| LED Digest 1736: Dominating Rankings with Sub-domains? |
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================================================== The LED Digest Moderated Discussion List "Effective Online Advertising, Since 1997" pair Networks: The LED's Web Host Hosting and Domain Reg. from a Trusted Leader pair.com for Hosting | pairNIC.com for Domains ================================================== List Moderator: Published by: Adam Audette LED Digest adam,led-digest.com http://www.led-digest.com ................................................ January 27, 2004 Issue #1736 ................................................ .....IN THIS DIGEST..... ====== NEW ===================== --== Use of Sub-domains for Rankings ==-- ~ Jim Berry "We have noticed an increasing use of subdomains with the intent of dominating the search results..." ==== CONTINUING ================= --== Ad Blocking Software ==-- ~ Tony Kitching "I hate to say but I think we are all losing the plot here a bit." ~ Ronni Rhodes "...technology has found a way around the pop-up blockers." ~ Maty Matyszak "...by forcing irrelevant or intrusive ads on users, it is we who are forcing the use of ad blockers." --== Web Ad Trademark Laws ==-- ~ Michael Martinez "Words and names can and are trademarked." ==== BILLBOARD =================== --== Local Sites, Local Hosting? ==-- ~ Dan Thies ~ Steve Pronger --== Tips for Internet Business Seminar ==-- ~ Mark Roberts ======= NEW ====================================== From: Jim Berry Subject: Use of Subdomains for Indexing We have noticed an increasing use of subdomains with the intent of dominating the search results, especially on Google. The strategy appears to involve the purchase of a single domain name, say www.search.com (this is purely for example purposes) and then creating hundreds or even thousands of subdomains, each with slightly different content, but enough similarities to appear in 50% or more of the Google results for specific key phrases. In my example, we might see expertseo.search.com, noviceseo.search.com, wannabeseo.search.com and so on. A search on Google might return all 3 of these address under a relevant search, thereby grabbing 3 of the top 10 slots on a page. In some extreme examples, we've seen the first 30 results captured by 25 subdomains of one domain. The concern is obvious and we are surprised that this issue hasn't received more attention by Google as it seems to be the easiest and least expensive way to dominate search results. Has anyone else seen the approach and have any comments as to the legitimacy of it? Many thanks for all responses. Jim Berry, Director of Sales and Marketing www.bookkeepinghelp.com jim [at] bookkeepinghelp [dot] com ===== CONTINUING ================================= From: Tony Kitching Subject: Ad blockers > It is as if we need to recreate an internet that allows free web > site submissions to search engines and doesn't allow popup ads. - Vip Milton, LED 1734 How did it come to this ?? Are we all so arrogant as to try to force someone to stop advertising their business. I wonder how many of you out there have written to your local TV stations complaining about all the TV commercials or do you tear out the ads in the magazine you just picked up. Heaven forbid turn off the radio before a totally irrelevant ad comes on and steals 15 seconds of your listening time. Pop-ups are part of the internet and you will never stop them so just live with them. Ad-blockers work, sometimes too well. That's why I don't use one. More seriously, I think the serving of irrelevant pop-ups is a bit annoying but that's why you can X out of them. The ones without a simple close button do annoy me but hey its not that bad... really. Now if someone can present to me ads of interest I would be interested. But that would require me giving more info out there than I am prepared to at this stage. I hate to say but I think we are all losing the plot here a bit. I would like to see more effort put into stopping the ridiculous amount of spam email getting about. Now I do not want to start that thread up again but I could have had enough Viagra to raise the Titanic !! And who the hell told them I have a small penis ?? Keep on LEDing............ Tony Kitching Mobile Desk Solutions. www.mobiledesksolutions.com ------- new post - same topic ------- From: Ronni Rhodes Subject: Ad blockers Ironically, technology has found a way around the pop-up blockers. It seems that "where's there a will, there's a way" is all too true when it comes to the Internet: New Technology Blocks Pop-Up Blocking http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/news/011904d.asp Best regards, Ronni Rhodes http://www.wbcimaging.com ------- new post - same topic ------- From: Maty Matyszak Subject: Ad blockers I'm a PC hobbyist, and I buy computer magazines - not despite the ads, but partly because of them. I enjoy seeing what is available and how much it costs. I even buy the products if I like what I see. We run Google AdSense on our site, and have not had a single negative comment (we get 60,000 visitors a month). This is because the adverts are non-intrusive, and actually enhance the value of the site by giving users links to products and services they might be interested in buying. (And our CTR testifies this is the case.) This surely is what advertising is meant to be about? If users object to viewing ads, it is because the ads are either irrelevant, shoved down the user's throat, or both. Regarding ads as a sort of penalty that visitors pay for using our web pages is losing the plot a bit. And by forcing irrelevant or intrusive ads on users, it is we - the webmasters - who are forcing the use of ad blockers. Just a thought .. Maty Matyszak ------- new post - new topic ------- From: Michael Martinez Subject: Trademark ads > ... a Trademark doesn't give you control of the word, only > the particular graphical representation. I believe that in > law you can own a word only if you invent it, not if you > adopt one from common language. - Ian Dickson, LED 1734 That is not correct. Words and names can and are trademarked. Xerox Corporation successfully pursued their trademark against the entire professional writing industry (of course, they lost the majority of their business as they did so, so trademark enforcement is sometimes counter-productive). The trademark Xerox wanted to protect was its name, "Xerox", which was once commonly used as a verb (people would xerox something, whereas today we make a copy or photocopy it). Examples of words taken from the common language include names of cars (only Ford can use "Thunderbird" for a car) and names of foods ("Cheerios" was named from a common expression, "Cheery-O", because of their shape). One trademark which was taken from Middle English is the name "Middle-earth". It has been trademarked by Tolkien Enterprises. A trademark must be applied for within a specific industry. So, you can use a trademark in any context which doesn't threaten the value of the trademark in its original context. Some trademarks have broader applications than others. Michael Martinez, Author Understanding Middle-earth, Parma Endorion, and Visualizing Middle-earth http://www.xenite.org/ ==== BILLBOARD ==================================== From: Dan Thies Subject: Local hosting > A web site designer recently told a client of mine that > because his business is based in Australia (and he > only wants hits from Australia) he should host his site > in Australia - as he will do better on the Australian search > engines. - Sascha Hewitt, LED 1735 If the site has a .au domain, then it should do fine on Australian search engines (including Google AU) regardless of where it's hosted. For any other top level domain (like .com), it's probably a good idea to host it on a network in Australia, and especially to have the name servers on an Australian network. Google is often the most popular search engine, even when there are truly local search engines. Google's country search engines will show .com domains in the local search, but as far as we can tell, this only happens when the name servers are hosted within the country in question. If you aren't sure where a particular network is located, you can check any IP address with the WHOIS tool at ARIN ( www.arin.net ). Dan Thies SEO Research Labs http://www.seoresearchlabs.com ------- new post - same topic ------- From: Steve Pronger Subject: Local hosting Nonsense. The geographical location of a server has little to do with how a site ranks in the search engines. There are very few Australian search engines of any consequence anyway. Most of us search with Google and Yahoo, albeit Australian versions, just like everyone else. And why restrict traffic to only Australia? His company might only serve Australia, but affiliate programs and AdSense can provide income from around the globe. Just goes to show, some web designers design good sites but know nothing of web marketing. Steve Pronger Steve Pronger Web Design http://www.stevepronger.com ------- new post - new topic ------- From: Mark Roberts Subject: Taking a business to the Internet seminar This may be an unusual request, but here goes. I am teaching a seminar on how to take a business to the Internet. Right now I am approaching this two ways: A. Establishing a Internet presence for an existing brick and mortar business and B. Establishing a new Internet only business. This is going to be a repeating seminar every couple of months. Depending on the audience draw, this may actually be a 2 seminar set because of the amount of material. My presentation is about 80% complete. I am looking for some additional material or experiences to draw on. I have a lot of my own experiences to pull from but would like experience, tips, pointers, etc. to make sure I have covered all the bases or not overlooking obvious issues. Any input anyone on this list would like to share would be appreciated. Even a few buttet points would be appreciated. Thanks in advance. Mark Roberts Roberts Computing Systems mark.roberts [at] robertscomputing [dot] com ------------------------------------------------------- The LED Digest is sponsored by pair Networks: pair.com for Hosting | pairNIC.com for Domains Copyright 1995-2004 Adam Audette. All Rights Reserved. ----------------------------------------------------------------- "Respect for the truth comes close to being the basis for all morality." - Frank Herbert |
