| LED Digest 2676: Site Usability and Search |
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The LED Digest Moderated Discussion List "Effective Online Advertising, Since 1997" Data > Information > Knowledge > Wisdom http://www.AudetteMedia.com : the LED's Publisher The Internet Marketing Boutique: SEO, SEM, Social Media http://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 .............................................. July 7, 2008 Issue no. 2676 .............................................. .....IN THIS DIGEST..... ====== NEW ====================== --== Search and Usability ==-- ~ Shari Thurow "Usability is all about objectively observing actual users..." ==== CONTINUING ================= --== Associations and Organizations ==-- ~ Brad Waller "I tried a few years ago to start an association for the Affiliate Marketing industry." ~ Kevin Conway "Any ideas on the details of putting an SEO or SEM Presentation together?" --== Internet Marketing ==-- ~ Mark Medlicott "...different cultures take certain words to have quite different meanings." --== Authority Links [was: Measuring SEO] ==-- ~ Nathan Holley "The idea of authority links is perfectly acceptable and important to link development." ========= NEW ===================================== From: Shari Thurow Subject: SEO and usability Hi all- This is in response to Tom Aman's post in LED #2675 about site usability and URL structure. All of these LED discussion threads, and alot of the hullaballoo surrounding many SEO conference discussions, leads me to believe that the Web design and search industries really have a poor understanding of Web site usability. I see it as willful ignorance. Usability does not mean "I, personally, can use this site." It does not mean that your IT department can easily use a site. I love that circular definition. The very people that create an interface find the interface easy to use? So that means the interface is user friendly? According to many IT departments, I guess that is their definition. "My site makes millions of dollars." That doesn't mean that a site is user friendly. "My site generates great leads." That doesn't mean that a site is user friendly. Both of those statements mean that a site is profitable. Profitable sites are not necessarily user friendly. Seriously...look at Microsoft. I am going to write an article about Usability 101 for search professionals because it is sorely needed. I haven't fleshed it out yet and fully organized the subheadings, but I'll give LEDers a little preview. Usability is all about objectively observing actual users (preferably who fit in a persona or profile) interacting with an interface. Usability professionals measure task completion, error recovery, time to complete tasks, among other things. Usability testing is not a focus group. Web analytics data is not a substitute for usability testing. So now, back to Tom's comments, did you put those URLs in front of actual users and observe/measure their responses? I've studied URL structure for a long time. Not only my own data, but also data from search engines and other university studies. In a nutshell, URLs should be easy to type and easy to remember. Long URLs are not easy to type or easy to remember. I try and keep them as short as possible. Too many keywords -- I think that is "SEO gone wild." So Tom, I think you came up with a URL structure that makes more sense to you than users. I could be wrong. You might have usability tested them and I just do not know it. What you showed in your post contradicts my findings, that's all. Search engines can certainly crawl that type of URL structure. But I wouldn't call that structure user friendly, at first glance. On a final note, I don't remember the person who posted this off the top of my head...okay. I'm having a little diva fit. If an LEDer wants to read about different topics, then post about a different topic. Ask a question. We all have questions. I have a good one about Web design that I have been meaning to post and would love feedback on. But don't whine and threaten to cancel a subscription. This is a community, one I've been with a long time. Contribute to it. Asking a question about a topic of interest is a very simple contribution. It takes just as much effort to ask a question (maybe even less) than whining about LEDers only talking about search engine optimization. End of diva fit. And my 2 cents on the topic. Hope this post wasn't too long. I try to keep them short, though I am not always successful at it. Sincerely, Shari Thurow, Founder and SEO Director Omni Marketing Interactive http://www.search-usability.com ======== CONTINUING =============================== From: Brad Waller Subject: Associations > One of the best non-SEO things we do to > promote our company is to be involved in > the associations related to our business > and to our clients' businesses. - Beth Earle, LED 2675 - http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/2090/190/ Since Beth brought up associations, I thought I might tell the group about a brand new one that is so new that it actually does not exist yet. I tried a few years ago to start an association for the Affiliate Marketing industry. It was a solo effort and while I had enthusiatic responses from many in the industry, I just did not have the time to get it off the ground. Fast forward two years and we have another effort. This time the person charged with the "project management" of this has been hired by Anik Singal of AffiliateClassroom so that she can dedicate her time to this task. Because of this, the progress has been rapid. It has tentatively been named the Performance Marketing Alliance (http://www.performancemarketingalliance.com/) and the formation advisory board is being elected as I type (voting closes July 8th). Working groups that will help define how the assiciation will actually work and what it will try to accomplish will be formed shortly thereafter. The reason for the name is 1) It has been expanded to cover not just affiliates, but anyone who is involved with compensated selling (percentage, per sale, per click, per action, etc.) and 2) It was available. The basic idea is that the association should represent everyone from the affiliate, to the software companies, to the networks and to promote the industry as a whole. If you are involved with this industry at all, check out the site and fill out one of the surveys so we can better serve you. (http://www.performancemarketingalliance.com/interest-surveys/) Brad Waller EPage Classifieds, Since 1994 http://epage.com -------- new post - same topic -------- From: Kevin Conway Subject: Associations Any ideas on the details of putting an SEO or SEM Presentation together? Kevin Conway -------- new post - new topic -------- From: Mark Medlicott Subject: Internet marketing Now that you have invited more discussion Tom, I would like to take the opportunity to mention that my 'Healthcare' category suggestion was an example of using a more specific keyword as a category heading. Obviously from the points you have made it isn't a great word to use, but that does raise the point that different countries, and therefore different cultures take certain words to have quite different meanings. I know that in New Zealand where I live, even though we also speak English, very few people would use the term 'essential oils' (I have worked with a website that sells aromatherapy products, oils and similar so have performed research in the past) to look for products. Granted however that aromatherapy is a common word here too. Regarding your structure and the navigation, I detest sites that I get lost on too, but my point about naming the directories was as you had asked about basic SEO. I realise that people looking for dating or singles aren't likely to come to your website, but by giving extreme examples I was trying to establish my point. Surely the main point of SEO is to attract new customers to your website. If changing a directory name to a keyword (not excessively long like you mentioned) and structuring your site accordingly brings even one more paying customer, then it must be worth the effort? However, I do not purport to be an expert, so my opinions may well be refuted by more knowledgeable SEO's. I will look forward to reading further discussion in LED where I have gleaned a lot of good information over the last 6 or 7 years and now may obtain much more. Regards Mark Medlicott Medlicott Design http://www.medlicottdesign.orconhosting.net.nz -------- new post - new topic -------- From: Nathan Holley Subject: SEO results > Also, you used the expression > "authoritative links", which implies to me > you've been reading too many SEO blogs and > tutorials. I hate the whole idea of > "authority links". It's a vague, > ambiguous, completely bogus load of horse > crap. That kind of jargon damages more SEO > campaigns than you can imagine. - Michael Martinez, LED 2674 - http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/2089/190/ Totally disagree. I love the whole idea of "authority links." To me, it's not at all vague, ambiguous and completely bogus. I'll leave out the horse crap. I know *exactly* what an authority link looks like, and where they live, and how to get them. I understand Google's Trustrank and Hilltop. I've learned that there are certain links on this great web of ours at the top of the Hilltop. Authority links. At the top of the hill, that pass more value than links at the bottom of the hill. The idea of authority links is perfectly acceptable and important to strategic link development. Nathan Holley (c) Copyright 1995-2008 Orange Wheel, LLC. All Rights Reserved. ----------------------------------------------------------------- "We will not know unless we begin." - Peter Nivio Zarlenga |
