July 4th from the Search Industry

Search Engine Roundtable
::: THE PULSE OF THE SEARCH MARKETING COMMUNITY :::
A well-rounded view on search engines and search engine marketing by senior members of the major SEO/SEM forums on the Internet.

1. July 4th from the Search Industry - 2007-07-04 09:06:18-04
   

   Happy July 4th!

   Today there will be light posting, we do have several articles scheduled to go live today, but this one is the most fun. Here is a look at the various logos around the search world, Google, Yahoo, Ask.com, Dogpile and ourselves, to commemorate July 4th.

   Dogpile has a fun and creative theme going on:

   

   Yahoo selected these Flash animated logo theme:

   Here is the static version, if you do not have Flash:

   

   Google has a very patriotic logo today:

   

   But, Ask.com went big!

   

   Finally, as you can see, we have our crazy and over the top theme going on:

   

   Here are some logos from July 4, 2006, July 4, 2005 and July 4, 2004.

   Forum discussion at Search Engine Roundtable Forums.

   

   
   
   
2. Should You Stop Advertising on the Main PPC Channels? - 2007-07-04 09:38:37-04
   

   A Search Engine Watch Forums member is frustrated with the amount of time and energy required to optimize his PPC campaigns on Google, Yahoo, and MSN. He had come to the Search Engine Watch Forums to get advice on where to go next. Should he try other networks?

   Discovery writes to say that he should continue reaching into the existing networks and continue optimizing until there are no options left.

   I would not suggest 2nd tier networks that endores "contextual" ads until you have fully exploited G, MSN and YSM. Of course keep your eyes open on new ad models such as Pay Per Acquisition like Turn.com and old affiliate stand bys like commissionjunction.com.

   Additionally, he adds, with other advertising technologies, there is a lot of promise and ways to make gains in your advertising campaign.

   Google is rolling out audio/radio ads and Video ads which will ultimately migrate into the realm of internet TV/ possibly Cable TV in the future. Keeping up with how to use these advertising channels is important for any small or large business.

   Forum discussion at Search Engine Watch Forums.

   This post was written on Monday, July 2nd, and scheduled for publication on July 4th.

   

   
   
   
3. Negative SEO is Possible, Yet Difficult, Says Matt Cutts - 2007-07-04 10:18:55-04
   

   Two posts in DigitalPoint Forums and WebmasterWorld post point to a very interesting Forbes article on a lesser known practice of SEO known as "Google bowling" or "negative SEO." In this tactic, search engine optimizers force competitor websites down in the rankings so that the desired client's website has more visibility.

   According to Brendon Scott, who sells this service to clients, this is indeed possible.

   "I understand the rules of search," Scott says. "And once you understand the rules, you can use them not just constructively, but also destructively."

   And Google's Webmaster Guidelines say "There's almost nothing a competitor can do to harm your ranking or have your site removed from our index," which leaves room for these deceptive practices to occur.

   This is confirmed by Matt Cutts in the article:

   Matt Cutts, a senior software engineer for Google, says that piling links onto a competitor's site to reduce its search rank isn't impossible, but it's extremely difficult. "We try to be mindful of when a technique can be abused and make our algorithm robust against it," he says. "I won't go out on a limb and say it's impossible. But Google bowling is much more inviting as an idea than it is in practice."

   Interesting article, especially in light of our findings that competitors do try to trash rankings . DigitalPoint Forums members believe that it's definitely eye-opening:

   Maybe this will put an end to all of the people who keep saying that if you got penalized you must have deserved it, and cut back on someone of the "Google knows everything" groupies.

   Barry has written more on Search Engine Land. According to the article, there are 7 ways you can impact your competitors negatively:

   1. Google Bowling
   2. Tattling
   3. Google Insulation
   4. Copyright Takedown Notices
   5. Copied Content
   6. Denial of Service
   7. Click Fraud

   Forum discussion continues at DigitalPoint Forums and WebmasterWorld.

   This entry was written on July 2nd and scheduled to be posted on July 4th.