SEO Crazy - News & Musings from an SEO

courtenaybird:

Is Pinterest the next Facebook? 

In March the site registered 17.8 million users, according to Comscore, a 52% jump in just one month — and it isn’t even open to everyone (would-be “pinners” must still request an invitation to join). 

Finally! PDF and scheduled reporting is back! And we couldn’t be happier.

The latest Google update has a measurable effect on rankings for SMBs… especially if you’re a brick-and-mortar business.

Maybe there’s hope for Google+ after all…

courtenaybird:

“Although Pinterest’s popularity has skyrocked over the past six months, gaining traction was painfully slow during the first year-and-a-half, Silbermann recounted. Nine months after launch, the site still had fewer than 10,000 users. “Someone was asking, ‘Why did you keep going?’ I think the answer was telling everyone that we blew it was so embarrassing,” Silbermann admitted. “Google [wasn’t] going to hire me [again], they barely hired me the first time.””

—

Pinterest to Release New Profile Pages This Week

courtenaybird:

Charles Dickens’ birthday marks first Google Doodle as promotional vehicle

(Blog post on the pros and cons of the keyword tag.)
I personally stopped using the meta keywords tag nearly a year ago in most instances. (I have one client who INSISTS we still use them.) However, I do still come up with what I would have used as keywords before beginning any on-page optimization, as I find it very helpful for focusing my efforts. I just don’t take the time to employ the actual tag.

Seriously, if you haven’t done so already, you NEED to start assessing your 2011 traffic/analytics data. This will help you judge and plan your SEO efforts throughout the next year, as well as provide a baseline for seasonal performance.

Things have been overwhelmingly wild this holiday season, so forgive me while I pause to get things back on track before updating this Tumblr. I’m planning a post Santorum’s SEO “problem” (oh so very much to say about that one), so here’s a little background on the issue to hold you over while I compose :-)

My friends and work contacts are constantly asking me whether they should invest in SEO or SEM/SEA. Of course the simple answer is “both,” but in this blog post, I’ve tried to break down the major differences in basic terms that pretty much anyone can understand. 

However, the most important message behind this blog post is that, as a client, you need to set different expectations for the two disciplines. It’s important for anyone considering search marketing services to go into it with realistic expectations and a solid understanding of what it means.

This article about the soon-to-be-relaunched Nerve dating site mentions “algorithms” and talks about an interface that rings similar to Facebook, Twitter and our much loved Tumblr.

Are we talking about dating or inbound marketing here? And is there really such a big difference, anyways?

I’ve never thought about it before, but it bears examining: the two operate under the same principles. On a dating profile, you promote yourself by sharing interesting content and photos, starting conversations, and using keywords that you think will attract potential mates. With inbound marketing, you try to get new leads by sharing interesting content and photos, starting conversations (via blogs, social media, etc.) and, oh yeah, using keywords that you think will attract potential customers.

Sound creepy? Not really. Attraction is attraction after all. Doesn’t matter if you’re selling yourself or your product; at the end of the day, it all comes down to strategy.

Sgt. Jericho “Bamboo” Jackson
From “Duplicate Content in a Post-Panda World” at SEOMoz. Read the full article here.

Those who know me, know that I’m not a fan of the new analytics. However, this article does a decent job of helping to make sense of some of the new features.

Rachael Gerson spearheads the Analytics division at SEER Interactive. Follow her on Twitter @rachaelgerson. Over the past eight months, Google has steadily released one revolutionary new feature after another. On March 17, the company announced a new version of Google Analytics. Up until this …

Interesting read… the one thing I’ve always said about using video content on your site is that, at the very least, it’ll increase visitor interaction & keep people on your site longer. And that’s ALWAYS a good thing.

A few weeks ago, I presented some beginner’s tips at the Driven Internet Marketing Summit (here in Rhode Island). Since time was limited, I focused exclusively on creating search engine optimized web content. As a continuation of that presentation, I’d now like to share some quick tips on writing content for your most important audience: human visitors. (Well, okay, you got me. What I really mean is: potential customers.)