Search Engine People

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How Search Really Works: Relevance (1)

by Ruud Hein.

This post is part of an ongoing series: How Search Really Works.
Previously: Simple Query Optimization.

Search is always boolean: yes or no. True or false.

Either the words are in the document or not.

But as you see, not all documents are “born alike”. Some are about our topic, some just mention it.

What we need, what we want, is not just a big list of results — we want a relevant list of results, preferably sorted so that the best bet appears on top.

Friday Funnies: The First Community

by Ruud Hein.

The very very early years of Web 2.0.

Source: Geek And Poke

Driving Social Networking Home

by Tom Tsinas.

Full Disclosure Confession: I don’t get the whole social networking phenomenon. Perhaps it is because I am a gentleman of a certain age. MySpace is mine and I have no real desire to share it with anyone beyond my other half… and my dog. I leave the Twittering to my parrot. I am not Facebooked as I have no overwhelming desire to make contact with my primary school cohorts. I am LinkedIn, but that’s about that.

And I actually don’t get it from a SEO/SEM perspective simply because there is far too much beyond my control which implicitly and necessarily implies I am a control freak. I am a control freak. And I like numbers that have relevance. Who. What. Where. When. Why.

In This Corner…Google vs Microsoft

by The Guy.

The auditorium is packed with spectators there to cheer on their favorite contender!  In one corner, weighing in as the largest search provider the world has ever seen, with creative genius that seems to never falter, and a “the sky is the limit” develop and deploy stance that has seen them through to the development of robust search tools, you have Google - The search engine that would, could and did, also known as the search engine that will, can and does!

Image Courtesy of ahajokes.com

The Swirling Vortex of Social Networking

Guest post by Donna Fontenot.

Social networking is increasingly becoming a vital aspect of our search marketing efforts. The connections we form amongst our online social communities can provide ever-expanding avenues of awareness of our sites, brand recognition, and ultimately buzz and link-love.

Sadly, however, there is a dark side to social networking. This dark side is one that we’d rather not talk about because we are afraid we might see it within ourselves. What could possibly be so scary? I call it the swirling vortex of social networking.

Foundation Friending - Step 2 of the Authority Building Process

by Jeff Quipp.

Have you ever happened upon a blog, and thought to yourself “Wow the information on this site is fantastic … how does the world not know about it?”.

It happens often. The problem is; content alone is highly unlikely to be sufficient to build any significant authority. If half the battle is creating great content, the other half is all about who ya know. In the end, build a better mousetrap, and the world will not necessarily beat a path to your door!

Google to Consolidate SEO Industry

by Tom Tsinas.

A very good friend of mine, and senior executive with Google, suggested to me today that the search giant is imminently poised to begin consolidating the search engine optimization industry. Google plans to make SEO services available to web site owners and marketers directly, to better enable them to increase their advertising return on investment and make their web sites more effective, for free.

How to Come up with Blog Post Ideas for Challenging Industries

by Jennifer Osborne.

Some industries appear to lend themselves better to blogging than others. In our field I’ll always have far more blog post ideas than I do time to write. But what about more challenging industries?

How do you come up with 30 to 50 compelling blog post ideas for Plastic Products/ Rugs / or the Petroleum Industry <insert challenging client industry>?

This is the third in a 5 part series looking at Blog Strategy with a focus on Clients. In this post, I’m going to discuss How to Come up with Blog Post Ideas for Challenging Industries.

Friday Funnies: Twitter Abstinence Syndroms

by Tom Tsinas.

Source: Geek And Poke

How To Sell “Mom and Pop” On SEO Services

Guest post by Steven.

While some small business owners are on board with the idea of search engine optimization many still aren’t. However, even with those who aren’t quite on board yet, there’s an increasing awareness of this thing called search marketing and small business represents a fertile market for SEOs. The difficulty is the increasing awareness still hasn’t reached the point of realistic expectations and costs for many small business owners. So how does an SEO sell services to a market who’s needs and wants are often out of alignment with realistic expectations and pricing?