Alan Rabinowitz

Search Engine Optimization 2009 Trends – Past, Present & Future

by Alan Rabinowitz

This year makes 10 years that I personally have been optimizing sites. That being said it also marks a point where SEO is becoming a flooded market with every Joe Schmoe able to be an SEO professional and every large SEO firm hiring every Tom, Dick, and Harry, not that I do not like large SEO firms, as SEO Image is on its way to being one. Nor does one need 10 years of experience, seeing as I had clients ranking in Top spots in 1999, however, the SERPS were different then and so was SEO.

So here’s my recap and mini-trend info based on how I see it having 10 years of excessive hands-on experience (Yes, that means I still work on client sites) ranking clients for numerous extremely competitive terms.

SEO In The late ’90s
90% on-page SEO 10% link popularity, although most traffic in the ’90s came because we linked and traded links freely with related sites because that was a good percentage of the traffic most sites received then. Less can from search and banner ads were abundant.

SEO in the Early 2000s
On-Page SEO making 40% Link Popularity 60% probably more. The dawn of link popularity as being more important than on-page work, which included many sites interlinking and using subdomains. Large firms and companies that had all their client banned for creating interlinked networks that included hundreds of their clients. Also the dawn of shady SEO firms and tactics.

SEO in the Mid 2000s
75% Link Popularity about 25% On-Page depending on the industry. The dawn of Social Media sites and people who seem to have endless time to socialize online. Search empowers more businesses and replaces the Yellow Pages in many households. Google triumphs over its competitors.

SEO In the Late 2000s
80% link popularity, some cases 90%, about 20% on-page SEO dependent on the industry and the competition. SEO is mainstream and many sites are using it. Link building surges and links become a commodity and are brokered. The PageRank toolbar loses much of its value for ranking purposes but is still in existence for public viewing.

The Future
As social media sites get spammy and offer less original content, they may get devalued, after all, if you shopped online this past holiday season you probably found it hard to find retailers under the flood of price comparison sites and blogs that all review the same products. Regional control and browser-based search results (via cookies) will all control the search results (see the next post). Link popularity will still be a heavy practice, but the valuation will make it even more complex as new algorithms and link determination factors will be utilized. On-Page will have more value and site size will be less important. Informational sites may lose value in comparison to exact match sites and sites that are NOT blogs with reviews of everything under the sun. Category (relationship) based search engine optimization will be integrated further and higher valued. Superior conversion based pay per click management will be more important.
Google Has 80% of Worldwide Market Share! Total Domination

by Alan Rabinowitz

A report from Hitslink, an analytics firm, states that Google has close to 80% of worldwide search traffic and market share. Those numbers indicate the importance of marketing on Google and should make businesses consider BOTH SEO and PPC campaigns as viable marketing solutions.

With new search engines popping up and trying to compete, it seems unlikely that anyone could achieve dominance to this extent or even have a shot at competing with the Google Search World (which I now call the Internet).

Many businesses approach us looking to try to avoid the cost of PPC by developing a natural campaign. While we do believe it is extremely important to have a natural online presence, there is much to say for a properly managed advertising and Pay Per Click campaign. Many businesses can run successfully with PPC alone. Gaining a presence in both the natural and paid sectors will offer double the exposure. Cap that with strategic advertising on industry related portals and niche sites, and you can have an effective business.
What If… Google Buys Yahoo?

by Alan Rabinowitz

What if…the testing of Google Adwords on Yahoo is really something else? What if Yahoo is trying to help Google determine the value of Yahoo if adwords were to be part of Yahoo. Since Google’s main revenue is Google Adwords, it makes sense to devote multiple avenues to paid search. A Google buyout of Yahoo?

This would achieve 80% to 90% of all online natural and paid searches, is this really the reason? The control of the Search Industry to one single multiplied giant would almost be, if not, a monopoly on Search. Making a top 10 listing for both natural and paid search twice as valuable.

Since I read the press release for the new partnership, I have thought from a business perspective. Maybe I am just planting ideas here, but if I owned Google and wanted to monopolize the Search Industry what would I do? Glad I asked, its simple I would buy Yahoo!

Yahoo is worth more than just a Search Engine in many ways. They capitalize on buying and developing social sites like Yahoo Answers (which beat out Google Answers) and MyBlogLog. Yahoo also has a large email and portal user base to boot.

Think about it, it would be total domination of Search if Google bought Yahoo! Many people do not remember a few years back when Yahoo did in fact served Google natural results. That partnership however, did add more authority to Google’s leadership in search quality at that point in time when they were only starting to emerge as the leader.

Why wouldn’t they consider MSN ads if a potential MSN buyout is in the air? The timing does not make $ense. Perhaps there is another potential partnership under way.

Food for thought is it an SE Conspiracy? Potential new buyout? Marketing Strategy? Battle of the Big Brands?

–>You decide.
This Site May Harm Your Computer & Your Mind

by Alan Rabinowitz

You better think before using popular applications meant for blogs as the core for your business. What happens when Google decides to remove access to your site from the results because your trendy and popular blog application (WordPress in our case) gets hacked without your knowledge.

Think about it, you invest thousands into marketing and promoting your site via a CMS and Blog application that is so popular, that it constantly needs security updates. Now, your busy managing your business and do not have the time to constantly manage and update the software of the blog, or do not want to because some of the plugins you use do not work on the new version.

Consider also, that if you are lucky enough to get an email from Google reporting the hack and that your site is blocked, you will be luckier still to get the barrier Google uses removed from your listings in Google in a timely manner. This can cause weeks of traffic lost for using a program. This is just plain old frustrating for any business owner.

Its common sense!

Is a popular application worth the risk of a potential and “Hopefully Temporary” loss of traffic? Can you live without Search Engine traffic for weeks, months or even years?

If you’ve never submitted a re-inclusion request with Google then you need to understand the process and the time line as you are likely one of hundreds of thousands of sites (I’m estimating numbers here, and yes, I do believe there are a lot of sites in the queue). A typical re-inclusion; you usually get no response other then a general email stating you will most likely not get a response. You are generally left in the dark for weeks, months and even years with no assistance or the luck of the draw someone fixes your problem, which may not have been a violation. You can be one of many left in the dust, while everyone else seems to do worse than you without any problem. You can go public and call out Matt Cutts and maybe, just maybe, he will be kind enough to respond and help as seen on many blogs that decide publicly screaming is the only way to get attention. I’m still waiting Matt! Please Help!
Seeing Green?

by Alan Rabinowitz

It seems like a dog’s age since Google updated the PageRank Toolbars. Making this the second PR update for the year. Many sites are reporting lowered PageRank, but some younger sites seem to have been given a nice boost when optimized from a link-baiting and content syndication methodology.

I now more than ever believe that these PageRank numbers are simply for show. With the recent penalties and changes to some sites, there seems to be NO EFFECT on rankings, so either we’re about to experience a new Google algorithm and see ranking updates, or we’re just being given evidence that the Google Toolbar is nothing more than really smart link-bait for the world of Search Giants.

So with this in mind, I’m gonna bet that Google is devaluing the power of any and every sitewide link. No doubt to kill the blog handshaking that has driven many popular blogs to extremely high PR. Also, they may be considering strategies to devalue blogs in general as bloggers keep criticizing Adsense claiming it pays very little. Google may feel that blogs only offer PageRank and that advertisers are trying to increase rankings and not traffic. – You decide!

Food for Thought…
Google Local Listings Hijacked?

by Alan Rabinowitz

This is very unusual but it seems our Google Local listing is displaying someone else’s URLs, maybe our data was somehow misplaced, it also lists additional sites that are not ours, nor are they located in New York.

Anyone see this before? Is Google becoming an easy to hijack portal, or is one of its local suppliers having the wrong data? Their verification seems that it would make this hijack impossible unless there are other underlying issues that we cannot see. Maybe we’re jumping the gun, but after what’s been going on with Google, this is likely to be a hijack issue as well, or a third party not properly validating Local Listings, Look at our URL and the other sites that are supposed to be located at our office. Odd…

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