Technical SEO
The Technical SEO Renaissance: a brilliant post from Mike King
My friend Mike King an ex rapper turned Super SEO Nerd is one of the most technically skilled hard-core SEO people I know. (more…)
Technical SEO
.htaccess Wizard for SEO
My friend Aleyda Solis just published this super useful .htaccess tool for generating many of the common .htaccess rules needed for SEO: things like redirecting non-slash-ending URLs to the ones ending in slashes; redirecting from the non-www subdomain to the Read more
Local Search
Google Places API Quietly Divorces Google+
I unfortunately have to report that my Google+ My Business Page Finder tool no longer shows the Google+ page for the business in its search results.
Why not?
Because the Google Places API, which used to show the Google+ page in its response, now returns a Google Maps page instead.
I haven't seen any announcement of this, but the docs on the Place Details Request have been changed.
(more…)Technical SEO
Lesson of the day: never assume a damn thing
On my website, I display a map of where my clients are, all over the world. Mostly because I like messing around with Google Maps via the Maps Javascript API--it's really powerful and you can do some really cool things with it.
All of a sudden, my map went wonky. The markers would all show, but no background map or imagery would show at all!
I spent HOURS today trolling through StackOverflow, forums, etc., and finally discovered the problem.
(more…)Technical SEO
Penguin Data Update Yesterday
There appears to have been a Penguin data update either yesterday or early today.
What makes me so sure?
Well, I set up a little Penguin trap. I built a one-page site, tuned for a nonsense term, and built about a dozen links to that page with the nonsense term as anchor text.
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Internet marketing
5 Important SEO Questions Clients Often Have
Rand Fishkin's Whiteboard Friday presentation today does a terrific job of covering 5 key search-related topics in a way that's understandable to SEO clients.
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Technical SEO
Say Goodbye to Not Provided
Google Webmaster Tools newly-announced Search Analytics brings with it a rescue from the dreaded [not provided] debacle of the past 3 1/2 years.
Google's talking about "more precise data" etc. in the new Search Analytics report--referring to the massive data issues in the old Top Queries and Top Pages reports in Webmaster Tools, where often the numbers were totally hallucinogenic, attributing 10s of thousands of clicks at a time to the wrong landing pages and many other errors.
(more…)Local Search
Yext Claim Listing Bug
In trying to help a client of mine fix some nutty listing info on Citysearch, I was instructed by Citysearch support people to click the "Unlock listing" link on the page.
OK, I can do that...
But that takes you to Yext, who apparently is attempting to manage this process. I say "attempting", because here's what you get:
(more…)Internet marketing 
I had a great discussion with Nathalie Nahai on establishing trust and making new customers over the internet. (more…)
Podcast with Nathalie Nahai – the Psychology of Persuasion
I had a great discussion with Nathalie Nahai on establishing trust and making new customers over the internet. (more…)Local Search 
The Problem with Google’s Monopoly
If Google+ reviews are so important, how come it's so difficult to leave one on a mobile device?
I'm not one of those who think Google is inherently evil, and that everything they do is a devious attempt to trick us into spending more on AdWords. OK, some of what they do is...but they're a for-profit company, and need to do their best to make a buck for their shareholders...and that's OK.
The problem with having a virtual monopoly on any given space is that there's no real incentive to be better than the competition. If you release a version of your software and it's got problems, the customers won't leave you in droves because--well, you're really the only game in town.
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