Google vs. MSN and Yahoo

A lot of SEO is trial and error. Company's and experts can tell you they understand search engine algorithms, but because they're constantly changing, the truth is, it's hard to say for sure what the current criteria is for each search engine. Sure, we know the basics: back-links, copy, etc., but what are the other factors involved, and how much of a role do they actually play in determining search engine rank?

One thing I've found time and time again is Yahoo and MSN's response to keyword density. Whenever any significant change is made to our main page's keyword density, I notice fluctuations in rank almost immediately. On the other hand, Google seems to almost not care at all. Since most of my research revolves around Google, I've noticed that some sites rank very well with an above average keyword density, while others do well with a below average percentage. There are many myths about Google's keyword density tolerance, but personally, I think they just don't really care as long as it's within a reasonable percentage. I say "reasonable percentage" because Google seems to be pretty keen on identifying and penalizing sites that are clearly spamming.

Another thing I've found time and time again is the way Google analyzes back-links compared to Yahoo and MSN. It seems that Google is also quite keen on identifying a back-link's relevance and quality while Yahoo and MSN seem to lean more toward quantity. I come to this conclusion by seeing a wide variance in the way Google ranks sites compared to the other 2.

In general, sites that rank well in Yahoo and MSN rarely rank as well in Google. The conclusion is two-fold:

1. Yahoo and MSN place a higher weight on keyword density


2. Google analyzes back-links with a broader lens than the others

Anyone who follows SEO closely will tell you that this hypotheses is nothing new, but because SEO is difficult to prove, hard evidence is the only we really have.

New Name, New Site!

Pin Bottle is proud to announce the launching of our new site! In addition to it's launch, we've officially changed our name from Pin Bottle Boston Website Design to Pin Bottle Web Design. It's a little simpler, and we like that. Our new site is fresh with new pages for potential clients to browse and learn more about who we are and what we're all about! In addition to it's sleek look, the site is designed using 100% CSS Layout, which we hope will not only decrease page load time, but facilitate our search engine success as well. So what are you waiting for? Take a peak:
http://www.pinbottle.com

Conditional Statements

I designed my first site using 100% CSS recently and I have to say I was not very impressed with the lack of browser support from Internet Explorer. In testing, the latest versions of Netscape, Firefox, Safari and Opera all produced the results I was looking for but Explorer wasn’t very cooperative. I admit that IE7 wasn’t that bad, but why couldn’t they just get it right this time around like the other browsers? Lucky for me, conditional statements came in handy.

Conditional statements are something developed by Microsoft that allow Explorer to peak inside an additional CSS for alternate styles. For instance, if IE6 is rendering an element slightly differently than Firefox, a custom style sheet made specifically for IE6 will allow you to create an identical look in both browsers. There’s also an SEO advantage to using conditional statements. Previously, building different pages for different browsers was quite common. The method caused two problems with SEO though:

1) Duplicate pages means duplicate content
2) Using this method leaves the index page free of content, as it acts as a doorway page to the browser specific page.

Conditional statements eliminate the use of doorway pages and browser specific pages which is a great thing for SEO. But as far as designing is concerned, it would be great if Microsoft gets it right next time around.

Labels pt. 2

Unfortunately, Pin Bottle has dropped from what was a brief time at #6 all the way to #15 for most G data centers for the keyword Boston Website Design. Whenever there's a shift, I always try to analyze my SEO behavior between the shift. And since the only on-page change had been the creation of labels, they had to go. Between each post's individual page, the archive pages and the home page, there's enough duplication of posts already. Sure, labels are useful for finding related information, but this blog is still pretty new, so there aren't a whole lot of posts to sift through. You may be asking, "What about robots.txt?" I know, I'm asking myself the same question. After seeing a "labels" page in Google's index, I've got to go back and re-examine the robots.txt file and figure out what exactly happened. Maybe it's just a typo. I'll keep you "posted."

Are you in the Game?

Search Engine Optimization has become BIG BUSINESS since the explosion of internet search. I recently read an interesting story about how BMW's webmaster wasn't happy with it's position for certain keywords, and how he set up doorway pages loaded with spam to try to trick the S.E.'s. This led to a quick PR0 and a subsequent drop for all major keywords. I can only assume he was fired.

These days, it's essential for every website to have an SEO consultant. As the BMW example proves, employing a webmaster just isn't enough. Personally, I think all webmasters should be well educated in the ways of SEO, since the two go hand in hand, but that's just one man's opinion.

But what if you don't have the funds to pay for such services, or even have a webmaster on staff? Although time is always scarce in the small business world, there's really only one thing you can do: Learn SEO on your own. Although this can seem overwhelming, with a few minutes a day reading Blogs and Forum posts, you can quickly learn the dos and don'ts in the SEO game. For anyone ambitious enough to take on this task, it's important to understand that the world of SEO is constantly changing, and therefore ones SEO education never ends. But once you've got a good foundation of knowledge, keeping up with the changes is easier than one might think.

The bottom line is, if you rely on search engine traffic for conversions, SEO should be a MAJOR part of your company's investment. Whether you do the leg work on your own, or choose to outsource the work, either way, your business depends on it. Of coarse, you could always overpay for Adwords instead :)

Googleisms

Why is Google so head and shoulders above the other search engines? It's a question I've often thought about. Over the past decade, Google has stormed into the homes of internet surfers like you and I with ferocious force. I remember the first time I tried Google. What intrigued me the most was it's simple home page, and the fact that it was completely dedicated to search. Obviously, Google has ventured out into many other avenues, but to their credit, they've kept their homepage intact, reminding people that search is still their number one priority.

Have you ever used the phrase, "I'll Yahoo that," or I'll MSN that?" Probably not, but I bet you've said "I'll Google that!" The fact is, Yahoo and MSN didn't make search their top priority, at least not to the visiting surfer. When I visit Yahoo, I think Email and News, then search. And when I think MSN, I think computers. But how many people think of anything other than search when Google comes to mind? Sounds pretty simple, but in reality it's pretty genius. The fact that Google kept their homepage intact has served as a constant reminder that search is their top priority. This in turn has made the word search and Google synonymous in the English language. No wonder they dominate the market.

Labels and Duplicate Content

I recently switched over to Blogger's new beta version. One of the new options is to create "labels" for posts, which categorize posts for later searching. You may have seen this sort of thing on many Wordpress based blogs. But as I thought about the option, I began to think about the effects it would have on duplicate content...

If you archive your posts like I do, a unique URL is created for each post. Because of this, duplicate content is generated as long as the same post resides on your blog's index page. This isn't really that big of a deal though, as your index page will most likely be filled with other posts, watering down the exact percentage of duplicate content between the two URL's. But Labels are a little tricky, at least in the beginning.

Since I've used Labels, I've created two posts, both under different and new "labels." When published, not only do I create a unique URL for the new post through the archive process, but the same content is re-published under it's new label. At the moment, I only have two labels with one post assigned to each of them. This, combined with the unique URL that is assigned for the post's archive, creates identical content. I guess I could fix the problem by going through every single post I've ever made and assigning it a label, but it sort of seems like too much of a hassle. Until then, I plan to just ROBOT.txt my labels folder, to protect the site frrom any duplicate content penalties, and maybe when I have enough posts in each label, the dup. % will be low enough to un-ROBOT.txt the folder.