| LED Digest 2471: SEO is not Evil |
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================================================== The LED Digest Moderated Discussion List "Effective Online Advertising, Since 1997" Data > Information > Knowledge > Wisdom www.GetWebContent.com/LED : the LED's Key Sponsor The Web's Most Experienced SEO Content Providers. www.SEOToolSet.com/training/ : the LED's Premier Sponsor Bruce Clay's Search Engine Optimization Training & Certification ================================================== List Moderator: Published by: Adam Audette LED Digest adam, led-digest.com http://www.led-digest.com .............................................. August 15, 2007 Issue no. 2471 .............................................. .....IN THIS DIGEST..... ====== NEW ===================== --== LED Tagline Suggestions ==-- ~ Lorelle Smith "What about using one a 3-word tagline as the tie-in to the LED Digest name?" --== Bandwidth Speeds ==-- ~ Tom Aman "Apparently Verizon is spending billions..." ==== CONTINUING ================= --== Duplicate Content & SEO Myths ==-- ~ Thomas M. Schmitz "SEO is not evil and anyone who says [so] is angry that they're not getting any..." ~ David Spahr "I run country specific sites." --== Keyword Density ==-- ~ Beth Earle "Amen, Michael, Amen! Same for Lisa Barone's comments..." ========== NEW =================================== From: Lorelle Smith Subject: Tagline / Acronym Suggestions for LED Adam, we previously discussed how much the original "Link Exchange Digest" name irks us. This morning a couple ideas occurred to me. What about using one a 3-word tagline as the tie-in to the LED Digest name? Learn - Exchange - Discuss Or reassigning the acronym this meaning: Lively E-marketing Discussions Or this one: Listserv for Entreprenurial Discussions I'm sure other LEDers can come up with better. Maybe during the summer lull it's a good time to ask for suggestions! Lorelle Smith, The Keywordsmith Professional Keyword Research & Analysis Consultant http://www.Keywordsmith.com <Moderator Comment> Thanks Lorelle! I totally agree (and love your suggestions). The LED Digest needs to have a worthy name :) I know, it's branded well and everyone knows it. But it's so non-descriptive and actually confusing. The "LED"? What's that, a list about light bulbs? We're probably stuck with the LED, but we could at least improve the acronym a bit: "Link Exchange Digest" Digest just doesn't do it for me somehow. LEDers... offer your wisdom and wit, and let's come up with a better tagline for the LED. -Adam -------- new post - new topic -------- From: Tom Aman Subject: Bandwidth numbers Don't want to start a debate or anything, this is just intended as an update on how surfers connect for those who don't read PC World. The August issue carried the results of a survey they did on how people are connecting to the Internet. 6400 people responded giving these results: Cable 47.5% DSL 36.6% Dial-up 7.1% Fiber 2.4% Power-line 1.6% Fixed wireless 1.5% Satellite 1.5% Other 1.8% Some other points of interest: 1. Many dial-up users do not have any other choice (I am one of those although I understand that DSL will be available to me in a month or so). 2. Apparently Verizon is spending billions (that is not a typo, they are spending billions) to upgrade their customers to fiber optics in the 30 states that they serve. Expected speeds are up to 30 mbps. One customer surveyed reports actual speed of 15 mbps. To understand the significance of this, bear in mind that normal DSL currently runs at anywhere from 1 to about 6 mbps (maybe 8 mbps if you are lucky). 3. Comcast has demonstrated a cable modem capable of 150mbps. Tom Aman Aman Software http://www.cyberspyder.com ======== CONTINUING =============================== From: Thomas M. Schmitz Subject: Duplicate Content and SEO Myths > ... running similar sites for different country-specific > domains is legitimate, and won't be penalised... This > one can be chalked up alongside the other SEO > myths that many SEO "experts" like to peddle. - Martyn Gay, LED Digest 2469 - http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1880/190/ <G>I don't peddle. In fact, I try to avoid any exercise that does not involve a drink, a dance floor and a cue ball.</G> Look folks, this is ludicrous. SEO is not evil and anyone who says it is, especially after all this time, is either angry that they're not getting any or they are trolling. As with any craft SEO practitioners have different levels of knowledge and skill. I think we can all agree that there are more lackluster or ineffective PR campaigns than effective ones. There is good PR and there is negative PR. There is informational PR and there is Spin. That does not mean businesses ought to generalize PR as being evil or that they should not participate. That would be suicidal. Inside my lopsided brain I believe that the same applies to SEO. Is that opinion as stupid as wearing a kilt in a windstorm? Now, let's look at this specific example, similar content for different countries, and some alternative ways of looking at it. As with any free advice, please do your own research, make up your own mind and pay for your own drinks. SEO 101 In the cited "a separate website for every nation" case Google says that the search engine will attempt to select the best match and will not assess a penalty. SEO 202 There are positive SEO factors and negative SEO factors. Duplicate content is a negative ranking factor and can hurt your rankings. Links, for the most part, are a positive SEO factor and can help earn high rankings. While there may be no negative ranking influence there is a diluted positive influence. By having a different domain or subdomain for every country, external links, and therefore external link equity (link juice, link love, etc.) is divided between each website. Google may select one domain or page as the best, but that best page will only have a fraction of the ranking strength it could have had. SEO 303 Google likes program based automation. Any useful data that they can convert into quantitative, statistically relevant information is apt to get tossed into the black box. Unfortunately Google's analysis are not always perfect. If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, Google is likely to think it is a duck, even if it is a goose. As a straight-forward example, Google tells webmasters to be cautious about using CSS to replace text with images. This drives designers batty. Unfortunately, though the intention may be pure as the driven snow, Google's algorithm cannot distinguish between the good, the bad and the ugly. Likewise, similar content websites risk receiving the same treatment, no matter how honorable Google's intentions. SEO 404 Divide the website (one domain, no subdomains) into languages, not countries. If it is necessary to be country specific, serve the proper information based on the IP address's geo-location. Select one 'faithful' version of each language to serve to search engine bots. (The same text in different languages is considered to be unique content and should always have separate URLs.) What about you? What potential issues and possible opportunities do you see? Do you prefer one olive or two, or perhaps a small onion? Thomas M. Schmitz www.MarketingPiranha.com -------- new post - same topic -------- From: David Spahr Subject: Dupe content I run country specific sites. I have stereoviews.com, stereoviews.co.uk, and stereoviews.de. The formatting of each site is similar and they share the same links page but the content of each site is country specific and entirely different. I have no problems and am very happy with my placement for all the sites. David Spahr http://stereoviews.com ============ Sponsor Message =========== Now you got 'em, what are you gonna do with 'em? Surfers, that is. They're at your site, but is your copy ready? Is it powerful enough to convert casual visitors into free-spending customers? At www.GetWebContent.com/LED we first write "sell" copy that makes you money and your website sticky. Then we SEO it to make sure it gets read. ============ Sponsor Message =========== -------- new post - new topic -------- From: Beth Ann Earle Subject: Keyword density > If it's good for a human reader, it's probably > good for the search engines. - Michael Linehan, LED Digest 2470 - http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1881/190/ Amen, Michael, Amen! -- Same for Lisa Barrone's comments over at bruceclay.com (thanks for the link, Adam!). ... Plus a special Hitchhiker's shout-out to Rhea Drysdale who observed after Lisa's post that the perfect keyword density would be 42. After all, it IS the answer to the Ultimate Question about Life, the Universe, and Everything. With the very best regards to LED'ers everywhere, Beth Earle www.pilotfishseo.com ------------------------------------------------------- The LED Digest is sponsored by: GetWebContent.com The Web's Most Experienced SEO Content Providers. Free no-obligation proposal: http://GetWebContent.com/LED SEOToolSet.com Bruce Clay's Search Engine Optimization Training & Certification Join the certified SEO directory: www.SEOToolSet.com/training/ The Archives: http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/126/189/ Subscribe: http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/52/187/ Unsubscribe, Change Email, or Hold / Resume Delivery: http://www.led-digest.com/content/category/4/17/201/ (c) Copyright 1995-2007 Orange Wheel, LLC. All Rights Reserved. ----------------------------------------------------------------- "The secret to healthy hitchhiking is to eat junk food." - Ford Prefect |
