Search Engine Marketing Spot

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Could they compete with Google at this point?  Google owns the search market and MSN is way behind at this point.  Google will be putting there operating system on cell phones in the near future, of course with there Google search feature.  What about there conquest to have free WiFi access?  Why else would they be partnering up with EarthLink the offer this type of service?  You know the default search will be Google.com for anyone using the service. msn has there head in there ass

Imagine what could have been if MSN did in fact buy Yahoo last year.  We all know that Microsoft has some deep pockets, but are they putting there money in the right places?  Do they really care to try and catch up to the Google Giant?  Over at Google they are hiring the greatest computer minds in the world, and they have the bankroll to do it.  MSN has the money as well, however there attempt to launch there new MSN Live did not live up to all of the hype.  The only thing Microsoft has going for them is people who use IE7 (with no plugins) and or have there homepage set to MSN.com.  Now some people who do have there homepage set to MSN might not necessarily use that.  They could have a toolbar installed that uses Google or they just type in Google.com and start there search.

You use Google if

• You own a brand new computer from dell (Google toolbar/desktop)
• You have installed the Google toolbar on your own
• IE7 after installing adobe acrobat, WinZip, java updates
• You use Firebox browser
• You use Opera browser
• Have installed a long list of shareware that auto installs the Google toolbar if you do not uncheck the option

The list above can account for a large number of people in the world.  Could this be a reason why Google stays ahead of Microsoft in the search industry?  Think about the home page for a second, you go to Google and it is very plain and easy to use.  It has there logo and a search box.  Now think about MSN.com, the page is cluttered with all sorts of news, information, flash ads and takes longer to load.  With all of that going on, the not so average computer user might get lost and not know what to do from there.  Instead they head on over to Google and just worry about that empty search box.  Could this be a reason why Google stays ahead of Microsoft in the search industry?

Microsoft does not collect that much data from what users they have.  Google on the other hand collects and saves the data from any search performed, adwords, adsense, Google tool bar uses, firefox searches, and more.  It then takes the data and figures out what they can do to make the users experience a better one.  There were talks about Google geo-targeting there search results based on the IP address of the person.  So if you did a search for “website design” while having your IP based in New York then it would only show you website designers in the New York area.  Google not only thinks ahead, they also plan ahead.  Could this be a reason why Google stays ahead of Microsoft in the search industry?

Microsoft has there Windows OS, Office suite software, there business servers and they 3rd most used search engine in the world.  Google is always growing, they are showing no signs of stopping at this point.  I really think the only thing to knock down the Google giant will be the government to step in and try to break things up just like they did with Microsoft.  It probably wont be this year or next, but it will happen eventually.  Maybe this is what Microsoft is waiting for, when that happens they think they can snatch up the market share?  I highly doubt it, they changes to compete with Google and maybe if they pulled there head out of there ass they might see some sort of light at the end of a long tunnel.  If not then they will never catch Yahoo and sure as hell will never catch up to Google.

Do you think Microsoft, or anyone for that matter can top Google as being the leader in search for 2008 and beyond?

This article was originally written on SEMSpot.com, a Search Engine Marketing Blog.

Ok so maybe the title is a little strong, but if you do not know me I speak my mind and normally don’t hold back my thoughts. Consider that my disclaimer for this article. 

You hear the phone ringing, knowing that your sales person is more then capable of doing the job, you keep working on your projects. On Friday you have your week ending meeting as normal to go over what projects need to be finished for next week and which others need to be started. Afterwards you chat with the employee’s about what they think of the internet marketing industry and the role search engines play. After about twenty minutes your sales person brings up the fact that they have been getting quite a few phone calls with some potential clients and now new clients asking about placement guarantees. They had either read an email, website advertisement or heard a sales pitch promising first page rankings, rank number one on google after a month for any keyword, increased traffic, more sales and the bucket of crap that company sits on. So this day we all stayed a little bit later and endulged on the topic of search engine optimization and search engine marketing companies who are full of shit and just take your money and run.

A client called in through a referral to inquire about our services, pricing and how it works. This is all fine because almost anyone who calls in will ask common questions like this, or at least I hope they do. Well this caller had received an email advertisement offering search engine optimization, guaranteed first page rankings or your money back. Here are some red flags to watch out for and hand back to that company to wipe the crap off there ass because they are full of it.

1. Email advertisement offering search engine optimization could be considered a red flag by some people because if they are so good they why do email advertising? If they can guarantee first page rankings for there clients, why not get first page rankings for there own website and get there clients that way, oh wait they didn’t put a website in there email. All you see is a gmail.com, redirected URL to a landing page or an out of country phone number.
2. In that email the company states they work with major search engines first hand to get you better results. There is no search engine marketing company that I know of that has employees who work for any of the major search engines. Maybe they know people and get some information, but nobody has an insider that can change the SERP’s to boost your clients website. (if you do, please let me know so we CAN TALK) 
3. You can not guarantee any type of results to a client for competitive keywords. You could probably guarantee first page rankings for a keyword that has no competition and a very low monthly search volume. Why would you want to target those low keywords though, that will not bring any good traffic to your clients website. Oh wait, you don’t call them clients, you call them loan defaulting individuals because your taking there money and not doing anything for them.
4. “We submit your website to thousands of search engines.” Everyone has either heard or read this famous claim. They do not submit to thousands of search engines, its more like they submit to 30 search engines and thousands of FFA link sites and free directories. So the directories are fine, any backlink you can get is not a bad thing. However there is no need to submit to search engines anymore and the FFA sites are nothing more then spam sites and link farms. Your website will fall off of those type of sties before any search engine spider comes to crawl there pages. Any company offering this service to you I advise you just walk away and keep your money.
5. Companies who give you nothing but reports, either via email, fax or postal mail. So these reports tell me where I rank for keywords, what keywords still need to be targeted, monthly traffic volume and traffic estimation reports. Then there is the famous submission report that tells the client that hours and hours of work was put into submitting there website. The average person would have no idea that the submission report is all automated submission and does not take much time at all. Companies that do no work to your website, or make very small changes to your website have no clue as to what they are truly doing. So you guessed it, take most of those reports, crumple them up, send them back and tell them to use it as toilet paper to wipe there butt because there full of shit.
6. Guarantee number top 3 on google but will use PPC to do so. This one is where it can get very expensive for any website owners paying a company to do nothing more then open a PPC campaign. PPC is a great way to draw extra traffic to a website if it is a company’s budget. What these marketing companies will do is find out what keywords you want to target and set the minimum CPC to whatever will get the site in the top 3. Depending on the industry and keyword, that bill can and will get extremely high. These companies normally do very little keyword research, and do not test out which ads produce a higher CTR or ROI. If a company is guaranteeing top 3 google, chances are they are using PPC and stay away.

It is the companies that use tactics like I have listed above that give the search engine marketing industry a bad name. Companies who have been burned in the past by a bogus SEO campaign or a PPC campaign then resulted in a huge bill and no real results. If you have experiences or stories of your own please post them here so others can read them and see what else to look out for.

Google is currently the only search engine who will try and penalize websites that sell paid link advertising or try and penalize websites who buy the links. Currently the only way a website gets penalized for buying them is Google will take the paid link that they found or that was reported to them and devalue it. In other words it will not carry hardly any weight what so ever for the website that bough the link. It will not pass for PR and basically becomes a no follow link. They will not do anything with your current spot on the SERP’s for buying text links like they do for keyword stuffing, cloaking, etc. In the long run if they found hundreds of links that you bought from high PR sites then that could have an effect on your overall ranking since we all know that one way links are currently a very big factor in achieving higher rankings with Google.

In the past buying banner space was very popular for driving traffic to your website in hopes of increased sales and conversions. This can still hold true depending on where you are buying the banner space from and Google does not care that you buy banner space to advertise your website with. The reason why they are trying so hard to stop or shall I say slow down the text link buying is the simple fact that they were dumb enough to make it such a big deal in there algorithm and how it truly does effect your ranking on the SERP’s. John Chow had achieved the number one spot on Google for the term “make money online”. He did this with his link back campaign where anyone who had reviewed his blog was asked to use terms similar to that one to see where he would rank. Well low and behold he go the number one spot and made it public. Google then banned him not only for that keyword, but also for his own name.

That is not buying text links, that is finding a flaw with the Google algorithm and exploiting it to the fullest to prove a point. Of course you would get banned for something like that because it was on a large scale and then you bragged about it. Well to this day one way links with your keywords as the anchor text hold a lot of value with Google. If you were buying banner space, Google adwords or other forms of online marketing you have to spend money. Well it holds true for text links, you have to spend the money if you want your link to get out on the internet faster. In today’s business world company’s want to see there profits go up faster then you could imagine. You tell some companies to start writing good content for a blog that they do not even really need and in 3-6 months you should start to see the results. Those results being more links to there website by people talking about the article and so fourth. Or you could tell them spend this much a month and you will have your links over this many websites by the next few days as well as paid directory listings. Yep, the check will be written and the link buying will begin. In today’s market they want results and they want them now, not in 6 months. Yes I understand that search engine marketing takes time and patience, however if you could buy up links to boost your link count, having great one way links and drive some more traffic to the site then why not.

Buying a text link from a website that is no where near in the industry as you or that will have Viagra, porn, gambling links is a sure way to get caught by the Google radar. Buy links from sites that are in the same or relative to your industry and that do not support the crap links from the above listed niches and you will be fine. If the website title’s the spot as “paid links” or “advertiser links” then you might want to refrain from buying that link as Google could possibly see this and detect it as a paid link even if it is an image. Google is not stupid we all know this by now.

Purchasing advertising space has been around the internet before Google was even born out of that garage. You can still go out and buy up all the directory listings you want and they will not count them as paid links since the directories have to actually read, review and then post each submission. Directories claim you are paying for the “review” of your submission, yea and once again what a load of crap.  Seriously though, how many directories out there will deny a listing as long as it is not related to the typical viagra/porn/gambling spam and not stuffed with keywords. You can buy up hundreds of these paid directory listings and be just fine, it will boost your link count and in return your website reputation and PR. Directories to me are nothing more then paid links, they just come with a short description and are on a website that nobody will ever really look on. For Google, it was there screw up in having one way links be such a strong influence on there algorithm and where we rank for our keywords. I know they want websites to use the nofollow tag on the paid links, but then who would really spend that much money on those links since they will carry very little weight with Google? They messed up and are now trying to stop the wave of paid text links that websites are buying to improve there rankings. Ok my rant is over, what is your take on this matter?

Just like a blog, it seems that a lot of people have a directory of some sort these days.  They start out with taking free submission’s from any site to build up there listings and some switch over to a payment only system taking anywhere from $2-$30 to submit your site.  I understand people want there directory to make them money and try to become the next BOTW.  I just see a lot of directories that are crap and accept any listing that gets submitted.  Other directories are like 6 links deep and your link gets buried with 99 other links on the page.  I know you want to try and get every link you possibly can on the internet so the engines (in most cases, Google) will increase there trust with you in and raise your PR.  I would be careful though on some directories that list any website.  When your website is linked with all the drug company and gambling spam on the same directory I will bet Google will look down on that if they do not already do so. 

 

Don’t get me wrong, I understand people want to make money with your directory.  Make the directory for the search engines though, why bother making it for the “end user” when hardly anyone even uses directories to find what they want.  Make your directory liked by the search engines and then it will be liked by the “end user” who is looking to purchase links.  I bet since you run a clean, well maintained and SEO friendly directory more people will go there because more people will hear about it.  They will hear more about it due to the fact the search engine’s actually like the content.  That is my rant for the day, time to get back to work.