Listen Now
A- A A+

Show archive of March 2009

    1. Live from SES New York 2009

      March 25, 2009
       

      SEM Synergy at SES NY 2009
      Photo by Bas van den Beld      		 Live from the search marketing industry conference Search Engine Strategies New York, Bruce and Virginia are in the WebmasterRadio booth on the expo hall floor. They open the show by giving listeners a feel for the energy and expectations of the conference. Bruce also gives a teaser of what attendees can expect at Friday’s SES affiliated SEO Training.


      Then Bas van den Beld of SearchCowboys.com sits down to talk to Virginia about his perceptions of the show from a blogger’s perspective. As a search blogger based in the Netherlands, Bas has blogged search industry conferences in the past but SES New York was the first event he attended in the United States. He explains how the New York conference compares to international conferences such as SES Amsterdam and SMX London.

      Wrapping up the live show, Virginia talks to Mark Knowles, CEO of Pixelsilk, an SEO-friendly CMS. Mark talks about the necessity of customizable content management systems and the feedback he’s gotten on Pixelsilk. They also talk about the after-hours events at the conference and the expectations he has for the show.

    2. The Canonical Link Element

      March 18, 2009
       

      The search engines’ support of a new canonical link element made news last month when it was announced at SMX West. The tag allows webmasters to indicate the preferred URL of a page that has multiple URLs, saving them from the duplicate content issues that occur with tracking IDs and parameters. Bruce cautions that the tag is merely an extra measure and not a full solution. 301 redirects and other multiple URL best practices must be adhered to.

      Vanessa Fox
      Vanessa Fox joins Virginia to explain how the canonical tag helps search engines, webmasters and users. As a former Google employee, Vanessa provided insight into what happens when the search engines collaborate on an initiative. She also shares news of an upcoming conference, O’Reilly Found, she is organizing with Nathan Buggia that is geared to educating developers on the technical issues related to SEO.

      Finally, Bradley talks about his concerns with the canonical tag. While it can be a great tool for sites that are unable to create redirects on large sites, the tag should only be relied upon when all other alternatives have been exhausted. Similar to Matt Cutts suggestion at SMX West, Bradley recommends that mom-and-pop shops and the less-technical webmasters not try to edit their code themselves in order to avoid causing greater problems on their site.

    3. East Coast SEO Training

      March 11, 2009
       

      For years Bruce Clay, Inc. has offered beginner and expert SEOs alike a hands-on training course that helps marketers stay in touch with the latest techniques and guidelines from the engines. We’re excited to be teaching our SEO Training course on the East Coast for the first time this month. As an extension of Search Engine Strategies New York, Bruce Clay and Christopher Hart will present one-day SEOToolSet training — the perfect way to wrap up a week of search marketing education.

      Chris Hart at Scary SEO 2008
      Photo by Dana Lookadoo      		 It doesn’t end there. The full three-day standard SEO training course will be back on the East Coast April 26-28. Chris comes on the show to talk to Virginia about details of the East Coast training course and the importance of training in creating a base level of knowledge across an organization. Training is useful for those doing the work of Internet marketing, but it’s just as necessary for executives. While executives won’t likely be implementing search engine optimization techniques themselves, their understanding is a crucial factor to the company’s coordination and embrace of SEO initiatives.


      Rounding out the show, Virginia and Bradley discuss an issue covered in SEOToolSet Training: industry ethics. SEOToolSet certification is a credential that brings along with it Bruce Clay, Inc.’s reputation for high ethical standards and easily demonstrates a commitment to doing right by your clients. With more companies turning to SEO to help strengthen their online visibility in the weak economic climate, differentiate your services through ethics and best practices.

    4. SEMJ.org and eBay’s Affiliate Model

      March 4, 2009
       

      The new issue of the Search Engine Marketing Journal will be hitting the search circuit soon. On SEM Synergy, we get to look behind the scenes at the creation of SEMJ.org and the papers that will be featured in this issue. Founder and publisher Sean Golliher joins Bruce and Susan — principal editor, SEO and editor, SEO, respectively) to talk about what people can look forward to later this month. Sean Golliher


      Will Martin-Gill
      One of the papers in SEMJ.org this month is called “The Coming Evolution in Affiliate Marketing: A Focus on Quality” (pdf). Will Martin-Gill, Senior Manager, Internet Marketing for the North America and Asia Pacific affiliate programs on the eBay Partner Network, headed the team that wrote this paper. He speaks with Virginia about the findings his team had when eBay brought its affiliate program in house and was able to see the different levels of traffic each partner was responsible for. eBay then created a performance-based payment and bonus model to reward their most valuable partners. As a result, quality referrals went up.

      Then, Sean, Bruce and Susan look at the future plans for SEMJ.org. The print publication is currently on a semi-annual schedule, with a quarterly schedule in the works. Current editors and members of the advisory board are discussed, along with the ways people can submit their own papers to the peer-reviewed journal. Also available for a sneak preview is the paper “Web Analytics 2.0: Empowering Customer Centricity” (pdf) by Avinash Kaushink and Daniel Waisberg. From the look of it, there’s a lot to look forward to in the new issue of SEMJ.