August 2007

The PageRank control myth and the nofollow-for-SEO myth

Posted by Michael Martinez on August 31, 2007 in Seo Myths

Where does your PageRank come from?
Does the little PageRank fairy visit your links at night and sprinkle PageRank dust on them? Do other people go buy it from authorized PageRank resellers and then distribute it to their friends?
There are a couple of major voices in the industry spreading some absolute nonsense about PageRank and [...]

Old SEOs don’t joke - they just make you laugh

Posted by Michael Martinez on August 30, 2007 in General

So we were sitting around the office, picking on SEOs, and someone said, “Hey, Michael, why don’t you put these on the blog?”
Well, I suppose I could. So, without further ado, here is a selection of 1st Query SEO humor.

How many SEOs does it take to change a light bulb?

Answer: 15. You need [...]

When Google dumps the Web from its index

Posted by Michael Martinez on August 29, 2007 in Search Engine Optimization

Google has been dumping millions of Web pages from its index for at least two weeks, perhaps since the end of July. I have opened threads about the August 2007 Google Update (for lack of a better name) at Highrankings (August 2007 Google Update) and Spider-food (August 2007 Google Update).
People are welcome to private [...]

How to lead in the dance of search engine optimization

Posted by Michael Martinez on August 28, 2007 in SEO Theory

Before you can optimize, you have to know how to search. Amazingly, many people in the SEO industry don’t know how to search.
They type queries into search boxes but they don’t search. In fact, most SEOs who do “competitive research” rely upon browser plugins and “SEO tools” to do their searching for them.
While [...]

Spoking About The Perfect Hub Strategy

Posted by Michael Martinez on August 28, 2007 in Intermediate SEO

Every now and then the SEO community falls in love with “hubs” again. It gets a little old because the hub effect has never really been fully appreciated by search optimizers. They only think in terms of links, which constitute about 10% of the search engine optimization picture (don’t get all huffy with [...]

Why SEO certification fails and how to fix the problem

Posted by Michael Martinez on August 27, 2007 in SEO Theory

Certification without standards is like grease without oil. You cannot ceritify anyone in an industry that has no standards. But how do you establish standards in an industry where people are paidly mostly to make guesses and try stuff that may or may not work?
The search engine optimization community does not agree on [...]

Outing a scumbag black hat spammer content thief

Posted by Michael Martinez on August 27, 2007 in Web spam

There are two kinds of black hats in this industry: Those whom I respect because they show some common sense and those who are stupid enough to piss me off.
This idiot openly shares his secret by demonstrating how he scrapes SEO Theory and other SEO blogs.
I left a comment that was awaiting moderation. It [...]

Utility snippets and incidental links

Posted by Michael Martinez on August 27, 2007 in Content Theory, Link Theory

There are three types of internal links we can give ourselves: navigational links, embedded links, and incidental links.
Most people should know the basics for navigational links: use descriptive anchor text relevant to your content; use absolute URLs (especially if you mix HTTP with HTTPS content or use templates for multiple sub-domains); make sure your navigation [...]

Market Share, Metrics, and SEO

Posted by Michael Martinez on August 24, 2007 in Competitive Analysis, SEO Metrics

I like to analyze things. I suppose that’s obvious by now.
I’ve been watching search engine market share reports for years. They never seem to agree on what the search market should be. You have four major reporting services: Compete, comScore, Hitwise, and Nielsen. Although a couple of these services have begun [...]

No Blogs Allowed

Posted by Michael Martinez on August 24, 2007 in Web spam

There was a Charlie Brown movie or television special many years ago when Charlie had to go into the hospital and Snoopy undertook the arduous task of visiting him. Every place Snoopy went he ran into a sign that read (and was accompanied in the soundtrack by a deep basso voice saying) “NO DOGS [...]

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