I don’t actually think Google completely disregards navigation links. However, after taking a closer look at blekko’s SEO tools, it appears in most cases blekko does and other search engines might too. If it’s that important and easy for a hip new search engine to do, then it makes me wonder EXACTLY how Google and the other major search engines treat navigational and other page links.
Take a look at this detailed analysis to see what I’ve found out about blekko, which probably gives us some insight into how other search engines analyze the links on webpage.
- Most navigational links get immediately disregarded or “exlcuded” (header, footer, sidebar, etc.)
- Links grouped together are usually excluded
- Blog comments are excluded regardless if they are dofollow links
Looking at the screenshots below you can easily see which links blekko marked as “excluded” and understand what I am talking about. [...more]
by Wesley LeFebvre
I don’t expect too many people will argue that obtaining backlinks is the hardest part of search engine optimization. Especially for new businesses and those with minimal marketing dollars. Not only is it difficult getting other web sites to link to yours, but it’s also crucial that you’re spending your time seeking back links that will actually help your rankings in the search engines.
It’s also getting harder and harder finding good tools, especially free ones, to check yours and your competitor backlinks. The [...more]
by Wesley LeFebvre
I am pleased to announce that I’m the proud owner and winner of a new Apple iPad 3G. During October, Best of the Web Directory ran a contest for all Best of the Web (BOTW) affiliates.
“The affiliate who earns the most commission by promoting the “SAVE20″ discount will also win an Apple iPad!!”
Thankfully, I was able to rock the sales and earn the most commission. [...more]
by Wesley LeFebvre
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by Wesley LeFebvre
If you work for or run a business with an opportunity to target customers locally, then I sure hope you’re not overlooking Craigslist.org. When I was seeking local SEO clients I couldn’t keep up with proposal requests during weeks I was running my Craigslist campaigns. My ads weren’t even all that appealing either. But, they were well-optimized and targeted.
Craigslist is a very powerful advertising tool that can be used to promote items for sale, real estate, services, jobs and community related items. Earlier this year I sold a vehicle for around $7000 in cash within 3 hours of posting my advertisement on Craigslist. The buyer was at my house in less than an hour. This is the typical experience I have. Not just some extreme case, either. [...more]
by Wesley LeFebvre
The following is a guest post by M.-J. Taylor of Cyber-Key.com.
Years ago when Google regularly pushed PageRank (PR) data to its toolbar, figuring out the value of a potential link was pretty simple. The more PageRank, the fewer outbound links, the more valuable. Today, the toolbar isn’t even updated quarterly and webmasters have to do a little more analysis to assess the value of a link.
Where do you start? [...more]
by Guest
Have you heard about blekko yet? I wouldn’t be surprised if you haven’t. It just launched a few days ago. Most people outside of the tech space probably wont know about blekko for a very long time, if ever. However, for those of us who spend a substantial amount of our business life online, blekko is worth taking a look at.
What is blekko?
blekko, often referred to as the slashtag search engine, is the newest contender to come into the highly competitive search space. It’s a full-fledged search engine with it’s own search index. What blekko has done to try and set itself apart from the other search engines is introduce [...more]
by Wesley LeFebvre
I don’t know if I should be calling it Google Maps, Google Places, or Google Local; because when you submit your site to Google Places you’ll show up in Google Maps. Anyway, I prefer to just call it Google Maps to help avoid any confusion. But that’s not really the point of this post….
What is really important is for you to get your Google Maps listing up-to-date if it’s not already, because Google is making major SERP changes that could affect you.
Have you seen some of the latest local search results? [...more]
by Wesley LeFebvre
I’m pleased to announce that my eBook, A Practical Guide To SEO, is finished!
Another totally free resource for our email subscribers. If you’re not already an email subscriber (through Aweber not Feedburner) then you might want to subscribe now. It’s absolutely free, and you’ll get immediate access to this guide plus more great content in the future. You can unsubscribe at any time. If you’re currently subscribed then should have received a copy already.
There is so much information about SEO on the web today, it can get really overwhelming trying to figure out who to listen and what to do. So I wrote this guide with that in mind to help you identify and focus on the important aspects of SEO.
It is broken down into 7 sections. [...more]
by Wesley LeFebvre
A couple of weeks ago Google released an updated version of their SEO Starter Guide which they had originally released about two years prior. Last night I finally had a moment to sit down and read it.
As expected, it was about 30 pages of primarily basic on-page search engine optimization stuff. Most of which I have already covered on this blog. But, it is still worth the measly hour it took me to read it. So I highly recommend giving it a look, especially if your fairly new to learning SEO. What it will tell you is some best practices for getting your pages crawled and indexed properly, however in today’s competitive market don’t expect that following this guide alone will help rank your new website well enough to be competitive. You’ll will also need to focus heavily on obtaining back links and keyword research for that.
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by Wesley LeFebvre
