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Hi Everyone!
Hope your holidays are going well and hope the new year brings
comfort and joy to all!
Here’s some Q &A to get us started.
Hi Kevin,
I’ve heard a lot about Blogging lately. Will this help
my
website in Google?
-Art
Hi Art
Yes, Blogging is now known as the great backdoor into Google.
By
putting a blog on your website with the right keywords in
the
blog, you can get a boost in the rankings. Also, Google like
the
other search engines visit website that update their content
frequently, so having a blog with daily updates can get your
website on the preferred list.
-Kevin
Hey Kevin,
I’ve optimized my own site with the help of another
SEO and
spent months on a linking campaign. My website has been up
a
year now and I’m getting nowhere in the search engine
rankings.
I’ve tried everything and you would think that for
non-competitive keywords I should be receiving good results.
-JCub
Hey JCub,
Without looking at your website and investigating further,
I
will take your word for it that you have tried everything.
Sometimes when people who “have tried everything”
come to me, I
will take a look to see how many other websites are hosted
on
their IP address (the less the better). If you share an IP
address with a known spammer you may be getting penalized
without even knowing it. I like to find hosts who have my
sites
on an IP address with less than 1000 other sites (or less
than
500 if I can). Some hosts will put you on the same IP address
as
15,000 or so other websites which increases your chances of
being in a “bad neighborhood.” To check out how
many other sites
are hosted on your IP address, do a search for your domain
name
at http://www.whois.sc/
and then click on IP Address to see how
many other sites are also hosted on this IP Address.
-Kevin
News
A company called Speegle has rolled out an English language
search engine that speaks the results to you. You can even
choose several different dialects such as British, Scottish,
American male or female voices. I’m waiting for the American
Female, Southern Accent to be developed as I have a soft spot
for hearing a few soft-spoken “Yawls” with my search
results.
More info: http://www.speegle.co.uk/
Also, click on Demo for
more options.
San Francisco-based non-profit Internet Archive announces
its
intent to build an alternative to Google. Ten major
international libraries have jumped onboard and agreed to
digitize their libraries and make them freely available to
the
public. More info: http://www.iwr.co.uk/IWR/1160176
Santy Worm variants are still targeting Google. The Santy
Worm
exploits a PHP Bulletin Board (phpBB) software vulnerability
and
uses Google to search for such software. Variants, though,
have
been cropping up and Google is racing to put out these fires.
More info: http://news.com.com/Google+worm+targets+
AOL%2C+Yahoo/2100-7349_3-5504769.html
Not to be outdone by Google, Yahoo and MSN, AskJeeves has
also
jumped into the arena with its new desktop search tool.
AskJeeves says it created and designed its new search tool
based
on “extensive user testing.” More info:
http://sp.ask.com/docs/desktop/?article_id=31264
Spammer were ordered to pay $1 billion judgment in a recent
Davenport, Iowa trial. This is believed to be the largest
judgment ever against spammers. AMP Dollar Savings Inc. of
Mesa,
Arizona, Cash Link Systems Inc. of Miami, Florida and the
TEI
Marketing Group also in Florida were the three main defendants
ordered to pay. This case is not over as 300 more defendants
are
still on the hook and could pay additional damages. More info:
http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/12/18/spam.lawsuit.ap/index.html
Google is unveiling its new Sponsored Link search where uses
can
exclude the organic search engine listing and search only
for
the paid listings. See a demo here:
http://www.google.com/sponsoredlinks?hl=en&lr=&q=widget
Tip of the Week
Since Blogging is a good backdoor into Google, why not start
your own website blog today or at least put this on your list
as
a New Year’s resolution? To get you started for free,
check out
this site: http://www.blogger.com/start
Have a Happy New Year and see you next newsletter!
-Kevin Kantola
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