Search
Related Links

 

 

Informative Articles

Search Engine Marketing- Growth In SEO
Search Engine Marketing (SEM) has changed considerably over the past ten years. When first started, it was called Search Engine Submission. Then it became Search Engine Optimization (SEO), which was barely recognized as a marketing strategy. At...

SEO Basics - 8 Key Strategies For Online Business Success
The world of search engine optimization (SEO) can be a big scary place for newbies. Most SEO professional companies charge astronomical prices that may or may not guarantee success. The search engines are forever changing the way they rank websites...

SEO Expert Explains on How to Restore a Website and Remove Sandbox Effect from Your Website
The sandbox effect or (site getting banned on google) has been prevalent in google for quite a long time, and many websites are falling victim to it. Whether deliberately or accidentally, these websites get caught by so called (GOOGLE POLICE...

SEO India: Tips & Techniques by Ravz
SEO is all about "Individualism" According to me SEO is not only getting rank for keywords (Of course that is the primary objective) but apart from ranking your objective should be "Conversion" getting "Sales" (No matter if its personal site or...

SEO, the simplified version
Lets get things straight. SEO is a very competitive market. If you have the time to promote your site and have the energy to work hard to get a good PR then this is for you. I have read many books on SEO and tried to get the best tactics to use. If...

 
SEO and Search Engine Forums & Conferences :: are they really helpful?

Working in the SEO/SEM industry can be very rewarding. Many times a problem can be solved simply with a little online research, and posts on a few forums.

All to often, however, some people put too much stock in the posts they see, ultimately negatively impacting their SEO efforts.

In this article I look at some of the positives and negatives of online SEM forums and attending SEM and SEO conferences.



As part of my daily routine I visit a few of the search engine forums out there to see what people are talking about and what some have noticed.

Sometimes I come across real gems - stuff I can put away for later, or use with a client I'm currently stuck on.

But more often than not, the information you see is really mis-information in some cases. As such, one must be extremely careful in relying what is said on one forum.

A good example is when the Google Dance used to happen.

It was at this time that webmasters would watch Google and begin to sweat when their rankings dropped one or many positions. Some webmasters literally didn't sleep during the days of the dance.

And many times you would visit some of the popular forums and see all kinds of conjecture and speculation as to what Google was doing.

My favorite posts were "on my website this happened, so this HAS to be what Google is doing." Yet all to often this poor soul was basing his ideas on the effects he witnessed on only one website.

And that is a flaw with these forums. It's not that the forums themselves are flawed, it's that in some cases people posting on them make bold statements about the current state of the engines with little or no evidence.

They base their "fact" on observations made on one or two websites over the course of one or two days.

Generally, these types of posts are quickly debunked as myth, but sometimes they do more damage than good.

That's because there are others out there who know even less and read these posts and take them as the truth when in fact they are mere speculation.

And it's not just forums where this happens.

Many of the big forums now have events planned - conferences and the like - where you can now go hear those that post regularly also speak.

But it's not the speaking engagements I have a problem with, it's the speculation that happens before and after the presentations that worries me.

I can't tell you how many times I've had clients come back from Webmasterworld conferences or Search Engine Strategies with their heads full of ideas on how to move forward, even though I know many of these "theories" to be false, or at least flawed.

You see, there's lots of socializing that happens at these events.

You may be sitting down to their lovely boxed lunches and strike up a conversation with the person next to you. Before you know it you are sharing ideas, and the next thing you know he's solved all your problems. Or at least you think he has.

But how well do you know the guy you've just been talking to? And how can you be sure that what he's told you is correct?

This is what I've dealt with in the past and many times it's the forums and conferences that can undo over 3 or 4 days what it has taken you to build over months and years - that is an appreciation from


your clients that you do indeed know what you are talking about.

Here's an example:

We once had a client from a major University. Things were sailing along quite nicely, changes were getting made and the site was beginning to rank quite well.

The client thought it would be a good idea to attend a webmaster conference. We recommended that she attend, but try not to place too much emphasis on what she had heard. This was because the conference she was attending wasn't one of the "big" ones like WMW or SES, but more of a regional one put on by a local SEO company.

Yet she came back full of ideas on how to "help" me do my job better.

Things like turning off her URL rewriter because "search engines index dynamic content just fine." and removing optimized meta tags because "search engines don't use those things anyways" and halting all link building efforts because "building links can get you banned."

Well you can guess what happened next - the site stalled in the search engines, and didn't improve much after that. We pleaded with her to let us get back on track, but she was unwilling.

In the end, the client canceled unhappy with the results, but would never allow us to do the job we were hired to do.

All because she took what she had heard sometime during the conference as the truth to end all truths.

Now I'm not saying that what she was told at the conference was wrong. In fact, I'm inclined to believe that what she was told was mostly right. However somehow between attending the conference and coming back to work with us she had determined that she somehow knew more that I did about SEO.

Chances are she likely distorted what she had heard. Instead of "search engines don't use meta tags" she probably heard "most search engines don't look at meta keyword tag."

And instead of "link building will harm your rankings" she probably really heard "improper link building can hurt your rankings."

I feel she misinterpreted or otherwise twisted what she had heard into something else.

So if you are site owner, please don't assume everything you read/hear in the industry spaces is correct. If anything I've found that you must question everything.

Even if it's something that a well known industry expert has said, you still owe it to yourself to question it.

After all, if the "expert" is wrong, and you've based your online marketing decisions on what they've said, there's only one person to blame - and it isn't necessarily the expert.

Similarly, if you've read something in a forum, be sure to double and triple check it against a few other reliable sources.

For example, if you've read something at the Webmasterworld forums, don't be afraid to question the ability in the Searchenginewatch forums. Go a step further and question it in a few more places until you get a satisfactory answer.

Because while there is a whole lot of gray in our industry in terms of what works and what doesn't there are some hard and fast rules to SEO. Ones that will help and ones that will hurt when applied to your site.

About the author:

About the author:

Rob Sullivan - SEO Specialist and Internet Marketing Consultant. Any reproduction of this article needs to have an html link pointing to http://www.textlinkbrokers.com

 

Search Engine Optimization, Google Optimization - SEO Chat
Search Engine Optimization, Google Optimization - SEO Chat.
www.seochat.com
 
Search engine optimization - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Search engine optimization (SEO) is a subset of search engine marketing, and deals with ... The term SEO can also refer to "search engine optimizers", ...
en.wikipedia.org
 
SEO Home
Mentor an SEO Scholar! 8/7/2006. Click here to learn more. ... 55 Exchange Place New York, NY 10005 (212) 979-2040 info@seo-usa.org ...
www.seo-ny.org
 
Webmaster Help Center - What's an SEO? Does Google recommend ...
Ask your SEO firm if it reports every spam abuse that it finds to Google ... Ethical SEO firms report deceptive sites that violate Google's spam guidelines. ...
www.google.com
 
Aaron Wall's SEO Book.com
Aaron Wall offers search engine news, reviews of tools, and an ebook for sale.
www.seobook.com
 
SEO Today
Provides articles and information about the search engine optimization and marketing industry. Latest articles can be sent via email.
www.seotoday.com
 
SEO: See what people are saying right now on Technorati
See all blog posts tagged with SEO on Technorati. ... This page shows everything that has been tagged with SEO. To contribute to this page include this code ...
www.technorati.com
 
Seo: See what people are saying right now on Technorati
See all blog posts tagged with seo on Technorati. ... Professional SEO Marketing Firm www.cherryoneweb.com - Cherryone is a SEO firm that gets results for ...
www.technorati.com
 
Pages tagged with "seo" on del.icio.us
秋元@サイボウズラボ・プログラマー・ブログ: あのライバルは SEO で抜けるのか? ... L'aggiornamento di un SEO | Articoli Webmarketing | Webmarketing.HTML.it ...
del.icio.us
 
Seo Administrator - seo tools, seo software, optimization software ...
Seo Administrator is an integrated suite of web promotion utilities that cover all aspects of website optimization and promotion.
www.seoadministrator.com
 
Search Engine Watch: Tips About Internet Search Engines & Search ...
Search Engine Watch is the authoritative guide to searching at Internet search engines and search engine registration and ranking issues.
searchenginewatch.com
 
AddMe, Search Engine Optimization Submission Free Site Promotion ...
A leader since 1996, search engine submission, search engine optimization, free search engine submission, site submission, and website promotion.
www.addme.com
 
What is SEO? - A Word Definition From the Webopedia Computer ...
This page describes the term SEO and lists other pages on the Web where you can find additional information.
www.webopedia.com
 
SEO: Search Engine Optimisation. SEO copyright advice. FREE SEO ...
Provides free search engine keyword reports for UK websites and strategies for unlisted websites.
www.ihaveawebsite-nowwhat.co.uk
 
Search Engine Roundtable ::: The Pulse Of The Search Marketing ...
A well-rounded view on search engines and search engine marketing from five segments of the Web population represented by senior members of the major ...
www.seroundtable.com
 
Search Engine Optimisation Marketing & Pay per Click Advertising ...
Offers search engine marketing and paid search engine advertising. Australia.
www.foundagency.com.au
 
Submit Express - Search Engine Placement, Optimization, SEO Marketing
Search engine optimization services with guaranteed Top 10 results. Submit your website URL to 40 major search engines for FREE !
www.submitexpress.com
 
SEO Analyzer - SEO Tools - Nashville SEO, SEM, Internet Strategy ...
The SEO Analyzer is a FREE tool that uses a sophisticated algorithm that detects how optimized your web design is for search engines.
sitening.com
 
SEO Company For Search Engine Optimization
Weblinx Limited - SEO Company for UK Search Engine Optimization.
www.weblinx.biz
 
Matt Cutts: Gadgets, Google, and SEO
I believe that Google is the only search engine that will confirm to webmasters ... If you pick a bad search engine optimizer (SEO) and they make a ton of ...
www.mattcutts.com
 
 

 

Content Menu
  • 10 sure fire tips for choosing the right seo company

  • 10 ways to make sure your seo goes out of its way for you

  • 12 things to avoid in seo

  • 12 things you really should know about seo

  • 1 simple seo strategy to get more visitors to your site from google

  • 5 reasons why seo is the best investment for any ceo

  • 5 simple search engine optimization seo techniques

  • 5 things to keep an eye on in the seo world in 2005

  • 6 quick questions to stop wasting money with seo companies in less than 7 minutes

  • 7 secrets to top search engine rankings yes even 1 positions for seo dummies

  • 8 essential seo techniques

  • a1 technology launches its independent seo division a 1 internetdesign

  • adwords adsense seo common denominator keywords

  • affordable small business seo 5 common website errors and how to fix them

  • all about seo or sfo

  • an seo glossary common seo terms defined

  • are you content with your page views learn the seo secrets of how to turbo boost your traffic

  • are you making these deadly seo mistakes

  • article and directory submission hiring a seo professional

  • article writing seo expert authors and the dumbification of the internet

  • automated seo tools why arent you using one

  • a brief look and overview of seo techniques

  • a few reminders on key words for seo

  • back to basics in seo

  • bad seo and google penal

  • basic seo advice what anyone could do for their websites

  • basic seo article focusing on quick optimization techniques for the newbie

  • basic seo for your wisconsin site part 1

  • basic seo for your wisconsin site part 2

  • basic seo for your wisconsin site part 3

  • basic seo wisdom

  • beat googles dampening link filter with seo articles

  • become an instant seo forum expert

  • beware of fake seo consultants

  • branding versus seo

  • breaking seo myths part one the seo expert

  • building links for search engine optimization seo

  • buying textlinks the latest seo craze

  • buzzwords vs effective seo keywords

  • can an seo company guarantee top 10 search results

  • ceo meet seo introduction to optimization

  • clean up your code for good seo

  • complete seo tutorial start from the beginning

  • content management systems eyeball seos

  • design vs seo can my site look good and rank well

  • diy seo

  • diy seo prt 2 tags n things

  • dont make the top 30 seo mistake

  • dont put all your promotion eggs in the seo basket

  • do it yourself seo

  • do it yourself seo how to generate free high pagerank links quickly and easily

  • do seos bring targeted web traffic

  • earn with fun by simple seo search engine optimization

  • easy seo in 6 simple steps

  • ecommerce seo

  • effective seo comes cheap

  • emergent marketing website conversion usability seo

  • emergent marketing web site conversion usability seo

  • fc rss seo

  • finding the right seo company

  • flash seo and optimization how to properly use flash on your websites

  • forget seo its all about conversion

  • four fabulous seo tools

  • free online seo tools

  • free search engine optimization seo tips step by step

  • general seo guide

  • golden rules for search engine optimization seo

  • good news for seo consultants searchers use two words

  • googles new seo rules

  • googles suggestion beta search new seo webmaster wonder tool or over rated popularity meter

  • google bombing or legitimate seo

  • google patent application seo highlights

  • honest in depth seo elite review

  • how lousy seo smothers good practices

  • how real seo analysis works

  • how to become an seo expert 5 secrets that will allow you to outperform 95 of all webmasters

  • how to choose keywords for maximum seo effectiveness

  • how to get the best deal on your seo project

  • how to harness the power of web directories the missing link in your seo strategy

  • how to kick start your business with seo and sem

  • how to kick start your business with seo sem

  • how to manage seo

  • how to pick an seo firm

  • how to really seo your site

  • how to seo your site right

  • if your website were a rock band your seo plays bass

  • increase seo sales by teaching clients about seo truths

  • increase web site sales with a seo proposal part 1

  • increase web site sales with a seo proposal part 2

  • increase your page rank through seo

  • index

  • introduction to seo

  • introduction to seo what is seo

  • jagger google analytics and the future of search seo

  • just what is an seo article

  • keywords and seo the facts

  • leading your web designer to seo

  • make your presnece felt in google yahoo msn simple seo steps

  • making the most of an seo competitive analysis

  • mlm and seo bad business no business

  • monitor and increase your search engine visibility with the diy seo tools

  • multilingual seo for world markets part 1

  • multilingual seo for world markets part 2

  • never do seo optimization

  • online marketing made easy with seo

  • on site seo and link building

  • optimum seo keyword density a real life case study

  • organic seo and link building

  • pdf optimization death to seo

  • philbert lenny the redneck experts of seo sucks com write an article

  • picking keywords for seo a different view

  • powerful seo tools

  • ppc advertising the first step in a seo marketing campaign

  • professional seo hand off to bob or outsource the job

  • professional seo in your marketing mix convincing your company

  • reality check a straightforward guide to keywords and search engine optimization seo

  • rebuild website or perform seo

  • rising above the seo reputation

  • rotator

  • rss can feed your seo efforts

  • screwed is this an inevitability in the seo world

  • search engine marketing growth in seo

  • search engine optimization 12 things you really should know about seo

  • search engine optimization seo boost your website traffic

  • search engine optimization seo fix your offpage

  • search engine optimization seo fix your onpage

  • search engine optimization seo is critical to the success of your website

  • search engine optimization the important of noframes tag in seo

  • search engine optimized seo copy the down and dirty details

  • search engine updates vs seo

  • selecting a seo company

  • seo 101 basic optimization techniques

  • seo 101 these tags really do matter

  • seo 101 the basics of how to get to the top of the search engines

  • seo 1 choosing the keywords to optimize for

  • seo 2 on page optimization

  • seo 3 getting listed in google in under 24 hours

  • seo 3 rules for success

  • seo 4 off page optimization

  • seo 5 analyzing the top ranked website on google

  • seo 6 analyzing the top ranked website on google

  • seo 6 how to get banned by google

  • seo advertisting pay per click ppc

  • seo and how to be 1 in google and msn

  • seo and image optimization

  • seo and pr whats the difference

  • seo and search engine forums conferences are they really helpful

  • seo and the title tag

  • seo article writing 101

  • seo a part of internet marketing strategy

  • seo basics 8 key strategies for online business success

  • seo basics keyword research

  • seo best practice befriend the directories

  • seo boging for pagerank

  • seo case study attorneys chasing vioxx organic search ranking

  • seo competition analysis part one

  • seo competition analysis part two

  • seo copywriting 7 tips

  • seo deadly sins mistakes that hurt web page ranking

  • seo experiment the coolest guy on the planet mike filsaime

  • seo expert explains on how to restore a website and remove sandbox effect from your website

  • seo for beginners

  • seo for ceos search engine optimization unmasked for ceos

  • seo for dummies how to choose the right firm for you

  • seo for ecommerce

  • seo for google you need offpage optimization

  • seo for the big three

  • seo get a number one google ranking with this simple technique

  • seo get your site out of the google sandbox fast

  • seo hints and tips and free seo tools

  • seo india tips techniques by ravz

  • seo introduction

  • seo keywords do your research

  • seo keywords image and alt tags

  • seo keywords meta tags

  • seo keywords the starting point

  • seo killer server log files

  • seo linking strategies

  • seo link popularity

  • seo made easy winning tactics for internet business success

  • seo myths value of page rank

  • seo natural linking strategies

  • seo organic seo an effective way for the site optimization

  • seo or ppc which one is right for you

  • seo outbound link relevance

  • seo portal or free seo you decide

  • seo post jagger

  • seo ppc sem asap

  • seo questions why do i see different google results than my clients

  • seo quickstart 3 things you can do to improve search engine rankings right now

  • seo research shield your trade name with seo research

  • seo sales letter but wait if you order now

  • seo search engine optimisation and web positioning techniques

  • seo search engine optimization google rewards savetoby com for bad behavior

  • seo search engine optimization tips on successful page ranking

  • seo seoelite software a best tool for seo

  • seo services arrive in the caribbean

  • seo services making top ranking google websites

  • seo sitemaps give websites a boost

  • seo software the window to unlimited online opportunities

  • seo stoopid

  • seo success step one is good web design

  • seo success step three is creating long term popularity

  • seo success step two is attracting search engine attention

  • seo the fixer upper

  • seo the importance of an ethical approach

  • seo the most effective form of advertising

  • seo the simplified version

  • seo the tortoise or the hare

  • seo the ultimate marketing strategy for small businesses

  • seo think of it as reverse direct marketing

  • seo threading your keywords

  • seo tips for people who arent dummies

  • seo tools poem

  • seo trade secrets 8 great tools for search engine optimization

  • seo training avoid making this costly mistake

  • seo vs content creation

  • seo what to look for when choosing an seo frim

  • seo what to look out for when choosing an seo firm

  • seo why site width matters

  • seo yes or no

  • seo your pdfs

  • seo your pdfs does this work

  • shopping carts and seo

  • simple yet powerful seo with content

  • sitemaps 101 back to seo school

  • skyrocketing seo prices make blood cold discount ones make it stir

  • smartpages legitimate seo or spam

  • some tips for planning your seo campaign for the long term

  • sorting out the seo men from the boys

  • street smarts vs book smarts the battle for seo supremacy

  • supply demand stop attacking good seo companies

  • text links for better seo

  • there should be more to your seo consultant than rankings

  • the 3 most important seo marketing secrets

  • the 52 top seo tips here are 10 of them

  • the 5 biggest seo myths debunked

  • the 5 most common seo mistakes

  • the 7 points of do it yourself seo

  • the abcs of seo search engine optimization

  • the advantages of seo training

  • the basics of seo some faqs

  • the benefits of organic seo search engine optimization

  • the benefits of organic seo search engine optimization what organic seo entails and why it is preferred by some

  • the biggest seo scam of all

  • the business case for seo

  • the donts of search engine optimization seo

  • the failure of the seo system

  • the good and the bad of seo from googles mouth

  • the great seo chat debate

  • the importance of search engine optimization seo

  • the latest seo myth debunked

  • the one most overlooked seo secret

  • the seo game do you play it

  • the seo journey

  • the seo rip off

  • the seo super hero link development

  • the small screen seo

  • the tao of seo

  • top 10 little used seo strategies

  • top 5 most common mistakes with do it yourself seo

  • top 7 fundamentals for google optimization google seo tips and techniques by expert

  • tourism and seo a match made in heaven

  • towards a new philosophy of seo

  • to pay or not to pay for professional seo services

  • using articles instead of seo tactics to get traffic

  • using title tags to improve seo website conversion

  • validating web page code for better seo

  • w3c compliance seo article

  • webpositionexpert seo website optimization service search engine positioning

  • website optimization a seo specialist reveals all

  • website submission a seo specialist shares his secrets

  • web content mass keyword optimization links seo

  • web promotion seo strategy

  • whats the most effective seo tactic for 2006

  • whats the most important part of an seo campaign

  • what are seo back link

  • what constitutes a complete and effective seo campaign

  • what is good seo search engine optimization anyway

  • what is search engine optimization or seo

  • what is waiting for us tomorrows seo industry

  • what to look for when shopping for a seo specialist

  • when cms met seo using the power of content management systems

  • when to hire a professional seo firm

  • when to not hire a seo and why

  • why clients seek seo guarantees

  • why do niche websites have an unfair seo advantage

  • why hire seo professionals

  • why is search engine optimisation seo important

  • why is seo so expensive

  • why is seo so important to your site

  • why seo as we know it is doomed to failure and how you can avoid the trap

  • why valid html code is crucial to seo

  • why you need a seo maintenance plan

  • wiki what seos can learn from it

  • writing seo copy 8 steps to success

  • yahoo store the best e commerce platform for seo