Search Engine Optimization Help

Selling SEO: Pitching Page Rank As a Metric Over Conversions? – ack…. Yup, nothing scarier than a client that uses TooBar PageRank as a metric. Barry covers an interesting thread on that very conversation.

SEO Priorities Survey: The Results – Virginia was noting the results of a recent survey on the Bruce Clay blog. I’m certainly one that enjoys these as it is nice to see how others in the business perceive things.

Web self help for Small Business – just for a change we have Bill (Slawski) with an entry out of the tech ‘Search Geek Central’ section. It is a groovy analogy from Ben Franklin no less. Good readin’!

Remember The Problem With SEO Theory Blogs, Like This One – I enjoyed Shaun’s little poke at himself and the rest of us technical search geeks. Always remember that testing is generally from a limited set and knowledge. Even we take it with a grain of salt.

What Spammers Can Teach You About ORM – I enjoyed Dave’s lament as he digs into the dark side of SEO on SEJ last week. He also has a few good approaches for cleaning up ORM issues should they happen to you.

Do I need to know Blackhat SEO? – Rishil makes a debut in the newsletter (really? Took this long? I must be slacking) as he asked the search community about how black hat fits into the greater scheme of things.

SEO 101 Common Mistakes – I’m not a fan of lists, but when we come across a HUGE one like this, it simply can’t be over-looked. What made it more interesting is the guys on Dave Naylor’s blog tend to have more ‘quick hit’, drive by blogging posts most of the time. Nice work!

PageRank Sculpting Leaves NoFollowed Tags Behind – I am not sure if the terminology works, (I’ve always called it PageRank management), but the concepts are solid. Understanding how the flow of internal link love operates, is an essential IMHO. Thus this one makes this week’s edition…. (see’s MM and ducks).

Google Search Just Got a Little Bit Smarter: Highlights Answers to Factual Questions – in Google’s never ending quest for ‘no click surfing’ comes an update over on Read Write Web. Interesting space this rich snippets and RDFa is… get to know my friends! There is some more interesting stuff on this over at Search Engine Land.

How to Employ Multiple Keywords for SEO & Conversions – one question I hear a lot in my travels is, “How many terms can I target on one page?”. This post from Rand looks at that and does a good job of explaining some approaches (with pretty graphs and pics as always).

The Ethical Dilemma of Providing Marketing Services and Tools – while not exactly big news, I thought it worth noting this Raven SEO post which lays out their new business model. Essentially this helps to diffuse any potential conflict of interest the tools previously had. Kudos gentlemen… a wise move!

Search Stuff

Social Search

Local SEO

Videos

Weapons

Google

Transliteration for query expansion

Talking Google Personalized Search – for those that missed it, yours truly was on SEM Synergy (on Webmaster Radio) just before the break. We were talking about personalized search and it’s effects on the future of SEO. Thanks to Virginia, Brascoe and the gang for having me on!

Is SEO Science or Art? – Aaron looks at the recent hub-bub over SEOmoz’s post that dealt with ‘testing’ of the nofollow tag. Is SEO an Art or Science? Should one REALLY share research data? Why is Aaron ranting? For these answers and more, read the post.

How to Rank Duplicate Content Without Cheating – the AIM Clear Blog had an interesting article on ways you can get around traditional issues related to dupes.

How SEOs Win the War on Personalized & Real-Time Search – looks at another recent Top Story, increased personalization from Google. Dave does a good job of summing things up and has some (Gypsy approved) common sense tips for optimizers looking to deal with the new implications.

What does an SEO Strategy look like? – friend of the FireHorse, Ben McKay, was putting together a strategy outline for his company and was looking for feedback. I’ve already come on board and offered some help, so why not drop by the post and offer your own 2c?

How to Drive More Links Via Public Relations – the gang over at BuzzStream had a good piece on how the PR Dept. (no that’s not PageRank silly) can work together with the SEO peeps for maximum effectiveness (they’re first appearance in the newsletter).

Google Doesn’t Want Searchers To Find SEOs & Web Designers – Matt McGee was musing over some interesting SERPs related to geo-local universal results. It seem’s there are a few query spaces that don’t produce them without the ‘in’ term modifier. Bring tin foil, just in case.

How to treat the Supplemental Blues – Michael (Martinez) discusses some ins-and-outs of indexation, PageRank (the real stuff) and the infamous SI. Oh, and of course, a little more swatting at PR Sculpting gets into the mix …lol…

Link Building this year – Wiep wraps up some of his fav link building posts from 2009. Yes, it’s a flippin’ end of year post, which put me to sleep, but this one has some pretty good articles…         

Sanitize links in your content feeds – I have personally been very wary of some of the funky links being produced by services such as Google Reader and everyone’s fav mad scientists of SEO, Sebastian X, has a great post (and WP plug-in) to help sort it for you… Nice one Seb, greatly appreciated!

Search Stuff

Social Search

Local SEO

Videos

Weapons

Google

Query identification and association

Determining query term synonyms within query context

Annotating webpage content (Site Wiki?)

Improving a search ranking using location awareness

Microsoft

Semantic canvas

Name searching a ranking function

Consistent phrase relevance measures

Yahoo

Adapting a ranking function of a search engine for use with a specific domain

Using activation paths to cluster proximity query results

Pre-fetching data for document ranking

Background contextual conversational search

White Coat SEO resolutions for 2010 – is just me whining (once more) about the lack of IR knowledge in the greater SEO community. So why not take up my challenge and start expanding your wisdom in 2010?

Why URI shortener suck ass  - I did enjoy this one and it is an area worth discussing more if you ask me (was in a recent Dojo chat session). This one was actually entertaining…

Universal Search Features Added to Google Suggest – while not huge news, it is an interesting development to see GS changes. Let us remember, it is entirely likely that GS is actually personalized, much like a reg SERP.

Mass Google Toolbar PageRank Penalty of December 2009??? – Barry was reporting on this via Search Engine Roundtable. I really haven’t heard much myself.. so we’ll leave it in the ‘hmmmm’ bin.

Linkable Asset Inventory: A Starting Point For New Link Building Campaigns – Garrett French has been doing some good stuff lately; this one is no different. A worthy read.

Why Conversions Can Be a Messy SEO Metric – this one is yours truly once more, this time via SEJ. Judging by the comments, this one might not be over yet. If you’re using conversions as a major KPI, might want to think again.

Keywords Research: Back to the Roots Of SEO – m’homey Terry Van Horne decided to go old school and get back to user engagement. For the record, ‘engagement’ is my 2010 topic… look for more and more here.

Using Link Text Management to Go Vertical – Ken from WordStream dropped into the Trail with a post for using their new tools. Read this one and create your own Anchor Text Diversity Dashboard today!

SEO Clients Shouldn’t be PotatoHeads! – my fellow Canucks were latenting the age old probem; SEO advice not used. Nothing more frustrating that giving clients advice and recommendations, that don’t get used!!

Cleaning Up After Google’s URL Mess – Michael digs into Google’s URL shortener and some of the problems we’ve been seeing with appended URLs from Reader, Analytics and elsewhere. We’ve noted this a few times in recent week… Pay HEED!

Personalized Search: Kind of a Big Deal – over on WordStream we had some follow up on last week’s big story; Psearch. Until I’ve done some testing, the jury is out over here.

Rel Canonical isn’t a band-aid solution – is a view that I personally agree with. The canonical should be a worst case scenario tool more so that a solution to deeper issues. Nice one Kay!

How To Measure Link Building – and last, certainly not least, is Michael Martinez whom not only talks about the issues on link valuation, but the over all perception as well. This ‘thing of ours’ is not all about links – regardless of what some would have us believe.

Search Stuff

Social Search

Local SEO

Videos

Weapons

Microsoft

Generating training data from click logs

Adaptive Visual Similarity for Text-Based Image Search Results Re-ranking

Using connectivity distance for relevance feedback in search

Method and apparatus for indexing speech

Yahoo

Realtime indexing and search in large, rapidly changing document collections

System and method for determining alternate search queries

Method for previewing search results

30 Resources on Google, Search & SEO Changes in 2010 – I had been toying with ideas for the usual, ‘end of year’ post and gave it up. They mostly drive me mad. This one though, from Tad, looks at more recent changes at Google which gives us a god starting point.

Google launches new spam industry – while we’re on the topic of RTS, you simply must give Michael’s take on it. In many ways this is really where I see this headed unless something is done to better control what IS and isn’t included in the SERPs.

Why private communities work so well – while I am a relative noob at running a community (less than a year) – I can attest to many of Aaron’s points being why we started it. A good read to be sure (from a guy that knows a thing or two about it).

Why Guest Blogging Is An Ideal Link Building Strategy – as a huge proponent of outreach programs and content placement, I certainly enjoyed this one. If you aren’t using this approach already, it’s one to consider for the New Year.

Cheap SEO For £75/£150 Per Month – I really didn’t know f I should laugh or cry with this post from Shaun, at the end I decided to just laugh my ass off. An all too familiar situation for many of us in this ‘thing of ours’.

Top Searches Can Attract Top Links – once again Deb takes us beyond the everyday link building tactics. This one shares some great ways to generate ideas for your next link bait campaign.

SEO Blogs that accept guest posts – as a guy that is ramping up a guest posting ‘World Tour’ over the next few weeks, it was nice to see Ann helping out with some suggestions for me… erm.. it was just for me right Ann?

SEO Bashing – a long time friend of mine, Kay Dinsdale, started a blog after many years of harassing her. Of her starter action, this one was def my fav. Welcome to the madness Kay!

SEO Accreditation strategy Session – while it is unlikely any time soon, it is always nice to see some of the more prominent peeps in the industry chasing the ever-elusive; SEO Standards

The Media Strawman Argument: SEO is Bogus – Aaron is back for a second appearance this week with a rant at (yet another?) ill informed jackass making blanket statements. Keep it up bro… fight that good fight (tho it will never end IMO).

Personalized Search: Kind of a Big Deal – over on WordStream we had some follow up on last week’s big story; Psearch. Until I’ve done some testing, the jury is out over here.

Permanent Google Personalised Search – A lukewarm introduction – over at Holistic Search, Pete Young was noting some of the coverage last week’s big story. Once more, the jury is still out on this one for me.

All You Need to Know About Google’s New Feature Updates – and last, but certainly not least, my SEO GF, Virginia Nussey, laid out all of the updates and announcements from the last few weeks. Lots of good linkees in there as well.

Search Stuff

Microsoft

Intelligent container index and search

Method and system for adapting search results to personal information needs

Determining relevance of documents to a query based on identifier distance

Fast ranked full-text searching

Rating computation on social networks

Identifying on a graphical depiction candidate points and top moving queries

Yahoo

Method for identifying related pages in a hyperlinked database

Identifying regional sensitive queries in web search

Friendly search and socially augmented search query assist layer

Google Caffeine Now Live On One Google Data Center – for those that care, SEL was reporting on the new DC that it’s living on. I haven’t had a chance to play with it recently… hopefully this week.

Does website structure matter to SEO? – Michael’s entry this week (seems he has one in every edition?)… was dealing with a variety of reasons why you MUST be paying attention to site architecture. I am a HUGE fan of anything not link building.. Site architecture is an area worth nailing.

How To Take Control Of Your Link Building In 2010 – speaking of link building, Eric (Ward) was looking for us all to be more empowered and stop outsourcing link building activities. Considering the value of links, I tend NOT to outsource this stuff…thanks for the advice tho’ Eric.

A Reader’s Guide To 30+ Advanced Search Marketing Blogs – Michael (Martinez) was recently doing what he’s termed as ‘Dave bait’ which seem to be the approach used by Gabs on this one. It’s a safe bet that adding me to a list is a good way to get into this publication… if not vanity, it’s my way of saying THANKS!

Trademark Owners: Get Your New International Domain Names Now! – this is actually a fairly important news tidbit.. I’d advise you all lock up your brands ASAP.

Why Doesn’t Google See My Inbound Links – yes, MM makes another appearance this week (Dave bait seems to be working). This one I think is actually important. Regardless of what those running link index services tell you, there is no reliable way of measuring a link’s value. Read it… Know it… Realize it. M’kay?

Google & Yahoo SERPS Hijacked? – Search Commander Blog was lamenting some malware that he’d picked up somewhere which was causing the SERPs to go somewhat bonkers. I’ve encountered this with a mate in the past … best beware my friends, it’s ugly out there.

“See No Evil” Is No Way For Big Companies To Deal With Search Spam – I did have to enjoy the ride on this one. I am not a guy that deals with a lot of large corp work anymore, and stories like this one are part of the reason why.

Hard facts about URI spam – friend of the Fire Horse, Sabastian X returns this week with yet another geeky tin toil touting post. I’ve been noticing these fecked up URIs over the last while and it’s nice to see someone go off on them… Suhweet!

The Top 5 Reasons we Canucks use Google Differently CanuckSEO – ok, sure… I hate lists as much as the next person, but since this one is from the CanuckSEO blog and I just happen to be one; why not?

An Interview with David Harry; founder of the SEO Dojo – oh yea, did I mention earlier that pimpin’ me is a good way into the weekly edition? The guys at Raven SEO went a step further and decided to interview yers truly… Thanks a bunch Lee, it was fun and an honour!

How a Google Penalty Can Make Your Site Stronger – as a guy that does a fair bit of work with penalties, this post I respected. Ross spins a tale of woe and was some good insight as well… A keeper for sure.

Yahoo and Bing – I thee wed – Pete Young was reporting that the deal is all but final. Let the games begin!
(also on SEW here)

How To Get More Links From Back Linking Competitors – competitive analysis is a huge part of the link building program for me… In this post Debra gives us sound advice on reverse engineering competitors successes.

25 Websites every SEO should know for 2010 – oh, and have I mentioned ‘Dave Baiting’ is in season (hee hee)? Yup, another list that popped up on my radar. And yes, it is a good list, not just pimpin’ for the sake of it.. :0)

Six Years Covering the Search Marketing Community -  a huge congrats goes out to Barry whom celebrated 6 years reporting over on Search Engine Roundtable… Please take a few moments to leave some support in the comments!

Search Stuff

Google

Inferring search category synonyms from user logs

Duplicate document detection in a web crawler system

Microsoft

High scale adaptive search systems and methods

Context-based key phrase discovery and similarity measurement utilizing search engine query logs

Recommending queries when searching against keywords

Presenting search queries related to navigational queries

Germany says Google Analytics is illegal – now there’s a title that gets one’s attention. In an interesting move, Search Cowboys noted a government decision that essentially states that collecting user information without their consent is a no-no. It also seems to be leary of Google’s data gathering in general.

How to borrow relevance from authority pages with 307 redirects – Dr. Evil, ( aka; Sebastian X) was having some fun playing with 307 redirects for fun and entertainment. From a slight to the sandbox to Twitter links, bring some tin foil for this one.

Buy Viagra At NME.com – not to lose the ‘fun’ theme, we also had Shaun over at Hobo whom was looking at a site (forum) that was nuked by Google, for all things… Viagra-spam! Who knew? The interesting part is that not the entire site was nuked; just the boards.

Under The Hood: Google News & Ranking Stories – Danny’s series on digging under-the-hood at Google news continued… I enjoyed the whole journey. If he’d asked me, I have a whack of patents on it…(hmmm… maybe a follow up huh?).

SEO Management 101 – What Makes for a Good SEO Manager? – is Richard Baxter’s look at the elements that make a great manager. For the record, I am a crappy boss…lol…

Google Adds Breadcrumbs to Search Results Interface – Aaron over at SEO Book’s look at Google’s recent addition of bread crumbs to the SERPs… He’s always entertaining, thus we decided to go with his coverage (bring tin foil of course).

Why link building may not work – looks at some sound reasoning why one should ALWAYS work at building diversification into their link building. Although we should all know that by now, right?

What Are Google’s 200 Search Engine Ranking Factors? – Barry was reporting that the gang at WPW were trying to nail down the infamous ‘200+ ranking factors’. For the record, they are mixing signals and dampening factors, so it might not work out as envisioned (yet another reason for SEOs to learn more about information retrieval).

Searchers using longer search-queries – as reported by the folks at Search Cowboys. These reports are always interesting and once more bears out the observation that longer queries are still on the rise.

The Top 5 Reasons we Canucks use Google Differently CanuckSEO – ok, sure… I hate lists as much as the next person, but since this one is from the CanuckSEO blog and I just happen to be one; why not?

What does my perfect SEO training scheme look like? – Ben McKay dropped a post on the SEO Scoop which hits one of my fav topics; SEO training. If you’re an agency type, you might want to read this one… a def keeper.

Achieving Strong Themes through Silos and Data Mining Server Logs in the SEO Newsletter – I am a HUGE proponent of siloing (and PR management) and the gang at Bruce Clay are some of the best on the topic. If you learn only ONE thing from this week’s edition, this would be it!

How often should you review your SEO strategy? – is a good post that looks at another area I am a big believer in; quarterly reviews. As Kevin outlines, one should never sit on their laurels – search engines evolve, so must approaches.

Linkbait: The New “Fake!” – as many would know I am a fan of link bait… in all of it’s forms. One of the unfortunate parts of the naming convention, is that all link-bait is associated with crap/evil stuff. Anyway, Ruud had a good post lamenting the age of LB pandemonium.

Spark Something; Like cohesive marketing strategies – hehe… nothing this ol war horse likes better than chewing up screw ups. Amrit did a good job of taking apart some serious FAIL work from the folks over at Erikson… Nice ride (be sure to ‘mount up’).

Search Stuff

Social Search

Local SEO

Videos

Weapons

Google

Enhanced search results

Yahoo

User-sensitive pagerank

21 Link Builders Share Advanced Link Building Queries – was a great post from Garrett French over on SEL which the gang at the SEO Dojo were put to use in giving some input on. If you’re a fan of link building and Google dorking, this is a must read.

How Google News uses click data for rankings – is an interesting piece that looks at some of the statements made recently by a Googler on using query analysis and click data in the News SERPs… always an interesting topic.

Hidden H Tags by Google – funny stuff here.. Google using some hidden tags? Yikes… say it ain’t so! Go get ‘em Irish!

What is Whitehat Automation? – Rob Adler is taking a stab at the world of white hat SEO by bringing some of his dark-side automation over to the other side. You know U want to play with us Rob, nice stuff brother!

5 Worries that can kill your SEO campaign – Stoney uncovers some common issues that can bring a search campaign to its knees.

Linkbait vs. Linkbuying – Paul Carpenter takes us through the ins-and-outs of link bait V buying. As long time readers would know, I am a baity’ kind o guy. Why buy what you ca get for free?

Does Reading Level Matter in SEO? – David Waterman over at The Search Agents played with an interesting theory of how reading level might affect rankings, or at least how it relates when studying existing rankings. Fun stuff… tin foil likely required.

Keyword Research: A Proven System – friend of the FireHorse, Garrett Pierson dropped a post over at Search Engine People. While it’s not the most in-depth piece ever written, it contains the concept that KW research is one of THE most important aspects of SEO; something I believe in and not enough peeps state it as such… so it’s worth noting.

Do More Domains Help SEO – was the question being asked AND answered (sort of) by Michael over on the ‘best SEO blog’. I liked this one as it highlights the problem with ANY question in SEO; it depends on the situation and reason for doing so. Nice one MM!

10 Resources: SEO Going Underground Again – is a bit of a rant from Tad on the joys of being pegged as an SEO out in the online world. He relates his experiences and the venom faced by many of us in social circles.

Three Pages from the Same Domain in Google SERPs? – Alan was noting some interesting 3 page listings (main and 2 indented) and why there hasn’t been more buzz about it. Dear Alan, methinks it is because this only happens with navigational searches, so it really doesn’t affect most of us… m’kay?

Building Links “Outside The Box” – as always Debra has some interesting perspectives on link building methods beyond the every-day. Of particular interest this time out, is actually building links by identifying your target demographic – kudos as always Deb!

Search Stuff

Search Taxonomies and Search Engines: Answering Questions vs. Indexing Webpages - SEO by the Sea

How Google Might Insert Artificial Named Anchors into Web Pages – SEO by the Sea

Exploring Exploratory Search – Noisy Channel

FacteryLabs Launch FactRank Engine – Search Engine Watch

Information Glut, or Information Gluttons? – Haystack Blog

Random linguistics – the Lousy Linguist

Social Search 

Local-Social Search: A Powerful Marketing Channel For Small Businesses – SEL

Ask Making A Bigger Bet On “Social Search” Or Q&A – Search Engine Land

Yahoo Adds Fresh, Social Content to Search, Twitter Included – SEJ

Collecta Powers Real-time Search for Identi.ca – Alt Search Engine

Local SEO

6 Ways Local Domains Crush Dot Coms In International SEO – Search Engine Land

The 3 Variables of Google Local Search – Search Engine Guide

Mapsicle 1.0: Annotating Street View Panoramas – Google Geo Developers Blog

How to use multiple sitemaps on one domain for geo-targeting – Search Cowboys

Videos

Marketing in the Age of Google – Web Pro News

Bruce Clay on the Business of Local Search – Web Pro News

Fliqz Launches Online Video SEO Tool - SEW

Google’s new KW research Tool – Jim Stewart

Cutt’s Corner

Matt on Load speed and Caffeine

Why would an FAQ page rank above a site’s homepage?

Weapons 

3 SEO Browsers to Evaluate on-Page SEO – SEJ

How to Track Competitor Search Engine Rankings with SEJ Tools

Use Google Speed Tool to Speed Up Site – RustyBrick

Google Analytics Filter Best Practices – Search Engine People

Playing with Google Analytics Intelligence – Blog Storm

Google

Artificial anchor for a document

Agent Rank

Microsoft

Multi-modal search wildcards

Multi-modal query refinements

Ranking functions using an incrementally-updatable, modified naive bayesian query classifier

Yahoo

Search Results with a Word or Phrase Index

Search results with most clicked next objects

Search processing with automatic categorization of queries

Indexing information and providing results for a search including objects having predetermined attributes

7 Ways to Maximize Internal Linking Value – is a good post over on Seer Interactive that looked at some simple, but not so common, considerations for the linker looking for new ideas. It’s worth keeping on yer list of link goodiness.

Shifting Search Marketing Strategy – Virginia Nussey’s head was spinning with the recent Google Social Search offering and might be reconsidering the value of social in search (we had a good discussion about this in the SEO Dojo chat session last week – fun stuff).

Microformats, the future looks semantic – speaking of our chat sessions, another we discussed last week was microformats. If you’re not already on the semantic bandwagon (with microformats/RDFa), then I suggest you do. Richard’s post is a good start.

Microformats: What, How, and Why – and since we’re on the topic, friend of the FireHorse, Steven Bradley (aka Van Gogh) was also writing about MFs/RDFa as well.

Using Blogger for SEO – Michael Martinez made a great case for using Blogger and why it is an important consideration for your ongoing SEO programs (and training). My fav had to be in the reasons; so we don’t “look stupid when people ask for help specifically with blogger”. Nice…

Fixing 404 frsutrations – from the gang at the Bing Blog we had a nice post on dealing with 404 issues. I have to say the Bing blog is doing some good webmaster material since the re-branding. Kudos to them for that

How Much Work Should You Giveaway in a SEO Proposal – Shimon Sandler takes on one of the older and more important conversations in the space. It really is a balancing act to give enough for clarity, without giving away the farm. For the record, I am a fairly stingy fella’ in that regard.

Custom Sections Directory for Google News – is a new feature released last week in Google news. It’s kinda interesting and after playing around some I created a SEO Geeks section (see here and follow wontcha?). As with all things Google, at the end of the day any value will be locked to adoption.

Borrowing from PPC – Peter gives us some sound advice on using PPC (among other tools including the Wonder Wheel) to tighten up your KW research and identify buying trends.

Google Dashboard – the creepy folks at Google ruffled a few feathers when they released a one-stop dashboard for all of their control over you…erm… I mean services you’re using. Me? No worries, I recently wrote about why Google should creep you out. (Here’s some coverage on SEJ)

Keywords That Click – Barry dropped a guest post at SEP on one of my fav conversations. How do you conceptualize SEO? Is it keywords or concepts? He does a good job of fighting the good fight (I am a concept guy myself).

Google Adds “Page Preview” To Search Options – was another interesting development over at Google… as always… we shall watch for adoption before passing judgement.

Bing vs Google: A Comparison Study – Lee decided to do a little comparison shopping with G v B. This one is kinda funny as he contacted me when doing the (limited) research. I was a bit taken aback realizing that I haven’t used Bing enough. Although this post does seem to lean in the direction of that being a wise decision.

The Disproportionate Value of Deep Links – throws out a theory of how internal PageRank and related factors might be working over at Google. Eric (Enge) makes a good case which somewhat bears out algorithmically. If I were to add anything to the hypothesis, it would be to also consider temporal factors (from decay to QDF).

Search Stuff

Using only experts for recommendations - Geeking with Greg

Does the Semantic Web Need Ontologies? – HayStack BLog

Good Interaction Design II: Just Ask  - IR Gupf

NLP as a study of representations – LP Blog

How Search Engines May Rank User Generated Content – SEO by the Sea

Yahoo Confirms Real-Time Search Test – Search Engine Land

Google Makes Friend Connect “Friendlier” with New Features – Search Engine Journal

Google Updates Friend Connect to Match Up Content, Ads with Uses Interests – SEW

Twitter Friday: 20 Twitter Lists for the SEO Industry – SE Optimise

Twitter Finally Begins Adding Search Relevancy Features – SEJ

Australia’s Google Maps Easter Egg – Search Engine Roundtable

http://www.shagunvatsa.com/local-search-interview-with-david-mihm – Shagunvasta

Guide To FREE Google Local Business Centre Listings – Hobo SEO

Google Targets Spammers With New Local Business Listing Guidelines – Search Engine Land

Google Maps and PO Boxes – When can they be used? – Mike Blumenthal

New Google Local Listing Guidelines – Small Business SEM

Bulk verification in Google Local   - Blog Storm

Business Owners: Are You Sabotaging Your Own Local Listings? – Search Engine Land

Local Business Center – Verify Your List – Google

Google Commerce Search - Google

Web Analytics Q & A With Avinash Kaushik & Nick Mihailovski Part 2 – Google

NEW Tools from SEJ – we all know that Ann is the queen of tools, now the gang at Search Engine Journal and Raven SEO have hooked up to offering a wide range of googiness over on SEJ. Here’s the official announcement, and there’s a post on using some of them over here.

5 Useful Yahoo! Pipes to Monitor Your Brand – SEJ

Semantic web firefox extensions – Science for SEO

8 Utilities to Track Keyword Rankings – SEO Scoop

SEM Rush Review – Keyword Research & Competitive Analysis – Just me and my

Research & Build Links with Followtopia Search Engine – SEJ

Trakkboard – Google Analytics for Desktop – Saad Kamal

Google Analytics adds advanced filters in content reports – Blog Storm

This engine searches all the concert band websites that are registered at The Concert Band Portal.

BookAse.com is an online price comparison search engine for the major online bookstores worldwide.

Followtopia search indexes the entire internet (well, as far as we can crawl), not just a few blogs. It is an excellent SEO tool to help you find sites without nofollow.

Semantic Web Search is a search engine for the Semantic Web – Alt Search Engines

iBotanika is an online community, knowledge base, and marketing platform related to the botanical world.

Google

Improving the ranking of news articles

Preferential ranking of code search results

Microsoft

Social Network Powered query refinement and recommendations

Ranking parser for a natural language processing system

Yahoo

Ranking documents through contextual shortcuts

Microsoft

Ranking model adaptation for searching

Vision-based document segmentation

Search Stuff

Google Trust Rank Patent Granted – SEO By The Sea

sMore link up your data – Science for SEO

Wolfram|Alpha for Astronomy – Wolfram Alpha

9 SEO Takeaways from Google’s Joachim Kupke at SMX East – Audette Media

Using the content of music for search – Geeking with Greg

Tales of a Semantic Web Skeptic – the Haystack Blog (MIT)

Social Search

Social Search is coming to Google (and more on Twitter) – Search Engine Land

Google Labs Rolling Out Social Search Experiment – Search Engine Watch

How to find treasure using Twitter – Alt Search Engines

Is social now a compulsory SEO skill? [SEO Writing] – SEO Scoop

Aardvark Launches Website: Social Search Meets Answers Site Mashup – Search Engine Watch

Bing To Do Deal With Twitter, Launch Its Own Twitter Search – And – Google and Twitter have a deal – Search Engine Land

Google & Bing announce real time search deals with Twitter -  SEO Book

Local SEO

Google Maps Helps Businesses Find Themselves – SE Roundtable

Google Maps Still Offering Old Business Listings Page? – Search Engine Roundtable

Evolving the look of Google Maps – Google LatLong

Videos

Google social Search – Marissa Mayer

Video Recap of Weekly Search Buzz – Search Engine Roundtable

Friday’s with Stefan – Bing

Cutt’s Corner – all the latest videos from ol Matt Cutts

Will Google personalize results based on user IP location?

Does the size of a website affect its authority in Google?

Weapons

Use Multiple Keyword Research Services with KeywordSmash – Search Engine Journal

New Event manager feature – Raven SEO Tools

Search Insight: Identifying Consumer Trends Using Google Insights for Search – Google Retail Blog

3 Useful iGoogle hacks – Search Engine Journal

SEO Tools: Using Xenu and Excel – Blindfolded SEO Audit Part 2 – the Natural Search Blog

SOSG Alerts

SlideWorld is a Powerful resource for Powerpoint Slide Presentations. SlideWorld is a web resource designed to facilitate educational process of medical professionals.

Klout measures influence across the social web. We believe that every individual who creates content online has influence.

jobtweet.de is a real-time job search engine for the microblogging-service twitter

NASA Images is a search engine created through a partnership between NASA and the Internet Archive

Segmenting words using scaled probabilities

Methods and systems for improving a search ranking using location awareness

Forum web page clustering based on repetitive regions

Classifying search query traffic

Identifying superphrases of text strings

Optimizing ranking functions using click data

Ranking using word overlap and correlation features

System and method for providing geo-relevant information based on a location

Search Stuff

Here is some of the search geekiness that caught our eye for this edition;

LexisNexis Integrates Semantic Search Technology into Patent Research – Search Engine Watch

Yahoo Web Page Segmentation: Distinguishing Noise from Information – SEO by the Sea

Patent search for PDFs – Alt Search Engines

Rich Snippets, Semantic web, Linked Data and SEO – Bruceclay.com.au

An arms race in spamming social software – Geeking with Greg

Understanding and Supporting Social Link Sharing on the Web – Haystack Blog

Structured Search Is On The Table – the Noisy Channel

Social Search

These stories are mostly related to the emerging world of Social Searching;

Twitter search engine #87 – Alt Search Engines

5 Twitter search tools you should know – Search Engine Land

StumbleUpon Enhances Search in Latest Update – Search Engine Watch

Aarvark revamps site & becomes social search engine – Search Engine Land

8 tips for getting your FaceBook page found in FB search – SEL

Local SEO

The happenings from the world of local/geo search;

Insights for Local Business Owners – Google Barometer

When Google Maps Satellite & Map Detail Don’t Line Up – Search Engine Roundtable

Local Listing Ads Using Call Tracking with Google Voice – Mike Blumenthal

Videos

All the latest videos for SEO peeps that we thought were interesting;

How to select an SEO Company – Jill Whalen (vie Web Pro)

Sexy Visualizations using Google Analytics, Protovis, SVG, and more – Google Developer

Video Recap of Weekly Search Buzz :: October 16, 2009 – Search Engine Roundtable

Friday’s With Stefan Another Free T-Shirt Friday – Bings answer to Matt Cutts?

Web Analytics Q & A With Avinash Kaushik & Nick Mihailovski – Google Analytics

Cutts Corner – all the latest videos from ol Matt Cutts

Does Googlebot consider the URL of an Image?

More on Geotargeting

Hidden Gems of Google (Show Options)

Weapons

If it’s tools you’re after, here’s what we found for you this week;

Check broken links WordPress plugin – Daily SEO Tip

SEO SpyGlass: an Advanced Backlink Research Tool – Search Engine Journal

Find out which SERP page you’re on – SEJ

Convert more new users using advanced segments – Search Engine Land

Using Google Analytics to Find Links to Your Non-WWW – LunaMetrics Blog

SOSG Alerts

Here we have all kinds of search for the seriously obsessed (outside of the Big 3);

Offeretti is a search engine for offers, coupons, promotions, special deals, discounts and bargains from local retail businesses.

GoGooligans rated one of the “Top 5 Search Engines for Kids” by AltSearchEngines.com

Zoombu is a door-to-door journey planner for Europe.

Search for sounds with these search engines – Alt Search Engines

Search results ranking using editing distance and document information

Method for Calculating Score for Search Query

Normalizing query words in Web Search

Trail Identification in Search Results

Abbreviation handling in web search

Search Stuff

Here are some of the search geekiness that caught our eye for this edition;

Google Webmaster Tools Patent on Crawl Rates – SEO by the Sea

A relevance rank for communication – Geeking with Greg

Google is sharpening it’s squares – the Noisy Channel

Social Search

These stories are mostly related to the emerging world of Social Searching;

Twitter Talking With Google, Microsoft About Data Sharing – Search Engine Watch

Goby: A Search Engine to Cure Your Boredom – Mashable

Twitter Search Refines Trend Searches To Give You More Real-Time Results, – TechCrunch

Local SEO

The happenings from the world of local/geo search;

Google Geo Targeting Some UK Sites to France?, Search Engine Roundtable

Everything you need to know about Google local business center – Think Seer

Be wary of tracking numbers in local search – Search Engine Land

Exploring Local Google Maps – The Brand

Videos

All the latest videos for SEO peeps that we thought were interesting;

Google Faculty Summit 2009: Google Wave – Google Tech Talks

Search Round Up - Barry (via Search Engine Roundtable)

Which is better and HTML site map or an SML one? – Matt Cutts

Un-crawled URLs in search results – Matt’s got a white board

Un-crawled URLs and Yellow Pages – Jim Stewart (some commentary on MCs post)

Weapons

If it’s tools you’re after, here’s what we found for you this week;

Foxy SEO; a quick way to access multiple tools – Search Engine Journal

Google keyword tool v KW external – SEO Gadget

Monitor Any Page with Website Monitor Google Gadget – Search Engine Journal

SOSG Alerts

Here we have alll kinds of geekiness for the seriously obsessed (outside of the Big 3);

NewsDots – nifty visual approach to news search/recommendations

Whoozy – a new people search engine.

Nu2Me provides a central location for links from UsedEverywhere.com, Kijiji.ca and Craigslist.ca!

UsedEverywhere.com was founded in 2003 with the vision that an effective, free, online marketplace for the sale of used goods would reduce landfill content and benefit the environment.

Pillbox was developed to aid in the identification of unknown solid dosage pharmaceuticals.

Google -

Zero-minute virus and spam detection

Search result ranking based on trust

Detecting spam documents in a phrase based information retrieval system

Microsoft -

Quality of web search results using a game

Dynamic search with implicit user intention mining

Ranking search results using biased click distance

Yahoo -

System for classifying a search query

Hybrid term and document-based indexing for search query resolution

System and method for improving online search engine results