There is an interesting bit of news floating around that says Google does not index webpages whose URL ends in a zero. This particular type of address typically signals spam and therefore Google does not think highly of these types of pages.

Example of a page with the type of URL in question:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_1.0

For more information, take a look at the article posted on SEOmoz.

As it turns out, this filter appears to be limited to URLs that end in zero. Other numbers have been getting indexed OK.

Yahoo! appears to be heading in the right direction when it comes to regaining market share from Google.  They have taken their Advanced Search setting a step further and have now developed Personalized Search.  The Personalized Search collects information about a searcher’s interests from their search history, browsing history, and interests listed in profiles from websites such as MySpace and other social networks. In doing so, it eases the users experience by narrowing the searches. 

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The author of the book The Art of War, Sun Tzu, once said, “Every battle is won before it’s fought.”  With everyone talking about the recession and rising gas prices, it seems that businesses will have to do “battle” in order to get through this downturn.  In my last blog entry, “Recession: Blessing in Disguise?” I talked about the MarketingSherpa report and how businesses can leverage online marketing during these uncertain times.  However, that report has a second part which talks about strategies that marketers are using to get through the slump.  In this blog post, I’m going to talk about those strategies, plus add some data from eMarketer that backs them up. This post will explain how local businesses can use these strategies to their advantage.  It can be your “business battle plan” if you will. (more…)

The Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization’s (SEMPO) annual survey of agencies and advertisers concluded traditional media is slowing largely due to search.  “Thirty-two percent of marketers said they’re spending less on print magazine ads in favor of search: 22% are shifting dollars away from Web site development and 17% said they are raiding direct mail budgets to reallocate cash toward search efforts.  What was even more interesting was the conclusion that search will continue to grow even amid fears of a recession.”  The primary reason is that search is considered a performance method of advertising.

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As linking is extremely important to the ranking success of your site, the anchor text of those links is equally as important. Anchor text allows a webmaster the ability to identify a page with a keyword phrase and this in turn indicates to search engines what key terms the linked page should rank for. Anchor text can work for you and the following explains a few tips on how to rank through anchor text placement.

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This panel including participants Kevin Ryan (Vice President, Global Content Director, Search Engine Strategies and Search Engine Watch), Mike Grehan (Global KDM Officer, Acronym MediaSpeakers), John Battelle (CEO, Federated Media),  James Lamberti (Senior Vice President, Search and Media, comScore, Inc),  Lyndsay Menzies (Managing Director, Big Mouth Media), and Jack Menzel (PM for Universal Search, Google) was fiery at times as it felt like a Google interrogation led by Jack Battelle posing the question: Is Google becoming a media company? (more…)

Yahoo! has launched a program that will allow marketers to enhance the presence of a listing that appears on a Yahoo! search result.  The purpose of this plug-in based program is to enhance the user experience and provide more relevant results for searchers.

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