Getting Granular: The DigitalGrit Blog

Understanding why content is king

“Our site is mainly used for marketing and branding, so there’s no way that we’re going to add any written content to the existing pages.”

“I’m busy trying to do SEO for my site and/or we’re an e-commerce portal, so why would I spend time building new content?”

“We’ve undergone a link-building campaign but most of the sites we’ve contacted aren’t interested in linking to us.”

“We’ve done all of the on-page and off-page stuff, so why don’t we rank well in Google?”

These are some of the typical responses an SEO professional faces when trying to pitch the idea of building out fresh content for an existing website. It’s frustrating, demoralizing, and in some cases, flat out moronic.

Do you feel like you’re up against a brick wall when trying to push the content initiative? Or have you simply given up? Perhaps you just need a fresh perspective on exactly why content was, is, and will always be king.

SEO - Makes perfect logical sense

As a search engine optimization specialist, I can honestly say one of the greatest things about SEO is that Search Engine Optimization makes perfect, logical sense. No doubt if you read any number of SEO articles, you'll see the tons of "Top Ten" SEO Do’s and Don’ts lists - tons of lists.

Throughout my SEO career, I have learned whether from SES conferences, colleagues or hearing any of the industry experts speak about a particular idea within SEO talk about what you should avoid or what you should do, it always makes perfect, logical sense.

SEO – In-House or Outsource

Search Engine Optimization is an ever changing business and has helped many companies increase their revenue and gain visibility on the web. Many companies hire an agency to handle their SEO campaigns and I feel that it is the best approach rather, than bringing in an in-house team. Let’s look at the benefits of hiring an interactive marketing agency rather than bringing SEO in-house.

Google, Yahoo, MSN - Like Any MEDIA COMPANY - Can Block Ads

According to Forbes.com, a judge ruled on Monday that Google and its competitors have the same right as any media company to block ads they feel are inappropriate or offensive to customers or partners.

U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Farnan dismissed a suit filed last May in Delaware by would-be advertiser Christopher Langdon, who claimed Google, Yahoo! (nasdaq: YHOO - news - people ) and Microsoft (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ) infringed upon his rights to free speech by refusing to publish his ads. The ads in question promoted Langdon's Web sites, which criticize some North Carolina politicians and the Chinese government.

"Search engines have a First Amendment right to reject ads as part of their protected right to speak or not," Farnan wrote.

The legal opinion will help search engines in future litigation, wrote Eric Goldman, director of Santa Clara University School of Law's High Tech Law Institute. "It's an emphatic and helpful win for the search engines."

The ruling allows the search engine to refuse an advertiser for any reason -- without the need to site any specific rule or regulation they might be violating. 

301 Redirects - From SE Watch/SE Roundtable

There are a few people on the DG team who can relate to this "headache" -- What happens when your client has changed URLs?  How long will it take for the Google PageRank to pass on? Search Engine Watch addresses this (via SE Roundtable):

(From the original post at Search Engine Rountable...)

In a Google Groups thread Adam says:

301s pass PR and related signals appropriately. Usually takes a couple of weeks for things to smooth out, though.

I was a bit shocked by the statement of just "a couple of weeks" for 301s to "pass PR and related signals appropriately." I always thought it was a couple months or more.

SEW points out that Google may index the page within a few weeks, but that it take MUCH longer to recoup the PageRank. Link building like a rockstar seems to be the best method for speeding things along. SEW also points to the common "trick" of using a 302 error instead of a 301: "This causes Google to keep the listing of the previous page within its index, and often in the same position within the rankings."

Ultimately, post author Chris Boggs recommends riding out the 301 -- on the off-season, business-permitting. His best advice is to understand that this is a laborious process, and to plan for it in advance by using paid search and other marketing channels.

Google Wants Brands; Brands Don't Seem to Want Google (or at least, their agencies don't...)

In a nutshell, it's not that they don't WANT to work with Google, it's that Google doesn't necessarily play well with others technologically:

Read more from the ClickZ article.

Marketers complain that Google won't allow them to deliver ads using third party management firms such as DoubleClick and Atlas. These platforms and others like them have helped consolidate serving and reporting for display campaigns that can run on hundreds of individual sites....

As a result, he said, using Google for brand campaigns results is a waste of time and energy. "Google has built this closed loop world, which I think is only a short term prospect for them," he said. "They need to open it up."

Brand agencies haven't really warmed up to the idea of including Google in their campaigns at this point, and this technology issue is delaying the process. Google released a statement saying that while they allow third-party tracking, they don't offer third-party serving "at this time."

Sounds like they're ready to relinquish a little bit of control to gain a little bit of the Madison Avenue pie. As ClickZ points out, they've spent a good part of the last 12 months grooming themselves for this market -- including the lease of their posh Manhattan space -- so they're going to need to kow-tow to the agencies a bit if they're going to ultimately snag the branding business.

Google, Yahoo and Microsoft Working Together on SiteMaps.org

SiteMaps.org will do the impossible: Unite Google, Yahoo and Microsoft. The big three have agreed to work together on the Google-created, XML-based protocol.

SiteMaps has seen great adoption by search engine optimzation professionals and webmasters alike, as the tool makes it easier for search engine spiders to index a site and tell how frequently it's updated.

The Big Three will encourage other search engines, as well as CMS vendors, to support the protocol.

From Computer Business Review.

Ask -- not Google or MSN -- Powers Lycos Search

That's right -- Lycos has selected the dark horse, IAC's Ask.com, to fuel its search. See the article on MediaPost today:

STRIKING A BLOW AGAINST TWO of its far bigger rivals, Ask.com will replace MSN and Google as the natural search and sponsored listings provider on Lycos. Previously, MSN Windows Live powered organic search results and Google supplied sponsored search listings.

By partnering with Lycos, which had 25.7 million unique visitors in September, Ask.com will be able to boost its brand and expand its paid listings business. Lycos generates about 125 million search queries per month, according to internal company numbers. 

Ask has made headlines since its February relaunch, becoming the fastest-growing search engine among users this year -- but still owning only 5% marketshare, next to Google's 44%. The new partnership will help fuel that growth, making Ask.com a much bigger contender in the space.

Windows Live Search -- Open for Business, Officially

The "beta" has been removed from WindowsLive Search. With a sleek, celan design that makes Google's look old and clunky, the new Microsoft Search is certainly attractive.

Now let's get some feedback on the results! (Jeremy Zwadony has already weighed in on speed and relevancy, with a review that's mixed overall, but notes that the Web search has "greatly" improved. Read his commentor reviews, too.)

Also, now in beta: QnA -- Microsoft's newest community effort, similar to Yahoo! Answers.

Heard about Cha-Cha? (Search Engine, Not DiGregorio)

Have you heard about ChaCha?

This new search engine launched on Monday, and it's already making waves. Currently in "Alpha Mode" (rather than go "Beta," which Google's practically trademarked) the site is "Part Wikipedia, part Yahoo Answers and part About.com," according to Search Engine Watch.

How so? In addition to providing tradtional, algo-driven Search Engine results pages, the site will also provide real-time results via live "guides." Welcome to Social Search.

Like About.com guides, ChaCha's will be matched with their areas of expertise. Currently, 3,000 guides have been tapped to participate. ChaCha guides, who will be paid,can invite other guides to join as apprentices, fueling viral growth of the site. (Cool, huh?) Guides have to start of as apprentices and be trained by experts prior to any public interaction. (There's speculation that many of these guides will be pulled from 10 million-plus, cash-hungry college students.) Pay increases as guides gain experience, topping off at $10/hour.

Guides will also have profiles, adding to the community aspect of the site.

The site's a little shaky this first week (it was actually down, but had a nice smiley face on the screen during the outage) but reviews so far seem optimistic, if a little skeptical about providing enough guides for a fast-growing audience.

Give it a shot for yourself and let us know what you think!