Chiedere al guru seo

Are you up for a little SEO theory debate?

in my last post, http://massa.techndu.com/2008/01/20/TheSecretOfGettingANewSiteToBeatAnOldOneOrContentIsKingIsJustACliche.aspx, I gave away my secret to beating an older, established site by making Google look smart.  The gist of the post was:

I believe we are going through a transition in how Google chooses what to show whom for a search. I believe we are seeing the old school algorithm based on the ”a link is a vote” style page rank, changing into a new age algorithm of how to weight which link, from whom and what do we know about them? Actually, do we know enough about them to trust them to make us look smart? Or at least not to make us look dumb.

Obviously, I'm of the "links are the bling that brings it home" opinion while John Andrews http://www.johnon.com is suggesting in this post http://www.johnon.com/481/smarter-google.html that the latent semantic indexing algo is what is so dramatically improving and moving the relevancy indicators upward.

From what I know of John, he is a laid back individual who detests controversy and likes to hug that middle of the road rut to avoid instigating debate <extreme sarcasm goes here>. But, I also know him to be a pretty smart cookie and one of those people you dismiss at your own peril.

So, as I see it, there are only four possible conclusions to these two opposing camps of discourse.

#1. I'm right and John is wrong, (my vote goes for this one)

#2. John is right and the guru is wrong (hahahahaha)

#3. We're both wrong

#4. we're both right

So, do you feel you can place any new wrinkles on an old horn? Is it content or is it links?

peace y'all

G

Whaddaya doin in the bathroom for so long? Get outta there and let someone else in!

If you are #1 in your niche, defend your position. If you are #2 attack. If you are #3 flank and if you’re smaller than third use guerilla tactics. There are a LOT of ways to do any one of those things but using open source scripts is one of the fastest and easiest ways the Guru knows of to accomplish all four tactics.

Beat Your Competitors Already On Top by Making Google Looksmart.

You know one of the clichés thrown around the most that makes me want to hurl the most? Content is King.

That extremely vague, useless and totally void of value little tidbit could very well take the prize for being used the most by those who know the least. Anytime some hapless nu B asking, (again), how to get on top gets that old standby, “Content is King”, you can be certain that the person doling out that little pearl of wisdom has but a sliver of a clue about what it really takes to steal organic top 10 placements from the sites that are already there. It is true that content is important but that is only because content is not king, it is all there is.

What is content?

Here is what Dictionary.com says it is:

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/content

Nothing too specific huh?

When we’re referring to WEB CONTENT, content is anything. Pictures, comments, java script, pop ups, videos, wav files, text, jpegs, scripts, widgets, doo dads, ANYTHING! So basically when you see some helpful soul advising others that Content is King, what they are literally saying is, ANYTHING IS KING. Does that sound like a road map to top 10 placement in Google to you?

As with so many other things in SEO, one of the primary problems lies in everyone being able, or willing, to agree on a universal definition. Content CAN be subjective and open to interpretation so, my idea of content may not be the same as yours. That is as it should be but when social norms and etiquette exists within the structure of blogs and forums, now every discussion can quickly turn to another circular ethics debate with no winners on either side of the argument, only losers. Some of us would prefer to just get on with it and go make a buck.

So, today I’m going to expose a technique I use that could help to define “content” and actually make the cliche “content is king” actually mean something that could help you beat an older site that is already in the top 10 and steal their placements with your content.

The Art of War

http://www.amazon.com/Art-War-Sun-Tzu/dp/0195014766

I want to lay a little historical groundwork to help illustrate the concept behind this technique. These are some of the things that influence the way I approach marketing in general but they play a specific role in how I am dealing with the increasing difficulty of getting new content to beat whoever is already in the top.

Many years ago I read the Art of War by a Chinese dude names Sun Tzu. It has been generally accepted as the definitive work on military strategy. It is about one thing. Annihilating your enemy totally and as quickly as possible.

I always resisted the basic premise of the book because I have always wished to see sales and marketing as a win-win instead of something as mercenary as winning at all costs is all that matters.  However, the man makes a damn good argument and selling a vcr isn’t quite the same as saving your homeland or your way of life, (but it kind of is).

Besides, I do see selling as a win-win proposition but selling isn’t the same as marketing. I see marketing more as the execution of a military type strategy and in marketing the entire purpose is to beat the competition and win.

Marketing Warfare

Then more recently I read Marketing Warfare http://www.amazon.com/Marketing-Warfare-Anniversary-Al-Ries/dp/0071460829

I mention this one because there is a strong connection to the Art of War. Al Ries and Jack Trout’s assertion is that marketing is very much like a military campaign. Again, I resisted but logically I have to admit they do have a point. In Marketing Warfare they aren’t quite so over the top as the Art of War probably because it isn’t dealing directly with putting people lives on the line, but it’s pretty close.

One of the basic premises of the book is that a defensive position is easier to keep than to win an offensive attack, that superior numbers always give a huge advantage and that the romantic notion of direct combat with right on your side is usually foolhardy. Historically, when faced with superior numbers and a defensive position a frontal attack is virtual suicide. Sorry to have to break it to all you, “Mine is the best site on the web”, kids.

If you’re not too interested in a career with the military, the Art of War may be a little much, but you really should read Marketing Warfare. It will make you money.

Filthy Linking Rich – It’s Easier to Stay on Top Than to Get on Top 

One final bit of reading. This is an online article written by a very smart man.  A man that if you are in the online promotion industry you should take very seriously. His name is Mike Grehan, http://www.mikegrehan.com and he wrote an article three years ago called Filthy Linking Rich. ( I thought it was a clickz article but I didn’t see it in the top of a search but I did find this link http://www.e-marketing-news.co.uk/Oct04/RichLinking.html).

The gist of the article was that in the Google created link economy the older site with more links would be more likely to keep their authority status and maintain superior placements because of the rich get richer theory http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wealth_condensation. In other words a new site has a difficult time getting the link equity needed to unseat an established competitor because it is much easier to stay there than it is to get there and it is easier to keep a top spot than to take one away. History has borne him out and we can all admit he was pretty much right.

Whew! That is the end of the reading references. Now let’s watch a little video because now we come to the real MEAT of this secret.

Not getting busted is about NOT MAKING GOOGLE LOOK STUPID.

The guru wrote a blog post a few weeks ago CONTENT HOSTING – The Good, The Bad and The Ugly --- part due and a big part of that post was singing the praises of another smart man, Shoemoney. He had made a video giving away the secret to not getting busted by Google. It was called Shoemoney’s don’t make Google look stupid video and the Guru was very impressed. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOBcXEja_dM  go watch the video NOW if you haven’t already seen it. It will make you money.

As impressed as the Guru was with Shoemoney telling you how to not get busted, it fell short of telling you The Guru’s secret to stealing placements from who was already there. I believed his advice was so close to this technique of mine I decided to make this post.

Stealing Top 10 SPOTS FROM YOUR COMPETITORS IS ABOUT MAKING GOOGLE LOOKSMART.

As an example, take a look at just one search term. Feng shui. 

First we find the obligatory wiki result at #1 (surprise!) , and now is not a bad time to ask the question why Wikipedia gets so many #1 spots for so many terms even when the wiki and Google appear to quickly be turning into competitors? The answer? It makes Google look good putting an encyclopedia result at the top for defining virtually ANY search query. Plus they trust the wiki to not look spammy with questionable text or inbound links which would make Google look bad for putting them there in the first place. Pretty tough to psychologically argue with an encyclopedia and Google knows it.

The wiki factor also applies to the image results, the book results, and the related searches. Although not appearing on this result, I believe the “wiki factor also applies to news results, blog results, youtube results and any other “result” beyond the typical organic list of just plain old websites about the search term. Just showing ads and urls is soooo 2004 which I guess is the reason those website urls continue to become more and more obscure as they continue to be embedded deeper and deeper into the ”content” of the SERP.

The Perception of Relevancy

All these “extras” appear to be about relevancy but you have to always remember that

#1. Relevancy is subjective and always will be.

#2. Search engines are not relevancy delivery machines, they are ad delivery machines.

Think about it, if any search engine really KNEW what we thought was relevant, there would only need to be one result and it probably wouldn’t be an ad. It is about the PERCEPTION of relevancy. The extras give us the perception that WOW, Google can find EVERYTHING about everything! Man, are they smart.

Well, I think they are smart to realize that their link counting algorithm has a few holes and far too often leaves the impression that if they were REALLY smart this url or that one wouldn’t be in the top because of it’s obvious disregard for Googles’ own webmaster guidelines.

As Google grows increasingly sophisticated, the obvious disregard for their guidelines problem will eventually resolve itself to the point that every result will comply with their guidelines, (at least the ones they really care about as opposed to the ones they publicly blame SEO’s for). The driving motivation of any spidering search engine is not to put the good stuff at the top but rather to make sure the bad stuff goes to the bottom due to that relevancy being subjective thing, (what is good and what is bad is as subjective as it can get). Setting up filters to remove trust from a site that pisses them off will get easier and easier as the storage capacity and the speed of retrieval gets bigger and faster.

Obviously, Google can track, store, search and retrieve a mind-boggling amount of data about who you are, where you live, what you read, play, remark about and search for BUT, they still don’t have the ability to KNOW what you think at any given time. They still have to make educated guesses and assumptions and that is the reason for the array of different sources of results for search queries. As long as sources offered are determined by historical data compared to what they know about you related to a specific search, the more options they can offer with the less chance of you thinking they are wrong or that they made a mistake. VERY smart.

So, it’s not about giving you what you are looking for, they don’t REALLY know what you are REALLY looking for. It is about giving you options that are most likely to convince you that you can TRUST them to always give you information ABOUT what you are looking for. If they do it right, even if you don’t find what you were REALLY looking for you don’t question Google’s choice of options offered, you automatically assume the answer to your query doesn’t even exist or worse, that you don’t need to be asking the question in the first place because obviously they are smarter than you are. Man! That is brilliant marketing and that is real power.

Let’s Talk About the Websites in the Organic Results

On the 1-10  feng shui serp, there are only 8 basic feng shui websites and 14 results that include Wikipedia, a third level about.com,(about.com had the wiki factor applied to it before a wiki even existed so maybe the wiki factor could be interchanged with the about.com factor?), image search, book results and searches related to. The wide range of PR in those 8 results is a pretty good indication of the trust value they place on page rank as most of the SEO community accepts it. Each of the remaining 8 basic feng shui websites all have something in common. They all have content. Yet there is little beyond the words “feng shui” on the page somewhere, (even THAT is no longer a prerequisite in today’s search environment), that immediately stands out as being an indication of what webmastering techniques work best for nailing the algorithm.  A couple of those results stretch even the boundaries of content by anyone’s definition but there they are in the top.

When I first started out in this business reverse engineering the top 10 sites for a target term was relatively easy and pretty much step 1. Comparing the files sizes, H tags, keyword density and source code of the top 10 provided a fairly reliable roadmap for design strategy. Checking for a meta refresh and running your mouse over the text with the shift key held down looking for same color text and background could tip the hand for algo weaknesses with all the major engines at the time. 

Those days are pretty much past. The resources required to reverse engineer the top 10 for any keyword now are far beyond the reach of the average SEO. Trial and error based on a theory or educated guess from simply watching trends of managed sites is more the rule of thumb. You see something that gets the gray matter working, you apply various techniques based on your assumptions and if you find one that works -- do that one again until you think you found something else and then do that. That’s what I’m doing now. Telling you what I’m seeing work based on trial and error borne of educated guesses and very little actual reverse engineering.

I don’t believe in outing anyone for anything even though I know it makes it easier but it just doesn’t sit well with me and never has so I won’t point out specifics on specific sites, but I selected this term because to me this illustrated pretty well that we are going through a transition in how Google chooses what to show whom for a search. I believe we are seeing the old school algorithm based on the ”a link is a vote” style page rank, changing into a new age algorithm of how to weight which link, from whom and what do we know about them? Actually, do we know enough about them to trust them to make us look smart? Or at least not to make us look dumb.

You can go to most of the #2-#10 organic results and find the obligatory historical text, the title tags, the H tags and of course the product descriptions, links, pictures and order buttons as we would expect to find in all of the 24,500,000 results Google claims to have indexed relevant to this search term. You know, content.

But above all else what you find is a wide variety of design, layout, features, scripts, widgets, doo-dads and/or goodies related to something to do with feng shui. So with all this diversity, including even some content that is virtually non-existent, what is the common thread? It is the diversity itself.

I’m not saying it is enough to just be different. You first have to make sure you have

#1. Some kind of design, layout, features, scripts, widgets, doo-dads and/or goodies related to something to do with feng shui. This could be considered “content”. The example I gave of the site with nothing but a couple of flash images is a pretty good indication of the low-end of that spectrum and also lends credence to the “power of the keyword in the domain name theory”.

#2. Trust. Basically meaning not being busted for making Google look stupid which is not the same as being busted for breaking guidelines.

But I am saying there would be a LOT of sites that could meet this criteria, so who’s on top? The ones who make the engine look smart.

Help Me Guru! How Can I Make Google Looksmart?

I have made you endure a long post and I know how much you hate that but finally we come to the money shot. Here’s is my little secret of making the engine look smart and beating out sites that are older, more established, have more links and basically hold a superior defensive position with whatever content I have. Open source is my secret weapon.

Anyone can go to http://www.opensourcescripts.com/ and find a LOT of things that quickly and easily add value and variety to any “relevant” site. Everything from forums to affiliate programs. Tracking, polls, chat programs, classified ad programs content management stuff and on and on.

By locating, installing and promoting neat little goodies that not everyone else is copying, (like blindly following the advice of “content is king”), you create a relevant, value driven proposition that others aren’t offering. If it is unique enough and you have not broken that trust factor the engine has little choice but to place you on the front page as a viable option.

It’s not quite as simple as slapping an open source script offering a feng shui poll on your first page but it is a damn good first step. Once you have something unique, now you apply the things you learned from the reference material I gave you above, (crap! More reading L), and start doing some very basic, very easy, very inexpensive online promotion.

This is where Digg, http://www.digg.com and other networking sites can come into play without making yourself out to be just another linkwhore. You can actually add some value to a community, (if you don’t try to spam them), by announcing your nifty little, theme related doo-dad. Adding something unique and value driven is a GOOD reason to run a press release.  Talking about your relevant goody in an article is the kind of article article distribution sites WANT to distribute, and you know what? Those type of promotional activities actually  generate relevant traffic AND relevant searches. BINGO! When people start going to Google looking for you, Google starts looking for you too because if they don’t, they don’t look so smart. Starting to get it ?

 If you know how to diddle code a teensy bit above html, most of apps on open source scripts.com is easy. If you don’t know how to install or modify code no worries. I’ll do it for you cheap. Just go to http://toolstore.techndu.com and pick the goody that you think is going to appeal the most to your visitors in your niche, (we’re pretty slick with widgets too and widgets can work really well if you have a cool one in mind), and we’ll modify and/or install any .asp or php app and you don’t have to pay a dime until AFTER it’s installed and running!

If you are #1 in your niche, defend your position. If you are #2 attack. If you are #3 flank and if you’re smaller than third use guerilla tactics. There are a LOT of ways to do any one of those things but using open source scripts is one of the fastest and easiest ways the Guru knows of the Guru knows of the Guru knows of to accomplish all four tactics.

Beat Your Competitors Already On Top by Making Google Looksmart.

Peace Y’all

From beautiful downtown Ahmedabad        

The SEO Guru

 Some good related posts

Designing for Human Beings: How May I Help You?

http://www.10e20.com/blog/2008/01/18/how-to-design-for-humans/

The Most Important Marketing Lesson You’ll Ever Learn: Roll Your Own

http://www.slightlyshadyseo.com/?p=168

 You’re gonna sit there and eat everything on your plate or you can just go to bed hungry!