Posted by vingoldI had mentioned the other day that I was changing my SEO ways.  As Gabhad correctly observed, I had spread myself too thin.This week I’ve been doing an audit of each of my sites, looking at current rankings, traffic, etc, and looking at how competitive each niche area was.  The whole process got me thinking about how we select the niches that we’re in – and whether we’re in the right niche for us.I put together this very simple and short guide to finding YOUR niche:All of us can put the things that we do into three basic circles: things we like to do, things we are good at, and things that can make us money by doing them.   Step 1:  Make a List of the Things You Like to DoThe easiest way to do this is to take a look around your house at the books and magazines that you read, at the things you collect, at the photos of places you’ve been, etc. If you’re a person who doesn’t have many books or magazines in your house – look at your browser’s bookmarks or the blogs that you subscribe to.  Anything to help you verbalize and catalog your current interests.For me – I am a bit of a book person.  My house is chock full of books and magazines.  This gave me a huge list of my interests.  It turns out I have an interest in a lot of things.  But just because I have an interest in something, doesn’t mean I am necessarily good at it.  That leads me to step 2… Step 2:  Make a List of the Things You Are Good AtIt is important to note here that unless you’re an abnormally boring person, this won’t be the same list as number 1.  First of all, there will be things you are interested in that you are not good at.  Second of all, there will be things you might be good at that you have very little interest in.For instance, I am rather good at accounting.  But I don’t like doing it.  How do you make an objective list at the things you are good at?  You listen to what your friends and family are asking you. I’ve been a fan of Tom Petersfor about 20 years now.  One of the points he continually makes is that we should all have our own brand and be known for something.  In fact, most of us probably have a “brand” without even knowing it.One way to determine what you are good at – or known for – is to pay attention when people come to you for advice. If your mom is always calling you about her wireless network, that counts.  If a person you used to work for is calling you with a wireless network question, that counts more. Maybe you’re the expert on video games in your little sphere of influence. Or you’re always the de facto bartender at all social functions. You might even be the guy that gets called whenever someone’s car breaks down.  The point is, unless you’re utterly useless or a hermit or both, you probably get people calling you at least a few timesa week asking you for advice.  To these people, you are the resident subject matter expert.  And unless you hang out with complete morons, you must have some authority on the subject.  You just need to highlight and build on this authority with your niche site or blog.  Then, start with your audience of a few friends and family and broaden it out to the world.Now, if your goal is to make money doing this, or even to break even and cover your hosting and other expenses, you need to make one last list... Step 3:  Make a List of the Things You Can Make Money DoingThis is the wonderful thing about the Internet.  With enough imagination and traffic you can monetize just about anything.  But in order to cover our bases in case we don’t get the traffic and to make this a more fruitful exercise, let's drill down deeper.  In addition to the traditional forms of blog income (Adsense, affiliate sales, subscriptions, classified advertising, etc.), there is also the selling of products and services.  If you’re good at woodworking, maybe in addition to a blog about woodworking you could sell items you’ve made, or plans for projects.  If you have a scuba diving blog, you can partner up with a local travel agent to offer guided tours and trips to your favorite Carribbean dive spots.  And, of course, if you’re an SEO, you could sell services or an SEO book (although I think this has been done).  For consultants, in addition to services, there are always e-books.  E-books get a bad rep in some segments, but they don’t all have to be crap.  And with a little extra effort you could make it a real book and just have it published on demand.  The point is to look beyond the traditional forms of internet money making that rely on a lot of traffic.  Because, in some cases, depending on the niche, the traffic just ain’t going to be there, even if you're ranked #1 for every relevant keyword imaginable. Step 4:  Find the sweet spots.Now, if you take a look at your three lists you’ll see some areas where they overlap.  Ideally, you should pick a niche that covers at least two of the lists.  Maybe it is something you are good at and you’re interested in, but you can’t make any money at it.  And that doesn’t matter because you find it fun.  Or maybe you’re interested in it, and you can make money at it, but you might not be that good at it.  Then go for it, because you’re having fun doing it and you’re making a little bit of coin while you're getting experience, so it's all great.And it could be something you’re good at and you make money doing it, but it bores you to death.  If this is what you came up with, give up now.  Even if it is a niche that is wildly popular on the web, just don’t do it.  A lot of people are already working in this area of their life, and it's called a 9-to-5 job.  Who wants that?  If it were me, I’d go with something I liked, even if I didn’t make as much money doing it.Ideally, however, you’ll have one or two things where all three overlap:You enjoy it, you’re good at it, and people are willing to give you money for it.This, my friends, is when work no longer becomes work!Good Luck! Note:  If you’ve done all of the above and you think you have a good niche, go read Rand’s helpful post hereand do a little sanity check.Do you like this post? YesNo

  Posted by great scott!If you hang out online much (and if you're reading this, chances are you do), you've no doubt noticed the seeming onslaught of fevered, near-rabid support for Republican presidential candidate, Ron Paul.  The Paul campaign seems to get a ton of mention online. In fact, even the mainstream media is finally acknowledging--albeit in a very suspicious manner--the apparent surge of grassroots support for "Dr. No," as he's sometimes called. ABC News, among others, did a high-profile story about the "Ron Paul Effect" and looked into whether or not the apparent surge in online support for this dark horse candidate could lead to a reciprocal increase in offline support and coverage.I decided to look at some numbers to get an idea of how real this swell of Ron Paul support is, both online and off.  Is Ron Paul gaining a huge show of support from all across the spectrum, or does he just have a small but loyal (and web savvy) following that's beaten all of the other candidates to the concept of viral politics?Stories about Ron Paul in the Reddit Hot 50 at the time of this writing: 7Stories about Ron Paul in the Digg Top 50 at the time of this writing: 0**(Apparently some of the users at  Reddit claim that Digg is automatically buryinganything having to do with Ron Paul.) If you browse Reddit with any frequency, you know that you can't close your eyes and point without hitting a post extolling the virtues and statistical triumphs (fund raising accomplishments, online debate poll victories) of Ron Paul. As online marketers, we all know the value, in attention and links, of getting a story on the front page of Digg or Reddit. In the realm of politics though, how is this attention carrying over across the web?Looking at Google Trends data, Paul has definitely seen a significant increase in search volume, with apparent spikes around Republican debates (starting with the May 4th debate in California).  Rudy Giuliani, one of the Republican front-runners, barely has a pulse online according to this chart, while Democratic leaders Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have remained rather close all year.This would seem to indicate that there's been broad interest in Paul, steadily increasing after a huge spike to prominence following the May debate. But before we jump to any conclusions, let's look at some other indicators.Alexa data seems to mirror Google almost identically: a steady climb, eventually beating the Democratic candidates, beginning in May.A few spikes aside, Technorati indicates that, since May, Ron Paul has, on average, been receiving slightly less blog coverage than Obama and quite a bit less than Clinton (note the Y-axis; these graphs are not in the same scale).And lastly, according to Compete.com, which uses a variety of sourcesto derive its usage data, Paul has, you guessed it, been steadily gaining since May, but hasn't caught Clinton or Obama.So, what does this all mean? Well, it's hard to say.  The numbers above could indicate several things:Ron Paul's performance in debates and other media coverage has garnered increasing interest from the public, now approaching the levels of DNC front-runners Clinton and Obama.Ron Paul's loyal support base (Paulites) have strategically managed to create a successful viral campaign for their candidate that has made him an online darling and grabbed him a lot of attention.Fox News and others are right that Paulites haven't gone viral, they're just spamming the crap out of every forum, poll, comment thread, and social media portal they can find.Any way you slice it, Paul, who himself seems both impressed and amazed by his tremendous online presence, is on of the first candidates in American politics--whether by intention or fortune--to effectively gain political momentum almost solely through online efforts.  As the ABC article notes, for a candidate that has been called "fringe" more times than one could count, the mainstream media is now being forced to cover him, even if it's just to marvel at his online support-base and phenomenal showing in non-scientific polls. Whether out of suspicion, contempt (I'm looking at you, Sean Hannity), or amazement, the mainstream media has found an interesting story in the Ron Paul campaign, and it's all the result of his online army. The stories of record fund raising accomplishments, growing support, domination in post-debate polling, and even improving oddsamong Las Vegas bookmakers seem to indicate that the Ron Paul e-juggernaut may be on the verge of becoming a real boy.  But there's a disconnect.  In actual, in-person, scientific polling, Ron Paul barely registers.  In Gallup polls taken since March of 2007, Ron Paul has only received 1-3% from likely voters (3% in April, after the California debate attention spike, but back down to 2% by October), putting him near the back of the GOP pack. In the recent Ames Straw Poll in Iowa, Congressman Paul took 9.1% of the vote, placing him 7th; far from the lead (Mitt Romney), but ahead of better funded and less-fringe (depending on your views) candidates such as Duncan Hunter and Tom Tancredo. Is Ron Paul having difficulty reaching a mainstream, less web-savvy audience? Perhaps. Polling in early primary states shows Paul as barely a blip on voters' radar...not a death sentence, but certainly a difficult hurdle (witness the meltdown of the Howard Dean campaign after a few early primary losses, then remember that Paul is a Republican, where polls tend to be far more indicative of actual results). Paul's campaign, now flush with online fund raising capital, finally prepared and launched television ads last week...in New Hampshire, the fifth state in the Republican primary schedule.  This unfortunately means that Dr. Paul's efforts at a serious offline, mainstream media campaign are targeting a possible primary showing almost three weeks (and four well-publicized primaries) after the Iowa caucus, and only two weeks before Super Tuesday.  These are some ambitious deadlines, to say the least. While Ron Paul's stellar rise to internet stardom and his amazing fund raising numbers from online efforts, thanks in large part to the seemingly relentless efforts of the Paulites, will likely join the 2004 Dean campaign as the playbook for online campaigning, it may be too late to transition that momentum into real poll numbers.  Unfortunately, if Ron Paul doesn't do well in primaries, many pundits will likely say it's proof that non-scientific polls were rigged, and the "Ron Paul Revolution" was mostly smoke and mirrors from a small group of fanatical but savvy followers.  National marketing campaigns cannot live online alone. Web-based ad campaigns may represent some of the best ROI for your marketing buck, but for a campaign of the necessary scope and breadth of a presidential bid, mainstream media, particularly television, is a proven and seemingly necessary component.  That may change one day, and campaigns like that of Dr. Paul are leading the way, demonstrating that the internet can reach a passionate, motivated portion of the electorate that will speak loudly and give generously.  But whether Ron Paul is the candidate that can take that online momentum and transform it into a serious bid for the White House remains to be seen.NOTE FROM RAND: For anyone who wants it, here's the comparative data from blog & news search sources as well.Google Blog Search results:59,364for Ron Paul93,384for Hillary Clinton67,199for Barack Obama46,714for Rudy GiulianiAnother 4,570for Rudolph Giuliani43,139for Mitt RomneyGoogle News Search results:5,333for Ron Paul23,708for Hillary Clinton28,476for Barack Obama21,411for Rudy GiulianiAnother 663for Rudolph Giuliani19,480for Mitt RomneyAs was noted in the comments, we have no way to verify whether this is primarily positive or negative press, but it at least illustrates the quantity of online activity around the subject.p.s.As with all SEOmoz posts that  touch on politics, please limit the comments to the subjects of Internet Marketing and SEO - there's lots of other places on the web to discuss the political implications of Paul and company.Technorati TagsSEOmoz, Ron Paul, Republican, Primary, Polls, Fundraising, Campaign, GOP, 2008 ElectionDo you like this post? YesNo

  Posted by randfishSorry it's taken me so long to get to all of these. The past few days trying to get grounded after a week in Stockholm have been even busier than the usual (and that's saying something). With a little luck, though, we'll have two very exciting announcements tomorrow and Thursday, and we've managed to get some great YOUmoz entries over the last few days - keep 'em coming!For those who might not recall, I asked for questions in this post, responded to many in this one, and now am trying to tackle another big chunk. Here goes!What is the relationship between Third Door Media & SEOmoz? (this question wasn't asked in the thread, but pops up all the time in email and in person)Third Door Mediais the company that produces Search Engine Land, Sphinn, Search Marketing Expo & Search Marketing Now (a podcast series website). Most of our readers will know it as being backed by writers Danny Sullivan and Chris Sherman. In August, SEOmoz and Third Door talked about doing some cross-promotional stuff between our companies. Since then, SEOmoz has been and will be promoting the SMX conference series, and Third Door is helping to promote SEOmoz's premium membership product.There's no money exchanging hands, just a cooperation between the businesses. One important area where this does NOT overlap is in the editorial content of either side. If you see someone writing something nice about SEOmoz on SearchEngineLand or inviting SEOmozzers to speak at the SMX events or positive stories on Sphinn, that has nothing to do with the cross promotion.In fact, as savvy readers might be aware, one of the best ways to get on top of Sphinn in the last few months is actually to write something negative about SEOmoz :) Both parties are very careful not to let our business relationship get in the way of editorial integrity. You can be sure that links between the sites (in the blogs/articles) don't exist out of any obligation, but rather because the content creator intended, editorially, to highlight material they found useful to readers.I expect the cross promotion will continue for the foreseeable future, and thus, you'll probably see a lot of the following:Discounts on SEOmoz premium membership from Third Door propertiesDiscounts on SMX Events for SEOmoz premium membersBanner ads on Third Door properties for SEOmozBanners on SEOmoz for SMX EventsSponsorship of certain parts of SMX conferences by SEOmozPromotion of SMX Events in SEOmoz's emails (our first official newsletter is coming soon!)Cooperation in other arenas where it makes senseWe're obviously thrilled to be working with the entire Third Door Media team.I have been working for a small e-com design/dev group for a year now, and I have just recently come to the conclusion that they will not be ready for a proactive SEO dept within their ranks.  I mean, hey...why take a proactive approach to SEO/SEM when engaging the client when you can charge them out the wazoo later? As this does not match my model for honest and proactive business, I have decided to bail.  : )  I am thinking about stepping out and doing this on my own on a consultant basis. Do you have any adivce for a new SEO consultant? I am being stupid, and should I find another real job? : ) Is there a market for upfront and honest SEOs focusing on natural/organic results based on in depth keyword analysis and market research?  I do not want to be in the business of getting clients based on false expectations.It's certainly my belief that a market for honest SEO services exist. It's something I've been fighting for since I started in the industry. I don't envy you the task of starting a new business – it's a long, hard, uphill fight, but I also can't help but endorse your decision. Luckily, there are quite few benefits as well. You get to run your own business, be your own boss, and are ultimately responsible for your own success or failure. I think that tackling this topic really requires a blog post of its own, but I'll try to throw that into the rotation in the near future. In the meantime, you might try asking at a good forum like Cre8asite.I noticed that most of the translated pages on our site have no page rank (main version has PR3-5) and suspect that some of them are in the Supplemental index. Yes, these pages are poorly interlinked and we are working on it, but will this be enough? For the other languages we use parameters (example ...?Lng=fr) and not subdomains/directories (I am not a web developer so I don't know if I explained this correctly, but hope you understood me).I think I'm grasping your question here, though it's a bit tough to follow. My answer would be yes - proper internal linking should bring your pages more visibility and potentially PageRank (I assume you mean visible PR in the toolbar). However, if your site doesn't have enough link juice to begin with, you may be spreading an ounce of butter on a mile of bread - it won't go very far. External links and content to attract them may be required to fully remedy the situation.We have the site translated in several languages and have also bought the domains for these languages (oursite.ru, oursite.pl etc) and set them as aliases to the main site (oursite.com). We want to increase our visibility in the other languages, and I was wondering which will be the better course of action: (a) promote the other domains, or (b) promote the translated pages on the main .com domain?Generally speaking, it's incredibly hard to target multiple languages in multiple countries from a single website. Although it's completely against my general philosophy of "better to be big," you're probably going to have to build out the separate domains. You can interlink them (as it makes sense to do so for visitors with other language requirements), but you'll also need to build the popularity of each individually.I'm reading the original Beginner's Guide, and have come to the part about visitor tracking. My website does indeed allow me to see what browser people are using and what time they visit, but I don't understand how that information is useful. You do not expand on this point in the original Beginner's Guide, but I hope you will do so, either in response to this question or in the updated Beginner's Guide. In fact, general information about how to use visitor tracking data would be very useful. Do I say to myself, "Ah, the people who come here really love pocket charts -- those should be my featured product this month" or do I say, "People don't find us when they search for playground equipment -- I'd better get onto that"?This is an incredibly broad topic and I'll certainly take the input for the updated Beginner's Guide. In the meantime, I might suggest you read Avinash's series on Standard Metrics Revisited - #1, #2and #3. That should at least be a good start.I have one other question, and I'd rather have this one answered: what happened to Darren  (http://www.problogger.net/archives/2007/10/24/problogger-pagerank-4/)? Remember you said "Me & Matt have a "Beautiful" relationship. Quick, cal, him and get that answer for me.Umm... When I said that, it was completely tongue-in-cheek. However, I can tell you my opinion of what happened. In Google's eyes, Darren was accepting money for links that passed PageRank value and Google wished to let him (and his buyers) know that they were aware of these actions and that his site was therefore passing less link value than before. There seems to be conflicting information out there about the value of the description meta tag. There is no doubt that a well written description is valuable to entice searchers to click on your listings. Many other SEO sources also describe the importance of ensuring the content in your description tag is relevant to the page content. These sources advocate keyword relevancy between the title, the description tag, and page content to improve rankings. This would indicate that the search engine algorithms actually factor this in when ranking a site. In my experience, keyword relevancy does seem to have a positive effect on rankings. What is your opinion on this?Luckily, I've written a blog post all about the meta description tag. I haven't done enough testing to say with certainty that the semantic relationship between title, meta description, and page content is a large factor in rankings, but it wouldn't surprise me to see it being used. Luckily, it's also what makes sense for visitors, so there's no extra SEO step required here.Is it a good idea to create a page listing sites that link to you, but that search engines haven't found yet? (either on the site, or a different domain)?A good idea for tracking or monitoring purposes? Maybe - but your analytics tool should be doing this for you through the referring links/domains sections. If you're asking from an SEO perspective, I can't think of a particularly good reason to create a page with any content that you then hide from search engines. Perhaps I'm not fully grasping your question.Can you tell me the SEO benefit or penalties of domain and subdomain relationships? (I heard bad domains can penalize subdomains but not the other way around?) Since they are treated as individual websites, are there any other benefits - like if you have 1000 links to a subdomain, does it have any effect on the root domain? Can you elaborate on any of this?I'm not sure I'd be fully confident that bad subdomains can't hurt you (particularly if you have lots of links from your main domain pointing to it). I'd probably speculate that subdomains and domains can hurt one another if they contain spam and are untrusted or penalized by the search engines. As for having 1000 links to a subdomain - I suppose it would affect the main domain in that, in the engines' eyes, that subdomain might be treated less like a separate entity and more like a part of the main domain, but we've still seen examples where heavily-linked-to subdomains aren't quite as trusted and fully "part" of the main domain when it comes to search rankings. I'm not sure what you're looking for elaboration on, but my general rule of thumb is that unless there is a truly excellent reason to use a subdomain (reputation management through SERPs domination, for example), stick to just using subfolders.Did you ever find out why Google tanked your "recommended" page? And if you found out it was because of something specific one of your listed vendors did, would you out them and tell us what happened?I never did find out for sure, though I'm hazarding a guess right now that it actually isn't related to who's being linked-to, but rather to the use of a massive amount of hidden text through CSS (the "drop-downs" when you click on a listing). It's too bad, too, because that page is using the CSS hidden property in a very white hat way.What strategies would you use for a site that has mainly video content?I'd make sure that those videos were on separate pages, create my own embedding system (ala ComedyCentral), and create code that linked back to the individual video pages in the embed portion (which YouTube really should be doing). I'd also try to produce video content that was likely to be used and displayed by bloggers, and leverage social media and viral promotion sites like Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon, etc. to help get the word out.Are you ever gonna approve my friend request on Facebook??I log in to Facebook every 2-3 weeks and have several hundred un-approved requests. Generally speaking, if we haven't met in person, I'm not approving, but that's not because I don't like you lots and lots :-) It's just because I needed some sort of arbitrary way to staunch the flow. Besides which - since I never use Facebook, friending me on it isn't particularly valuable :)Do you ever write code? When was the last time / what did you write?Oooo... That's a good one. I think the last time I wrote code was when I was tweaking the template for my personal website and got frustrated with it. I'm a horrible coder - I basically try to steal something from somewhere else (a forum, someone else's site) and then mess with it until it works. Usually it doesn't. Thankfully, I now have 3 talented programmers who can help out.In terms of size (if not blog audience, sadly), we are at a place you guys were not too long ago. What one lesson do you wish you had known that you have learned on the way from where we are to where you are?Damn... That's a phenomenal question. I'd say maybe that hiring, of all the things a business owner does, is the most important and the most worth a significant effort. We've been really lucky with most of the folks we've brought on board, but we've had a few missteps as well, and they've cost us dearly. Hire people that you can trust, people you are dying to work with, and people whose drive and ambition and intelligence exceeds your own. Then pay them well, give them great incentives to shine, and the freedom, responsibility, and power to succeed. Last, don't forget that they're going to fail just as much as you do and make sure to cut them slack when it's deserved.Whisky or brandy?I think I'm going to have to say whisky, in particular scotch, which is a favorite beverage of mine.Wine or beer?Depends on the meal. I love wine - cooking with it, drinking it with the right food, learning about it. But, if I'm watching NFL games, wine simply doesn't work.Champagne or cocktail?Unless it's a damn good mojito or a Tom Collins in the heat, I'm going with champagne.What do you think will be the next major advancement in Search Engines technology and how will it affect SEO?Don't hold me to this, and I don't particularly like my own track record with predicting the future of search, but I'm going to go with something related to this advancement by MSN/Live with their product search results. See how they know whether the comments are good or bad? I'm guessing that raw popularity might one day be partially or wholly replaced by analysis of whether the references talking about and linking to a site/page had good or bad things to say (and how important they felt that source to be). Lots of natural language processing required, but clearly the engines are already making some of those strides.How will that affect SEO? For starters, it means no more negative linkbait, but it also probably means the rise of greater efforts to get good press, in both the mainstream media and the blogosphere, as opposed to just raw attention marketing.Let's say I have $5,000.00 available to spend on SEO. It's not enough to hire you guys, but what or whom would you recommend to spend the money on (for SEO of course ;) )?It really, really depends on what you need to do. If you want a site audit and someone to help you fix things up, there's a ton of good companies on the recommended list. I'd say that at least 30% of them offer services in the range of $5K for simple audit + recommendations.If you're just starting out, though, I'd probably pay it all to a fantastic designer/developer who can build you a great looking site on Wordpress or Drupal, then get to work yourself putting together kickass content.Why did you choose the .org version of the domain for your business?  Do you expect to switch to .com any time in the foreseeable future?Someone asked this in the Seattle Times article, and I thought Brier actually did a good job of answering. He's right in that when we started SEOmoz, it was just a repository of articles and tools about SEO, with no business model behind it (we weren't even taking clients in SEO, as we didn't feel that we knew enough to do so). Obviously, it's become much, much more, but I really like the .org and don't particularly want to move to the .com. We still provide a great free community here - the blog, YOUmoz, lots of free tools, free articles and resources, etc. I know we're not truly "open-source," but I hope that we can maintain the ability to give away as much as possible for the life of the business. I have searched and searched the web for a good answer as to why Yahoo search results are so different from Google.  I even asked Rand the question before.  I scoured the web to find a bunch of people commenting on the following:Yahoo gives value to different links Yahoo focuses more on keyword density Yahoo cares more about W3C Yahoo is biased towards their advertisers DMOZ listing is more heavily weighted My research and testing have been inconclusive.  Rand, don't hold back.  What is Yahoo doing that keeps some of my websites from ranking well when they dominate in Google?In my experience, I've found that the first two you mentioned are sort of true. Yahoo! does seem to care more about different links than Google does - go after the links that rank well at Yahoo! itself and you should have more success. Yahoo! isn't focused on "keyword density" per se. In fact, none of the engines use keyword density - see nonsense. However, Yahoo! does seem to prefer sites and pages that use keyword a bit more prominently. They also don't have quite the sensitivity to varied anchor text (or anchor text overall) as Google. Of course, they've just recently had a big rankings update, so these tips may now be old news. We'll have to keep testing and tweaking and see what we find.What are some best practices when trying to acquire backlinks from quality, relevant sites? Is there a certain tone you should have in the email letter, certain things you shouldn't bring up, certain things you should etc.I wrote a blog post on how to write a good link requesta while back (Michael Martinez did too), and Todd Malicoat had a great one. I'd check those out first, then think about how, in the age of social media and natural linking, you might not even need to ask for a link through traditional means - it might be better to simply get it in front of the right eyes.Do MozPoints mean anything to the SEOmoz staff (e.g. Do you look at the top 50 mozzers as a source of useful contacts, people to look out for at conferences, or start reading their blogs based on their interaction in the community), or are they there mainly to encourage people to contribute and bring greater value to SEOmoz as a whole?We most certainly do! In fact, every month, we go through the top mozpoint earners and give away a month of free premium membership to folks who we feel really earned it (with YOUmoz submissions, great comments, etc.). There's also a lot more link value from being on the top members pageback to those profile pages - check out how well they all rank at the engines.Who is your favorite Transformer?Same as everyone else's - Optimus Prime. Although, I was a big fan of Soundwave from the Decepticons and Grimlock of the Dinobots.What is your favorite linkbait headline on SEOmoz?Ummm... No idea, really. Maybe - 525,600 Metrics, How Do You Measure, Measure a Link?What advice would you give college students seeking to enter the search marketing industry?Get an internship while you're still in college, prove to the search firm that you're indispensable, and then stick around. Make sure you get to attend some industry conferences and play in the blogosphere while you're at it. That social interaction makes a big difference. [Note from Rebecca:It worked well for me!]What TV (if any) do you watch?I still do the Daily Show & Colbert Report as often as I can. I'm also a fan of Tina Fey(got a bit of a crush on her, actually), so 30 Rock is a must. The Office has grown on me, and I love the Venture Brothers a little too much.What movie is a guilty viewing pleasure (stolen from R.Kelley)?I barely watch movies - finding 2.5 hours of free time all together is rough. I did see Ratatouille recently and absolutely loved it.Bonus: When is shor releasing his Premium guide?Yeah, seriously, what the hell is that slacker up to? What's the most black hat tactic you have ever used?Well, I can't personally claim credit for it, but when Matt was here, he cloaked this pageto rank #1 for the query Oswald Cobblepot, then hid links all over the place pointing to it with that anchor text. We play some weird office pranks around here. [Note from Rebecca:It took me a while to find it. I guess I don't vanity search a lot.]Also.. a bonus question to solve a dispute between myself and my girlfriend: Who would win a fight between Ethelfrith the destroyer and Ghengis Khan?Ask a historian.. And check it out - we're now #2 for Ethelfrith the Destroyer.I have two questions which might seem of the newbie variety: if pagerank is a set value for each page, why would you link out to other sites if that drains PR away from your own site? I know that PR hoarding is seen as a bad thing - obviously in terms of natural site development it doesnt make sense, but in terms of increasing pagerank it does. Or does it?Hoarding PR isn't always a bad thing, but linking out to other sites has great benefits. It helps you get links in, it makes your site more valuable for visitors, it shows potential linkers that you're willing to link out and it can provide SEO benefit. There's been a few tests reported where the page with external pointing links will outrank the page without - we haven't done this particular test, yet, but it wouldn't surprise me.Also, why is it so much harder to get ranked for long tail keywords in Yahoo than in Google (or is it just me)?No, I'd generally agree. Yahoo! (at least until recently) seemed to prefer the more niche sites, so having one gigantic website that targeted and ranked for everything was more difficult. I think this latest shift has more focus on authority sites, however, so you might do better with it.Rand, can I pretty please have a signed photograph?Sure? I guess so...Do you have a GUI to show who is thumbing up and down what? And do you ever sneak a peek?We have the ability to monitor all the activity on the site - blog, YOUmoz, tools, thumbs, etc. Whenever we see weird stuff popping up, yeah, we'll definitely have a peek.Is is possible to lose rankings after adding your website to Google local business? My situation is like this: I was ranking pretty good for "keyword A,""keyword B," and "keyword C," where A, B and C are city names. A is the city in which I live, and B and C are nearby cities. Shortly after submitting my business to Google local, I was ranking very low for "keyword B" and "keyword C," but my rankings for "keyword A" have improved.While it seems very unlikely that this is a direct result of submitting to Google local, I suppose it's possible that Google has geo-targeted your site more carefully and now feels you're less relevant to local queries for those other cities. I would, however, keep trying to point links at the problem until you get those rankings back. It's certainly not going to prevent you from ranking.Do you think there is a future for SEO consultants? At the end of the day, the overwhelming majority of SEO work today seems to be design and information architecture related - improper title & meta tagging, not alt content for images and rich media, non-descrpitive URLs, no sitemap, etc. As the other areas of net development get more mature, good SEO practices should ultimately become embeded in the role of each department: copywriters always creating SEO friendly title tags and meta tags in addition to their normal copy, programmers always using friendly URLs, etc...So, when all new CMS systems and other pieces of online software are more or less SEO compliant off the shelf, where do you see the professional search engine optimization firm moving to? Moreso, social media optimization and link building than on-site? Conversion funnel analysis? Usability? Will they even be considered search engine optimization firms anymore, or just online marketing consultants?First off, it's been at least 6 years with pretty much the same standards for good SEO-friendly design, yet in my experience, the web development world hasn't come close to embracing search standards. Not even a little bit. In fact, with the emergence of AJAX as a popular technology, things seem to be getting worse at times. However, as I noted in my post on why search marketing is necessary Sunday night, even if every domain were SEO-friendly, there would still be a need for marketing, creative content, promotion, keyword research, targeting, etc.What does it take to be a great SEO? What are the personality traits and skills that separate the good SEOs from the great ones?Sounds like a good title for a blog post to me :-) I think I'll try to address this will a more complete answer in the future.What exactly is a "moz"?It's when a muppet moves to the Land of Oz. As in the common phrase, "No way! Did you hear Kermit & Piggy are going moz?"I read in one of your other blogs about the premium membership becoming the major source of revenue for SEOmoz. Rand, who do you see as your major competitors in this "new" education market and why? What is your competitive advantage?Right now, there's sites like WebmasterWorld, which competes in some areas. There's also MarketMotive, which has some training and educational content (but no tools or Q+A or discount store, etc). I'd say we're hard pressed to find a very direct competitor at the moment, but I'm sure that won't last long.Does SEOmoz have an Internal Code of Ethics, something written that declares what employees will or will not do when it comes to SEO or dealing with clients? What is in your code of ethics?We don't have one! We obviously try to be as moral and ethical as possible, and we've turned down our fair share of 100K+ contracts because of it (in realms like politics, tobacco, & even retail). Maybe it's time to make one, though.What are some major ethical "gray areas" (blackhat v. whitehat or choosing which clients to take, etc.) that you and your employees encounter while doing SEO or working for clients? How do you handle those situations? How do you choose what is ethical and what is not?It's obviously hard to discuss these examples specifically, but I'd say that while we've encountered some ethical dilemnas in clients to take on, I can only ever think of one instance where a client wanted to use some black hat (cloaking) and we suggested a white hat alternative that was nearly as good, so they went with that. The only other black hat or gray hat area we enter is paid links, but I can't find a moral or ethical argument against paid links, it's just a question of whether you're willing to go against Google's wishes.How do you and your employees hold each other accountable when it comes to ethics and ethical dilemmas?Again, don't really have a good answer to this one. We've had a couple issues of ethics arise over the years, but I can't discuss them at all - it's one of the parts of a business that simply can't be disclosed.Have the steps you've taken to ensure an ethical company impacted employee behavior? How so?They've made Jane less prone to grand theft auto - seriously, she used to come in with boosted Ferarris every other day and pretend it was nothing. Eventually we had to tell her that while it may be fine to "borrow" other people's supercars in New Zealand, here in the states, we just don't have that cavalier, Kiwi 'tude.What do you do to promote ethical policies (practices), both internally at SEOmoz and globally (this website, conferences, speaking opportunities)?I'd say that we've always tried to be a good example to the community - sharing as much as we can regarding SEO knowledge, tactics, tips, data, etc. I don't know that's there's any conscious effort I can describe here - I've never set out to actively promote a certain code of ethics. However, I would say that my own moral code, though certainly not in sync with historically traditional "morality," has been a big influence in the company, even if it isn't obvious or spelled out.OK. That's all I've got for tonight - hopefully a third round either at the end of this week or next week can polish off the remainder.[Note from Rebecca:I changed the formatting of this post after some people mentioned to me that the extended italicized responses were a bit hard on the eyes. Hope this is better!]Do you like this post? YesNo

  Posted by rebeccaWant to know what a typical day at the SEOmoz office looks like? How's about I give you a sneak peek? Here's a day in the life of an SEOmozzer, from start to finish...7:15 am: Wake up7:45 am: Head to gym8:00-9:00 am: Work out9:00-10:00 am: Drive home, shower, get ready for work10:15 am: Get to office10:20 am: Have a bagel (Blueberry. That's a goodbagel.)10:30-12:30: Read/respond to emails, edit blog/YOUmoz12:30-1:30 pm: Take our newest hire, Sarah, out to lunch (ooh, sushi). Charge $90 (don't judge, we fed eight people) to company card (thanks, SEOmoz!)1:30 pm: Apologize to Rand for forgetting to invite him to lunch (Oops. Aw, he looks so sad.)1:31 pm: Decide to give Rand lunch receipt later.1:35-2:30 pm: Start to get back on track with tasks, until...2:30 pm: Dave Naylorpops his fookin' head in our officeHappy to see us, as always2:35-3:20 pm: Leave office to get coffee with Dave 3:25 pm: Head back to office3:35 pm: Leave office again to get coffee with Scott and a potential client4:15 pm: Head back to office4:20 pm: Come in and see that during the forty five minutes I was gone, a giant piece of furniture has been ripped out of the "pit" and is now sitting in our kitchenThe desk......is now in our kitchen4:30 pm: Notice on my way to the bathroom that we have received a ransom notefrom the folks at Pole Position Marketingthat threatens to release incriminating photos of Brock Sampsonif we fail to meet their demands. (For background information about Brock, please see this postand his corresponding resume.)4:35 pm: Wonder if Stoney deGeyter actually gets any work done, or if he just spends his days plotting ways to mess with SEOmoz4:36 pm: Realize that Ihaven't gotten any work done4:37 pm: Look over at Jane, who isactually working (on her presentation for SMX London. Look how happy she is! Being productive is good!)Jane being a diligent worker4:38 pm: Feel guilty4:40 pm: Look at my task list4:40 pm: Look at the clock4:40 pm: Think to myself, "Ah, the hell with it," snap some photos, and start putting together this blog postAnd that, my friends, is just another day at the office. ;)[Postscript: Of course this isn't how things are typically run around here, but today was just so damn odd that I had to share. I may put up an actual "typical day" post soon to prove to you naysayers out there that yes, I actually do earn my paycheck.Do you like this post? YesNo

  Posted by randfishIt's sad that we don't cover the paid side of search marketing here at SEOmoz with more frequency, but with a little luck and some elbow grease (or, at least, borrowed expertise), I'm trying to dip our toe a bit deeper. Thus, it's with great pleasure that I welcome Mona Elesseily from Page Zero. Mona's a paid search guru, a fellow Northwesterner (albeit a Canadian one) and one of my favorite people to spend time with. She's graciously agreed to an interview with SEOmoz about her background, her work and her new book, Mastering Panama(no, it's not about canals).Mona at the launch party for her book in San JoseFor those who may not be familiar with your background, could you give us a brief bio? What got you into search? How did you end up working with Andrew?I was in finance for 5 years before I started in search (in my past life I was a certified financial planner). Through this work, I recognized I loved marketing and saw a unique opportunity with the growth of the Internet. To round out my skills, I did post-grad in marketing (online specialization) at the University of British Columbia and landed a job at Radiant Communications (sold to Devlin eBusiness Architects in 2006). After my stint at Radiant, I contacted Andrew Goodman. There was an opportunity with Page Zero Media and I’ve been with the company for almost four years.Your new book - Mastering Panama - is all about strategies for Yahoo!'s new paid search management interface. What made you choose that subject for your book?As I was working on PPC accounts, I got to really understand the differences between the various platforms. They were confusing! With a book in mind, I started keeping notes on things I learned about Y!SM. My “notes” turned into a 40 page document and eventually my first 100 page book on Y!SM. When Y!SM upgraded to Panama, I wrote my second Y!SM book. The second book launched on August 7 2007 to fairly glowing reviews - even from Yahoo! :-)http://www.ysmblog.com/blog/2007/08/23/a-plan-a-primer-panamaWhat are some of the substantive differences between Panama and Yahoo!'s old interface? Is it a particularly complex product? Are there subtleties that require a lot of experience and expertise to master?That’s a great question. With the new system, there’s a learning curve but once you get used to it, it’s pretty easy to work with. There are some significant differences especially if you’re used to using other engines. In the book, I include both “action items” and “helpful hints”. The “action items” are tips I suggest advertisers try in their accounts. The “helpful hints” are more advanced nuggets that can even trip up experienced advertisers. More advanced advertisers can also benefit from information on power features like the new ranking algorithm, geotargeting and campaign forecasting.In general, with Panama, there are advances in ad testing, forecasting, campaign organization, and many other mission-critical fronts that require you to work harder at first but can help advertisers achieve better long-term performance.Writing a book has loomed as a huge obstacle for me personally - what inspired you to get it done? How did you manage your time and energy to put it together? Is the workload as bad as everyone says?Yep, writing books is certainly hard work. To get my latest version done (written in 10 months), I set small writing goals and tried to achieve them consistently (for example daily). Much of the time, I felt like I was writing shorter pieces/articles instead of an entire book. Think shorter pieces Rand!Also, selecting a compelling topic is important. I was genuinely interested in Y!SM so my writing was interesting for me. While I was writing, industry folk (and marketers) were clamoring for new Y!SM platform information and that kept me motivated as well.Comparing Panama and AdWords - what do you think are the biggest pros and cons of each?One of the biggest advantages to using Y!SM is of course its broad reach – it’s behind Google, but it’s not like you can ignore #2. In certain areas, there are what appear to be some major advantages to Yahoo (but in reality these are differences you need to exploit, they’re not necessarily advantages or disadvantages for either platform). A simple example is there are extra characters in the Y!SM headline (15 of them actually!). This can provide an edge over an advertiser (like including additional product /service features or offers) who has simply cut and paste ad copy from another PPC campaign. There’s tremendous potential if advertisers take the time to understand Y!SM and tweak campaigns accordingly. There are obviously many more examples. Don’t even get me started on the different matching technologies! Understanding platform differences paired with the fact that many advertisers are making significant errors can help advertisers exploit the Y!SM system.Moving into more general arenas of paid search - what are some verticals or new advertising products that you predict will become popular from the major engines? Will Google's radio and print ads have a big impact? Is anyone going to get more behavioral and blend search history with display advertising? Online marketing is still in its infancy. As the Internet matures, I believe online marketing will become more integrated and perhaps nearly synonymous with what’s considered “traditional” or offline marketing. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer seems to agree. Recently, he said: "Over time, all ad money will go through a digital ad platform... as all media goes digital; all advertising goes digital”. The fact that Google is offering radio, print and now TV ads also shows the online world is thinking more in integrated terms as well. With integration, the online world brings accountability and measurability to TV and other marketing mediums. Advertisers using television, radio, or other offline mediums can use the web (and associated traffic) to measure the effectiveness of offline advertising (in the past, traditional mediums like TV were not measurable).Do you have any unique, specific strategies that you've found particularly effective in Panama? Something juicy from the book that you can tease us with, maybe?Click arbitrage in Hungary. Kidding! (Actually, it works better in Belgium.)My focus tends to be on areas like going very deep into ad testing. Here’s a huge secret for you: campaigns succeed when you plan them, beginning with a frank assessment of product benefits, and a deep understanding of customers. I’m not saying you have to go full into personas and lengthy planning processes – at Page Zero we have an accelerated way of doing such research – but the foundations of market research that you bring to bear on the campaign tend to play out in terms of the kind of genuineness and targeting that connect with consumers.Sure, we can feed you tips on multivariate ad testing, which is great for high volume campaigns. What’s neat is that folks looking for the next little tip or trick only will fail unless they marry those tips and tricks with great strategy. In that respect it’s just like SEO.In terms of testing then, many advertisers have failed to explore the possibility of finding the nearly paradoxical situations where you can improve both CTR and ROI with ad copy and landing page work. Instead of being a pure tradeoff, sometimes it’s almost like parallel lines meet and you get a bump in conversion rates even while bringing in even more clicks on a keyword. It’s that kind of stuff we look for. I think anyone who reads my report will see how working in the system to implement your plans will help you beat those competitors who get daunted. And by “plans” I very much include in my definition the details of ad copy, display URL’s, distribution options, bidding, and so on.What's your next big project? Another book? Any hints on subject matter?There’s definitely related subject matter I could write on. I’m actually thinking of the world’s greatest book on Google AdWords. To date, I don’t think there’s been enough written on the topic (especially by Andrew Goodman). In the near term, I have a very important “big project” – a trip to India. There, I’ll be sure to “contemplate” my next writing adventure. I’ll certainly keep SEOmoz posted.Thanks a ton, Mona - we greatly appreciate your insight and contributions. For those wanting to learn more about Mona and Yahoo!'s Panama, check out the book hereand Mona's video with WebProNews.Do you like this post? YesNo

  Posted by FluxxI'm pleased to announce that after many hours of work and testing by SEOmoz, our beta testers, and yourself truly, the SEOmoz SEO Services Marketplaceis officially launched!  You may access it via the banner above, or on every page via the "Marketplace" link in the main navigation at the top.The SEO Services Marketplace aims to be the go-to place for everyone in the search industry to find contacts, work, contractors, businesses to help with SEO, and potential employees.  As Rand mentions in the sidebar of the Marketplace homepage...At SEOmoz, we get more than a dozen requests for business every week, and constant emails asking if we know people who can fill a particular position. With the SEO Services Marketplace, we finally have a scalable solution that lets search marketers and web professionals of all stripes connect with businesses seeking services and candidates. It's a match made in search industry heaven.The Marketplace is free to browse by anyone and everyone, but only registered and logged in SEOmoz members are able to create their company profiles and resumes or post jobs.  The Marketplace has also usurped the old Recommended List, which now redirects to a list of SEOmoz Recommended Companies.  As with the recommended list, these are companies we've found to offer the highest level of effectiveness and customer service in their respective fields.How can I use the SEO Services Marketplace?The Marketplace essentially preforms 3 functions:Help individuals network & find search industry jobsHelp companies increase their online presenceHelp both find search-related jobs and contractsCompanies start out by creating their company profile.  They're able to craft a profile with their logo, description, phone, fax, and email, and list out any services they provide.  SEOmoz users can assign themselves to companies they work for, and will then appear as an employee on the company profile page.  Users of SEOmoz can also leave referrals for companies if they have experience with them.Individualsshould first work on and then activate their Marketplace resume, which will allow them to be listed in the resumes directory.  From there they'll be part of database of search professionals, an excellent resource for search companies looking to hire great talent.  Referrals may also be left for individuals, which help bolster your qualifications as a search professional.Finally, both companies and individuals may post  jobs + contracts.  Jobs are positions companies are looking to fill, while contracts are more meant to be search-related projects that companies/individuals are looking for an SEO expert to help with.What happens from here?Outside of SEOmoz & a select group of beta testers, nobody else has seen or used the Marketplace.  As such, this is still very much a public beta.  We've squashed all known bugs, but there may very well be bugs that you all run into.  So please, if you run into any issues, feel free to send me an email or write a note in the comments of this blog post.  Same goes for any feature ideas/requests that you think may be a good idea to implement.Thanks again to all the beta testers and everyone who has helped up to this point.  Happy Marketplacing!Note:I forgot to mention that while currently all external links in the Marketplace are nofollowed, users who have 100+ Moz Pointshave the nofollow removed. :)Do you like this post? YesNo

  Posted by randfishThis week, one of the UK's most infamous & brilliant search marketersjoined us at the mozplex for what is surely one of the most valuable, insightful and lengthy Whiteboard Friday's we've had. In many ways, it's not too dissimilar from anSMX or Pubcon panel featuring the inimitable Mr. Naylor, and as usual, Dave parts with more information than you might expect.Part I (7:38):Dave & Rand discuss the Google PageRank update (see Mel's data here), Techmeme(sorry for dropping the f-bomb in there) and new features for Google's Webmaster Central.  Part II(6:17):We cover secondary signals that Google may or may not use in the rankings equation and Dave describes how his Zippy search engine's AdSense account was eventually banned. This is also the segment where Dave says "All you mozzers who want to be Black Hats, yeah..." I'll let the video speak for the rest.  Part III (8:17): Dave & Rand discuss Dave Dugdale's recent videos on Rentvine.com - Paid Links& Google Buys Zillow- and whether links to those videos should help his site's rankings. Dave also uses the whiteboard to show us the link graph for temporal analysis.  Aplogies for the lengthy videos, but I promise these are worth 20 minutes out of your Friday. Enjoy!p.s. Extra kudos to Scottfor his hard work on this. He's put in the equivalent of three days worth of efforts to make this happen, and it's greatly appreciated. If Scott leaves a post in the comments here, make sure to show your thumblove, as I've hijacked the authoring of the post :)p.p.s.Ack! I'd be remiss if I didn't also give a huge thank you to Jeff Pollardfor his work on the new SEO Services Marketplace. Jeff, you're a champ.Do you like this post? YesNo

  Posted by randfishOver the last few weeks, I've realized that I really need to optimize my processes for working. It's been a long, steady slog, but I've finally got at least one item nailed down, and since it was so popular last time, I figured I'd once again share my Firefox Sidebar. Of course, this means I'm also re-ranking the blogs that I read (old list here), trimming many off the list and adding a great number of new ones, too. I'll share my sidebar first, then get into the blog list more specifically.You can download an importable version of this list hereThat's pretty much what it looks like. I have a few other folders and links that I'm not showing off, but they're probably of less interest/value to people that aren't me :) Here's what you're seeing:Email - no surprise that it's up first, as this is usually 70% of my workday. I keep my tasklist in email (SEOmoz uses Google's hosted applicationsplatform for the nominal cost $50/user/year), star everything that needs attention, archive everything I've finished and try to literally answer every email I'm sent (although getting back to search community folks who email me for the first time can take almost a week nowadays). Conversion History- this shows a view of what happened on SEOmoz - how many users signed up, how many bought premium accounts, how many cancelled, new comments, new questions in Q+A, new YOUmoz posts, the works! SEOmoz Q+A- It's taking us between 48-72 hours to complete a response to a Q+A thread, and I'm hoping to drop that down to 24-36 in the near future. This link takes me directly to the unanswered questions and open threads, which I try to run through in reverse chronological order. SEOmoz Tracker- This is actually publicly available; it's the recent posts updater that shows all the threads that have new comments that your SEOmoz account hasn't yet read. It's good for responding to questions in comments and booting out any spam that finds its way in. IndexTools Analytics- It's true; I'm obsessed with our stats - daily visitors, visits, page views, and, of course, referring URLs. Social Buzz- These are aggregator-type sites that I use to make sure I'm aware of the latest in the world of search and the web. Even I'm shocked how soon after a story breaks the journalists and phone calls and emails pour in, and I think I've branded myself at this point as someone who pays attention, so I feel embarassed and probably look like an ass when I'm not on top of the news.TechmemeReddit SphinnYCombinator NewsDel.icio.us/PopularStumbleUpon BuzzDiggPopURLsBlogs- I'll cover these after the bookmarks. Basically, I'm one of those insane people who actually visits blogs rather than use a feedreader. I've tried 'em - I really have. I just need comments and the ability to comment right away, even though I probably only leave comments on other blogs 1-2X a day. Forums- Like many in the SEO space, I've drifted away from forums towards blogs. I still try to visit Cre8asite every day, but it often ends up being once every 2-3, and the other forums I'm lucky if I stop in once a month.Cre8asiteDigitalPointHighRankingsSEW ForumsSERoundtableSEORefugeeV7NSitepointWebProWorldNews- This is what I read while I'm at my desk eating lunch (probably 2-3 days each week). I hate being uninformed about current events and Reddit+Daily Show only takes you so far. I have to include the BBC as my top source because US News is so skewed/local it barely gives you a worldview at all.BBC NewsNYTimes TechnologySlate MagazineNewsVineNational Geographic NewsThe Stranger's SlogWired NewsBookmarklets- I trimmed these to only the ones I use. Basically, you click them while you're surfing a domain and get the Yahoo! & Google data. The SEOmoz dashboard is really amazing, too. If you're not using that now, I'd highly recommend it - saves me tons of time when I'm investigating a site. You can take any of these and drag them into your toolbar and they should work:SEOmoz DashboardYahoo! Site Explorer Links to DomainYahoo! Site Explorer Links to PageGoogle Blog Search Links to Domain  Site: Command at GoogleSEOmoz Page StrengthSEOmoz Rank CheckerReputation Management - This handy folder lets me track down mentions of our brand across most of the visible web. If you repurpose it for your own brand, personal name or clients, it's very useful - just make sure you're checking on a regular basis.SEOmoz - Google Blog Search(ordered by date) SEOmoz - Google Web Search(last 24 hours only) SEOmoz - Google News(ordered by date) SEOmoz - TechnoratiSeattle Info- Weather, maps, traffic, bus times (yes, I still don't own a car, but I walk to work most days so I only need this if I'm catching a bus to downtown to see Mystery Guest or it's pouring rain and I forgot a coat)Yahoo! Maps Starting at SEOmoz's OfficeMyBus for Roosevelt & 45thWSDOT Traffic MapSeattle Times WeatherI used to have a lot more in the sidebar, but I'm a minimalist in all things including my browser. Maybe that's why I can relate so well to Swedish design :)On to the blogs - the following is NOT a list of the most important blogs in the search space. It's NOT even a recommendation of what you should be reading. It's simply a list of blogs that I find valuable, ordered by how often I usually read them. Thus, the first 5-10 I visit almost every day, while the last 20 or so, I might only check once a week. And, yes, this can also be considered SEOmoz's blogroll:SearchEngineLand - Like the NYTimes in the offline world, it's all the search news that's fit to print SEO Book- Probably still the best strategist and deep thinker on search and online marketing topics SERoundtable- Coverage of relevant chatter in the search forums Matt Cutts- When he posts something useful, almost everyone in search covers it anyway, so I could probably move him further down at some point Gray Wolf- Michael's tough on Google, and really smart when it comes to revealing strategies or discussing the news Marketing Pilgrim- Between Andy & Jordan, the coverage here is terrific SE Journal- Loren Baker and his colmunists cover a lot of great technical material as well as TopRank - Consistently good material and lots of event coverage to boot.  Copyblogger- Brian Clark's impressive foray into the sphere has become one of the most popular blogs on the web. Now he's got several other contributors helping out. Stuntdubl- If only he'd blog more often; the material's extremely high quality. Cre8PC- Kim Krause's work covers usability, accessibility and a beautifully dichotomous outsider/insider perspective on search. Webmaster Central Blog- The Webmaster Trends Analysts do a good job clearly explaining their tools and some ways that Google crawls and interprets web pages. Google Blogoscoped- Philipp Lenssen says it's 80% Google; it's also about 80% must-read :) ProNet- The major writers here are some of SMM's best and brightest Lisa Barone- Great coverage and clever writing combine to make Lisa eminently readable SEO by the Sea- Bill Slawksi's in-depth patent analysis blog is a must read for engineers and optmizers alike Vanessa Fox- The creator of Google's Webmaster Central and current ad director for Zillow authors terrifically valuable posts. Shoemoney- Many of his posts are a fluff, but there's still lots of good material, too. Jon Mendez- A brilliant conversion specialist with an unrivaled depth of experience. Fantomaster- Ralph's black hat knowledge makes for consistently good material. Eric Enge- Eric & Stone Temple have been on a roll for the last 9 months, scoring great interviews and putting out impressively comprehensive posts. Sugarrae- The amount of enjoyment you get from Rae's blog is in direct relation to how much you enjoy snark with your learning. DaveN- Dave's gotten more serious about blogging lately, and his deep intelligence on search subjects Matt McGee- Matt's expertise with local search topics and his charismatic writing style makes for a terrific blog.Grokdotcom- The Eisenbergs' client list speaks for itself, and their blog on web marketing and conversions is one of the best.I won't cover the rest in detail, but they're all worthwhile reads. My best suggestion is to check them out and see which ones prove valuable to your business.DonnaSEO Black HatTraffickMindValley LabsScobleizerLive Search BlogTropical SEOGreg LindenJohn BattelleJohnonMuhammad Saleem10e20Greg BoserJim BoykinTamar WeinbergWebProBlogCartoon BarryeKstremeScoreboard MediaNeil PatelBill HartzerResourceShelfOut of My GordDennis MortensenIan LurieIR ThoughtsaimClearUltraGeekPerformancingSEOPediaDaggleHopefully, this list and the bookmarks are valuable to you. For those who want it, here's the bookmarks.html fileversion of the above. Please feel free to post links in the comments to your own favorite sources for any of the above that I might have glossed over.Do you like this post? YesNo

  Posted by randfishAdmittedly, I'm a bit of a stats junkie. I can't get enough of those deliciously tasty tracking metrics to see how a site performs in the search engines, the blogosphere, the news, etc. If I could, I'd do like the NSA and record every conversation everywhere on the planet and audio scan for mentions of "SEOmoz" (update - the NSA has asked that I note that they do not record every conversation everywhere - apparently, Luxembourg is exempt ).However, this fine morning (2:30am Seattle time on Veteran's Day), I'm wondering whether the rest of the search marketing community is as obsessive as I am. Thus, a poll! Free Polls- Take Our Poll I figured it's only fair that since I mention these, I walk through how to track them and what they do._Inlink Data from Google's Webmaster Tools & Yahoo! Site ExplorerThe data above can be found by registering your site with Google's Webmaster Toolsand viewing the external links tab. Tracking it over time can be elating, depressing or confusing (just remember that sometimes, even Google has data glitches).I pull additional data from Yahoo! Site Exploreron both links to the domain as a whole and links to particularly critical pages._Search Rankings for Specific KeywordsRank checking is so 1999... I know, but I still do it sometimes, and since the SEOmoz Rank Checkerremembers your old data, it's cool to be able to chart progress on particularly important terms and pages._Brand/Domain Mentions in Search EnginesRetrieving brand mentions usually means running a search for your brand name at the engines and excluding your own site (or sites) to see how much web saturation you've got. For example, you can see in the above screen capture that SEOmoz has 1.2 million mentions in Yahoo!'s index, and this search - performancing -site:performancing.com- at Yahoo! shows about 1.73 million mentions. Note that I always like to go to the last page of results when checking results estimates numbers._Blog Links/MentionsWhile the Google link command isn't worth squat, the blogsearch link command works beautifully, and has great data and results. Tracking mentions over time is important, particularly for bloggers, because it can give you a sense of whether you're accelerating or slowing down your growth and reach._Website Inclusion DataA simple "site:domain.com" command works at all the engines except Ask.com (where you'll need to use "domain site:domain.com"). Again, I'll browse to the last page of results to get the most accurate data._PageRank from the Google ToolbarBefore the October PR update, we were a 7/10, after, we became 6/10 (no surprise since a few thousand sites that link to us lost a ton of PR due to selling links). Now, some datacenters are returning an 8/10 for our homepage - really? I don't buy it. So, yes, tracking PR might be pretty useless, but admit it - we all do it, and even though we say it's "worthless," we'll probably all keep doing it. For the tracking obsessed, even bad stats are better than no stats. _News MentionsWatching for your domain or brand name in news results can make for slim pickings unless you get mentioned often, but if you're a moderate-sized or big brand, it's good to have sense of not only how often, but how many positive v. negative news results you've got. Both Google & Yahoo! News are useful here, although Google tends to have a slightly larger index._Number of Visitor Referals Sent via Search Engines_Hopefully, almost everyone is tracking at least this data through your website's analytics. It's valuable stuff and can help you identify swings and trends that can influence your SEO efforts sitewide.I'll be interested to see the final results and would love to hear your thoughts in the comments on the value of these metrics and whether there might be others you watch as well.Do you like this post? YesNo