Archive for August, 2006

Gurtie over at Gray Hat Search Engine News looks to be the first to get the scoop and report on the new Link Descriptor Tags (the "No-Follow" being the first Link Descriptor Tags).

It appears that these new tags will be used by Google, Yahoo, and Ask (MSN was having some issue at the moment).

To quote from Gray Hat News:

We understand that Websites not using the tags listed on all links will be dropped from the Google index on 1 December and will not be considered for re-instatement until January. Yahoo are rumoured to be a little more relaxed about the use of the new tags. Ask frankly couldn’t care less they’re just pleased to have their name on the press release.

See the list of these new tags and press statements here:

forgive me for spreading this bait

Popularity: 2% [?]

This morning I had 2 emails in my inbox from "SEO Companies" telling me that they can’t find webuildpages.com in the search engines and that I can get a Free evaluation from them to show me what needs to be done, and how their services can help me. This is nothing new, I’m know everyone gets emails like this every day.

I think this afternoon I’ll take one of the 400 sites we own and put a scrapable email on it and then when these companies email me I’ll respond with "Yes, please, tell me how you can help"….and then I’ll publish here the stupid things they recommend….hey, don’t they deservice this for spamming me?…..funny thing is, is that I’ll bet I’ll actually catch some Big Name SEO Companies writing me….you think?

Good idea?

Popularity: 2% [?]

So I just bought a domain from someone who had it both registered and hosted with register.com…and in trying to keep things as much as they had been, I opened up an account with register.com to move the domain into my register.com account.

I ended up running into a problem and I had to call them. While waiting for a human on the phone I heard register.com’s recorded message stating something to the effect of "Google will rank you higher if you register your domain for longer periods of time". Which isn’t "proven" (they’re taking that from the google patent of march 2005 that mentions that they might look domain registration length)….but tonight I chatting with register.com about hosting the site with them too to keep the same nameservers the site has historically had and my first question was "What do I need to do to get my own unique (non-shared) IP address"…and they told my that they only offer shared IP addresses….hum…for a company touting how google ranks sites, why don’t you offer unique IP’s, even if I have to pay more, I’d rather have my own IP (I’d hate to be sharing my IP with thousands of other sites…I’m sure some have been blacklisted).

**not sure if your domain is sharing IP’s?
***Edited to include Dave’s tool he mentioned below instead of the method I originally had:
Use this tool http://www.seologs.com/ip-domains.html

Moral: Get your own IP address for your site. Don’t share IP’s. Call you host and tell them you want your own Unique IP address. Tell them also that you want a Fresh IP…not a recycled IP (if a spammer gets a site blacklisted, leaves the host, that host will recycle that IP)….you don’t want a recycled IP..best to call and speak to a tech guy. Getting your own IP will usually cost around $25 – $100 one time extra fee…sometimes hosts will charge $2 – $25 extra per month…it’s not much, just do it.

Agree? Anyone else have IP tips, tools, etc?

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Wow, Danny Sullivan is leaving Search Engine Watch and the Search Engine Strategies Conferences.

Danny gives a brief note on the Search Engine Watch Blog, but goes into more detail on his personal blog.  Below is a couple of excerpts from Danny’s blog.

My contracts with their owners Incisive Media are expiring, and we’ve not been able to agree on new ones.

In terms of Search Engine Watch, I’ll be serving as editor-in-chief through November 30, 2006.

…it’s far more likely I’ll be doing writing and conferences elsewhere. This might be for other companies, depending on what happens in the next few weeks. I’ve also entertained the notion of simply expanding my own consulting company and going it on my own with a new site and/or conferences.

Man…..Danny a free agent…never thought I’d see the day…to me Danny was Search Enigine Watch and Search Engine Strategies….what lucky company might get thier hands on Danny?? Man, I wish I could afford to interview/hire Danny…I’d have to say, that next to Matt Cutts, Danny would be the second biggest SEO Rock Star you could ever have working for you.

Danny, best of luck in your new ventures…but ya know, I don’t think you’re going to need much luck….I have a feeling that you’ve got the world on your plate and that you might be working less, and gaining more $ and will be great at doing whatever you do where ever you go.

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I thought I’d try something new here and open my blog up to questions from readers.

I’ll collect your questions here and then start answering them in follow up posts.

• Want a public site review? (I’ll do it for free if you don’t mind me doing it in public here)
• Want to ask about the crazy people I’ve shared drinks with?
• Want to know about some crazy journeys I’ve taken?
• Want to know what I think about link buying, link trading, or getting links under the radar?
• Want to know if I own a pair of "I’m Feeling Lucky Google Underwear"?
• Want to know what it’s like having a 22 month old son, with another on the way in less than 3 months?
• Want to ask about being a CEO of a SEO company?
• Want to know about the successes or the failures?

I’m pretty much open to most "reasonable" questions…either dealing with "personal" or "Internet Marketing topics".

Got a question? Ask away!

ah….but there’s one topic I’m going to stay away from ….don’t ask about buying old sites

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A few weeks ago when I heard that Andy Beal was leaving Fortune Interactive I jumped at the opportunity to get Andy to come to the We Build Pages office to offer me some business consulting advice. …after all, Andy was one of the first employees at websourced (now MarkerSmart Interactive) that grew to over 150 employees in the course of a few years (I believe they are the biggest SEM company in the world). As well as Andy started Search Engine Lowdown (no longer run by him (his "new" blog is at MarketingPilgrim.com)), and then Andy started Fortune Interactive that grew to around 20 employees in it’s first year. Andy’s been around, and has a lot of experience running SEO companies and helping them to grow…I knew that I could really use his advice in helping my company grow.

So Andy spent the day with me yesterday learning about how I’ve been running We Build Pages and giving me some excellent advice on how I can grow my company, as well as how I can better serve my clients and my employees.

I think within the first hour together Andy had earned his daily fee in advice and tips to me, and the rest of his time was sheer "profit" for me.

Today I had a employee meeting explaining some of my future plans based on Andy’s ideas and I’ve already started implemeting some of his ideas. Andy offers several types of consulting services, and if you’re seeking SEO consulting or SEM business consulting, Andy’s certainly well worth his costs in what he can deliver in knowledge and advice.

Thanks Andy!

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My buddy (and former employee) Todd Malicoat (best known as Stuntdubl) released a great page listing his best/favorite blogs posts that’s well worth a read. Todd also release another great post today that I’d add to his best called Twelve Different Types of Links and How To Get Them.

Lee Odden over at the Online Marketing Blog also decided to do a "best of" post where he only list his 10 most popular posts that’s certainly worth a read if you happened to miss any of these in the past.

FYI, I did my own "best of" back in May.

Tomorrow I’ve got Andy Beal coming for a visit and for consulting me on We Build Pages, and on Thursday Todd’s stopping by to help train my link team….it’s a great time to tap great minds like these while they’re still free agents.

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