Show archive of June 2008
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Copyrighted Content
June 25, 2008
The issue of copyrighted content has come up again as the Associated Press is asking that bloggers or site owners pay to use their content. The requirement has re-raised questions of what constitutes fair use and highlighted the the strength of copyright in protecting content. Bruce, Robert and Susan discuss how webmasters can go about copyrighting their site content.
After Yahoo and Google announced their non-exclusive deal to run ads sold by Google in Yahoo paid search results, the agreement has gotten plenty of press — both positive and negative. Bruce Clay, Inc.’s Senior SEM Analyst Nick Guastella provides his analysis of the deal, complemented by his experience as an Overture employee at the time of Yahoo’s acquisition of the company in 2003.
Then Susan and Virginia sit down to talk about avoiding duplicate content. Scrapers, URL issues, mirror sites and syndicated content can all steal rankings away from your original content. Prevent filtered pages due to duplicate content with a range of solutions, from noindex tags to redirects to the submission of DMCA requests to search engines. -
The What and Why of Site Maps
June 18, 2008
Our hosts start the show by talking about a few of the recent search headlines. Virginia, Robert and Bruce look to Matt Cutts’s post on Improved SEO Documentation Galore! to see what definitions and guidelines Google has updated, including robots.txt and nofollow documentation, along with further-clarified quality guidelines and the definition of a doorway page. They also talk about the recently passed Unfair Commercial Practices Directive in the UK and the fact that Google search results no longer offer the “watch video” feature.
Then Bruce interviews one of the newest members of Bruce Clay, Inc., Chris Hart, Director, Eastern Region Operations. Chris will be heading the newly opened East Coast office of Bruce Clay, Inc. in New York City and has 12 years of experience in the online publishing industry. The new office will help expand the offerings of high-quality SEO and SEM services by providing increased availability to clients across the country.
And finally, although a basic tenant of SEO 101, it’s not uncommon to see a site map missing from a Web site. The hosts discuss what a site map is, why it should be implemented, and tips for creating a site map. Along with improving users’ navigation of a site, site maps are also used by search engines to ensure more-complete crawling and indexing of a site. Including an XML Sitemap, intended only for search engines, is also recommended. -
Is Advanced SEO Black Hat?
June 11, 2008
After the debate-inspiring conference that was SMX Advanced, our hosts take on one of the most popular topics concerning the show. The issue of whether or not SMX Advanced has moved to the “dark side” — spurred by black/gray tactics discussed, most notably, at the link building and Give It Up sessions — has generated heated debate across the Web, including on the Bruce Clay blog.
Jeremiah Andrick, Program Manager of Live Search Webmaster Center, speaks with Virginia from the SMX show room floor. Jeremiah talks about the Robots Exclusion Protocol, the Microsoft 404 Toolkit, what webmasters can find in Live Search Webmaster Center, as well as why he likes attending industry conferences.
Then the hosts sit down to discuss the benefits of publishing a corporate blog. From enhanced internal communication to improved customer service and media relations, the upsides to a blog are great. However, blogs require resources and support to work, which can only occur when the whole company understands what can be gained. -
SMX Advanced 2008
June 4, 2008
The hosts of SEM Synergy report live from SMX Advanced in Seattle, WA. Bruce Clay, Inc. sent a group to the conference and exhibition, including blogger-extraordinaire Lisa Barone, new writer and radio show coordinator Virginia Nussey, senior account analyst Gary Luke, the director of the new East Coast office Chris Hart, and of course, Bruce Clay.
The SEO and blogger known as Graywolf, Michael Gray, took a few minutes out of his schedule Tuesday for an interview. Michael was a speaker on two panels at the conference: Bot Herding and Give It Up. On the show he shares his perspective on how NOT to implement social media campaigns and the common mistakes he sees in the field.
Then Virginia sat down with Derrick Wheeler, Senior SEO Architect for Microsoft, about how he oversees the thousands of Microsoft sites. He explains how his team manages best practices, selects tools, creates reporting guidelines, and maintains quality standards for Microsoft.com sites.