and a few legacy versions)

Start a persona for your website

1. Real or psuedonym (real are much more credible)
2. Be consistent across websites (and interlink within reason)
3. Have picture and bios
4. Make sure you own your brand (in addition to generic personas)- Secure with KnowEm

Explain they are a brand advocate, and their actions represent the company

1. Similar to business development
2. Establish phone etiquette
3. Establish email and IM etiquette rules

How Link Building for SEO is Like Picking Up a Girl

Approach **

1. Learn to get a response (of any type) from a target
2. Use Twitter, IM, Email, Facebook, or any other communication method
3. Overcome approach anxiety and approach sites early and often

Transition

1. Discuss webmastering
2. Discuss content of a similar nature
3. Mention the website you are associated with

Attraction

1. Demonstrate value as a webmaster
2. Demonstrate value as a web user
3. Demonstrate value to the webmaster’s users

Qualification

1. Allow the opportunity to have a webmaster help you in return (ask intelligent questions)
2. Find attractive opportunities to work together (perhaps brainstorming ideas or content trading)

Comfort

1. Discussing opportunities to work together through trading links
2. Discussing advertising opportunities

Seduction

1. Discussing anchor text and surrounding text
2. Discussing ad placement and terms

Relationship

1. Discussing the duration of the contract
2. Discussing renewal terms of the contract
3. Discussing mutual arrangements of the contract
4. Make sure there are no lies (nofollow, robots.txt, javascript redirects)

**Numbered points are from the "Emotional Progression Model"

For more on information on SEO and link development training, check out MarketMotive, or let me know if you need something more custom.

Inspiration:

• Emotional Progression Model
• Original Link Development Training Post
• Link Popularity is like high school popularity

Additional Resources:

• @NinjaJen’s version of Art of getting a link and picking up women
• Advanced Linkbuilding in 2009 from Christoph
• Linkbuilding A-Z
• Big bunch of link dev ideas
• 11 Link Experts Speak Out
• Old Link Hunting tips

Anything I missed? Great Tips? Great Tools? Great Links about Links? Leave ‘em in the comments.

Be sure to stop by if you’re in the Bay Area.
Thursday, April 30th – 6pm
Avalon Penthouse
255 King Street
San Francisco, CA 94107
Details, Directions, and signup

Most people are taught that the first rule of SEO club is that you don’t talk about SEO club (some learn this rule harder than others.) This is an important question as far as most people in the SEO community are concerned. Based on the system that information is knowledge, power, and ultimately money, you can see how people often have a vested interest in outing other peoples techniques, or keeping them secret. You also learn very quickly that who you can trust is extremely important. Everyone has their own code. Mine personally is started with – ""their are no hats, only goals". With the essence of that being that only illegal techniques are truly crossing the line, but everyone has to determine their ultimate level of risk and reward (similar to investing or anything else). Hats are bullshit. Techniques and code should be determined by one’s career choice and goals.

My buddy Brent got a little bit of flack last night for this post, about digg selling links. I’ve also had more than a few conversations defending my friend Rand’s choices for outing sites on more than one occasion (as well as arguing with him about where I disagree with his choices). I figure I’d open it up for a bit of public debate, as well as state for the record where I stand with it, since I helped Brent in this case rather than mentioning it was a bad idea. This of course, got me riled up on a pretty good topic of discussion anyhow, so I figured it was a good time to put it on paper quick and bust out a blog post.

I’m not gonna point out names, but you know who you are, and where you stand.

When is it okay to out a site’s SEO techniques? Here’s the spectrum of types of people I would categorize people into. "Outing" a site includes doing a spam report or blogging about it, which are essentially different methods to do the same thing.

Old School Affiliate SEO/ Competitive Webmaster

It’s never okay to out a site. EVER. EVER. EVER. Google Japan buying links MAY qualify as an exception, but probably not. They’ll definitely talk about spammy techniques in the bar (and you’ll learn a helluva lot), and swear you to secrecy, or have you know that secrecy in these matters is always implied. I respect this code the most, and only disagree with it in a very few rare instances.

I think Rae sums it up nicely, “back in the days when we used to have Omerta and anyone with a name earned it – kinda like television before reality TV”

Basically – the rule is “keep your mouth shut unless you have been granted permission to speak about it” on anything outside of a conference presentation (especially if you heard it in a smokey pub at 1 am).

SEO Consultant/ Blogger (aka me)

It’s okay to out ultra large sites on very rare occasions with proper justification and research, knowing that they are large enough that there will be no penalization instituted because of the hypocrisy of search engines. Outing these sites is mainly to piss them off a bit (get their attention), or demonstrate the hypocrisy of search engines. I didn’t get this, until I saw some of my favorite OG SEO folks discussing Colgate, BMW, and other large brands that ultimately got a tiny slap that amounted to nearly nothing more than probably a link monkey getting a scolding from their boss. In cases of big brands being the new black hat

Personally, I still wouldn’t out these, but I can at least find a rational reason why a journalist/practioner (see below) might when they discover and seo company or consultant that totally sucks at what they do and does it for a giant dumb corporation. Again – not my thing (and I would never do it since I respect the OG affiliate competitive webmaster code far too much), but I can at least understand their logic, unlike some of the other following types of people.

This being said, on at least one occasion, I’ve ACCIDENTLY outed things that I didn’t mean to (and still feel bad about it JS:) Tough lessons to learn, so I always try to err on the side of STFU

"I’m curious who the genius is that told Experian buying a straight link on Digg was a good idea. Pretty fuckin clueless." – Greg Boser on Twitter

Oh – one other time it’s probably okay to do a spam report – if you’re searching for blues clues and get beastiality pr0n

Weak (and cowardly) SEO

People who do spam reports and outings because they’re not competitive enough to play the game. I probably have the least amount of respect for these people than anyone. They hope that by reporting others, their rankings will improve. I learn from my competitors, and it pisses me off when someone acheives higher rankings than I with a bogus OLD technique. It still NEVER justifies reporting them in my opinion/code.

Journalist

For people whose business model is based on news, hype, ratings, and traffic – they’re going to out as much stuff as they can to get the traffic. Just the same as traditional media, they are not active practicioners of SEO. The trouble becomes when you are an active practicioner of SEO and don’t respect your craft enough to have a solid code.

Pointy White Hat "Ethical" SEO.

These folks have spam report bookmarklets in their tool bar, and pride themselves on making the web a better place (by ruining other people’s livelihoods) because they think google will make a rather benovelent dictatorship. Kind of the equivalent of the religious right, and often get outed themselves with something equally as morally ambiguous like Jimmy Swaggert or Larry Craig.

Search Engine Engineer

Always okay. It’s they’re job, and at least their consistent in what they do. Even google japan deserves a penalty for buying links. I respect consistency.

It’s very difficult to be respected by both sides of the fence, but in order to do it you have to have a level of respect for both sides of those playing the SEO game.

So the question becomes – when is it okay to "out" a site, and where do you see yourself on the spectrum? Anything I missed?

The way I got to know Cindy Krum is different from most of my other interview targets. That is, I didn't really know about her before I did my interview with her.

Needless to say Cindy and I follow each other on Twitter now.

To do mobile SEO, do you need a mobile site or can we just rely on whatever we already have out there on the web?

It really depends on your goals. If you plan on having a very interactive mobile experience on a variety of different phones, then it might be a good idea to put some money into a separate mobile website. If you just want to show up when people do searches for your brand or your product line, then it might not be as important to have a separate mobile website.
You
don’t
need a
separate domain for mobile
In terms of SEO, the most important thing is that generally you don't need a separate domain. Creating a mobile site on a different domain, for instance a '.mobi' or an abbreviated domain name really duplicates your efforts, and splits your value. If you would like to have a separate mobile experience, I think the best thing you can do is to set it up on your existing domain. That way, you don't make your customers have to remember two different domains, and it is much more of a seamless experience.

You have two basic options if you would like to add a mobile element to your existing website. If your website is built in clean XHTML, it might be enough to create a separate mobile style sheet. This allows you to give all of your existing pages separate rendering instruction when they are displayed on a mobile phone, but they still display the way that they always have when they are displayed on a traditional computer.

The other option is to create separate mobile pages and put them in a mobile sub-domain or sub-directory. When you do that you can eliminate things that you think will not be useful or not render well on a mobile phone. When you do this, it is a good idea to maintain the look and feel of the traditional website, and keep the navigation options the same, so that people don't get lost.

If you take this option, it is important to use your robots.txt files to block the mobile bots from indexing the traditional web content, and block the traditional bot from indexing the mobile content. If you are putting the content in a sub-directory you can do this all with one robots.txt file, but if it is a sub-domain, it is easier to create two robots.txt files.

With any of these options, it is possible to use browser detection to determine when a visitor is viewing your website on a mobile phone, then redirect them to the mobile version of the page. You should also include buttons at the top of the page to allow people to switch between the mobile version of the site and the traditional version of the site. It is important to keep these buttons at the top of the page because if people are looking for those buttons, it usually means that the page isn't rendering correctly for them, so the last thing you want to make them do is scroll around and search the entire page for those buttons.

I get lots of questions about how to handle iPhones and other 'true web browsing' phones – should they be redirected to the mobile version, or treated as a traditional web browser. To make that decision, you should test to compare how the traditional and the mobile versions of your site look and work on the more capable, 'true web browsing' phones. In general, the mobile version of the site will still look better and work better on 'true web browsing' phones because they will eliminate the need to scroll left-to-right, which really is a pain!

Mobile browsers are all over the place at the moment; we have browser that make a mess of things, browsers that try to follow standards and show well coded sites as nice looking mobile ones, and we have great mobile browsers that basically take and display any site — simple small screen display, so to say.

What are your 3 to 5 rules of thumbs for doing a mobile site?

• Code in XHTML: XHTML has ridged accessibility standards that make it ideal for mobile rendering.

  As you mentioned, there are a lot of different browsers that all render HTML slightly differently. When you add onto that the fact that the various phones could have different screen sizes, the ability to display pages in 'landscape' or 'portrait' mode, that makes it near impossible to anticipate what type of rendering conditions your site will have to work with.

  Adhering to the highest XHTML standards is the best way to ensure that your website will be able to adapt to the broadest spectrum of rendering conditions.

• Use Separate External Style Sheets: As mentioned, you can use multiple style sheets to make your existing pages render well on mobile devices, or you can create separate mobile-only pages. In either case, it is important to use style sheets, because they streamline the code, ensuring that your page will load quickly, which is very important on a mobile phone.

  When you are writing your style sheets, it is important to use percents and relative positioning as much as possible. This will allow your site to stretch and shrink to fit whatever size screen it is being displayed on, and adjust between 'landscape' and ;portrait' mode on its own.

  Using external style sheets instead of embedded style sheets is important, because the external style sheet will only have to be downloaded once, the first time it is requested. After that, subsequent pages that use that same style sheet will simply refer to the one that has already been downloaded, rather than having to request it again. If you embed the style sheet it will have to be downloaded each time a new page is requested.

• Test, Test, Test then Test Again: When you are developing you mobile strategy, take time to think about what types of phones you will be targeting. People on 'true web browsing' phones behave than people who are on less sophisticated phones. In some cases it will make sense to target all phones, but in other cases, it might be a good idea to just focus on the 'true web browsing' phones.

  Hopefully this is already well ingrained in everyone's psyches, but if you are really interested creating a good mobile experience, you will need to know what that experience is like on a variety of different phones. You can start by testing the site on device simulators and mobile browsers like Opera, that you can download directly to your computer. When you get to the fine-tuning stage, it is important to actually test the site on real mobile phones, with all of the default settings in place. It is no fair to tinker with your own device settings to improve how your site looks on your own phones, because your visitors won't be doing that.

Let's play devil's advocate… I'm funning around with my mobile browser, basically killing time. I'm not going to get serious work done here, no serious research to perform. Except for when I would do a location aware search for pizzeria or movie times, what's the benefit for any company to target mobile? As Cuba Gooding Jr. says; Show me the money!

The funny thing is that traditional internet marketing totally missed lots of local pizzerias and other types of restaurants, because the potential website ROI was low (or at least it was perceived to be low). The local restaurants and pizzerias didn't have much content to warrant the website other than menus and possibly coupons. Most people don’t search for those types of establishments on their traditional computer.

Location aware mobile marketing changes that. It is ideal because it reaches people when they have a specific and immediate need. If you are searching for pizza on a location aware mobile phone, it is probably because you are hungry. If you are searching for movie times, it is because you would like to see a movie soon, and would like to find one close by you. Location based mobile results are more appropriate for filling immediate needs, and can turn a much higher ROI than traditional web results – People search exactly when they are ready to buy.

A third of US mobile subscribers recall having seen ads while browsing with their phones. Screen estate this small is *precious*. How does effective, non-backlash inducing mobile advertising look like, how does it work?

There is a delectate balance to creating mobile marketing ads that will be effective, and not intrusive. The most important way to avoid backlash is to a good job targeting your campaign. When you are only showing ads to people who are very likely to be interested in what you are selling there will be less backlash.

The other thing that is very important is to make sure that the website that the ad links to is very easy to use on a mobile phone. The backlash will be much more stringent from people who tried to make a purchase from your mobile site, and couldn’t because they were inconvenienced and disappointed. Test your conversion process on a variety of different phones, and make sure that everything works, and is simple to use on the mobile phone. Otherwise, you are just wasting money sending traffic to a site that doesn’t work.

Budget best spent: mobile app or mobile web site? Why?

It really depends on what you do and what your goals are. Most applications are being developed for the iPhone, and while that is the most active mobile demographic out there, it is certainly not the largest. Mobile applications are great if you would like to leverage the interactivity of the phone, and a variety of different functions, but mobile websites are nice if you only need simple interaction with your customers.

The Nationwide Auto Insurance application is great, because it uses so much of the iPhone functionality, saves their customers time, and makes their whole claims process more efficient: When someone gets in an accident, they pull up the application, and it immediately takes their location (via the GPS), and shows them numbers for local emergency and police stations, and the user can click directly through. Then it gives them forms to fill out, to ensure they get all the pertinent information from the other people in the accident; It even lets you use the camera in the phone to take pictures of the damage, and save them within the accident report documentation. After you submit the accident documentation, the application then uses the GPS to show you a list of approved local repair shops and tow trucks. In this instance, the application is probably much more valuable than a mobile website would have been.

We're loaded, overloaded even, with SEO tools, free and paid. What's out there that we should be aware of, should be using, for mobile SEO?

The simplest tool I have found in mobile is the device itself. So many companies really haven’t even tested their mobile website on a mobile phone yet. In terms of SEO, it is important to remember that a mobile search engine spider will be evaluating your website as if it was being displayed on a mobile phone; The first step is always to take a look, and see how your site looks on a variety of different mobile phones. Other than that, there are mobile browsers and user agent switchers that I use on my traditional computer when I am working on mobile projects.

We see tremendous growth in mobile web usage. From countries where it's the main way to access the net to countries where it's another way to access the net. Will non-computer access of the web overtake computer-based access? Why?

It is estimated that world-wide, by the end of 2011 there will be more full mobile HTML browsers (like the iPhone) than there are full traditional HTML browsers. I think that there will always be a place for traditional computers, but that they will continue to get smaller and smaller. I also believe strongly, that we will rely much less on traditional computers for small tasks and simple communication, and only rely on them for more complex and time-consuming activities.

Finally, what are your 3 favorite mobile applications?

I am a pretty simple girl! I use the Facebook application, TwitterFon and Pandora the most.

3 favorite mobile destinations?

Again, pretty simple here. I go to Google, YouTube and Hotels.com (I have been booking a lot of travel recently, and they have a great iPhone ready site that works much like an app.)

…and what are the 3 things you use your mobile web access the most for?

I think I am a pretty normal person for my demographic in terms of mobile web access. Other than doing research for my book, presentation and clients I use my phone(s) most for email, social networking and web search.

Post from: Search Engine People SEO Blog

Ruud Questions: Cindy Krum

The announcement of Facebook vanity URLs isn’t the end of days for your facebook-less brand online.

While it may be first come, first served for individual users such as myself, marketers and brands have a different rulebook.

Take a very deep breathe, because this isn’t going to be the Wild Wild West of cyber squatting.

Facebook Fail-safes

Facebook has thought about the land grab that may ensue on Saturday June 13th at 12:01 AM EDT.

To protect brands against cyber squatting, Facebook is requiring that a page had to be created prior to May 31st and garnered at least 1,000 fans.  This acts as a sign of some legitimacy for the request of a vanity URL.

It is important to point out; Facebook has allowed the registration of businesses, celebrities, and brands prior to this announcement!  Some notable companies with Facebook vanity URLs are Betty Crocker, Vitamin Water, and Guess.  By using the site operator in Google for facebook.com, you can see many, many more.  Some don’t even have the required 1,000 fans.

So you haven’t been using Facebook for your brand, don’t sweat!  Beyond the registration restrictions, companies can block the registration of usernames using trademarked terms via a contact form. Simply enter your trademark and your trademark’s registration number.

It's 2009, Why Aren't You Using Facebook

The combination of Facebook's trademark protection and registration restrictions should protect your brand, if you want to play it safe.

Maybe, instead of merely protecting your interests, this might be a perfect opportunity to figure out how you’d like to employ the Facebook community to further your future business goals.

For more information on Brandon Fritz, please visit him on Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace.

Post from: Search Engine People SEO Blog

Facebook URL Freak Out

How your company presents itself on the web is crucial to attracting the kind of customers and clients you actually enjoy doing business with. But too often, I see small business websites suffering from what I'll call "online marketing schizophrenia."

In a nutshell, online marketing schizophrenia occurs when a business is unable to choose and act upon a clear, consistent message and strategy. This indecisiveness spawns multiple online "personalities" that conflict with each other, confuse your customers and ultimately hurt your bottom line.

Here are a few common symptoms:

1. Sending mixed signals

Imagine you're in the market for a new Mercedes. When you pull up to the dealership, you're greeted by a 20-foot-tall inflatable purple gorilla in sunglasses and boxer shorts. Would you feel comfortable dropping 50 grand on a luxury car at this establishment?

It's no different online. Your website and your marketing campaigns should reflect the image you want customers to have of your business.

If a bargain hunter is not your ideal customer, you should think twice about slapping a gigantic red Clearance Sale banner on your home page. When you're choosing PPC keywords, consider whether the words "discount" and "cheap" represent what your website has to offer.

2. Lack of a compelling and clear USP

What makes your company different from your competitors? Why would customers choose your business over theirs? If you can't answer this question, chances are pretty good that your customers can't either.

One of my favorite web apps, Wufoo, is an excellent example of a company with a clear and compelling Unique Selling Proposition. From the moment you hit their home page, you know that Wufoo's goal is to make web forms "easy + fast + fun." Also featured prominently on their home page is a link to The Top 10 Reasons to Use Wufoo.

3. No consistency or regularity

Testing and experimentation are wonderful things. But there's a big difference between experimenting and just flinging everything at the wall to see what sticks. The word "experiment" implies that you've done your research, crafted a sensible strategy and followed through with data collection and analysis.

The word "flinging" implies poo. (What your results will look like.)

Choose your marketing strategy thoughtfully, and be determined to follow through on that strategy until you can confidently say whether it's a success or a failure. In other words, you can't give up on your monthly newsletter after the second month. You can't make a big fuss about your new blog and then stop posting a few weeks later.

Or bail on Twitter after a month. Oprah.

Adrienne Doss is the The Woman at SEO Woman Internet Marketing. She's not a superhero, but she plays one on Twitter.

Post from: Search Engine People SEO Blog

Are You Guilty Of These 3 Marketing Mistakes?