| LED Digest 2116: URL Naming |
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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 .............................................. March 14, 2006 Issue #2116 .............................................. .....IN THIS DIGEST..... ==== CONTINUING ================= --== URL Naming ==-- ~ AE Brantley "Our URL is also a keyword that is bid on by our competitors." ~ Ian Smith "Also, don't forget that people can see the URLs." ~ Brad Waller "If you do it for the users, you can rarely go wrong." --== Reputable SEO/M Services? ==-- ~ Tony Gschwend "[Inbound links] are truly not needed for good SE ranking." ==== BILLBOARD =================== --== Outsourcing ==-- ~ Nancy Schettler --== Fighting Spam ==-- ~ Rick Gortatowsky ======== CONTINUING =============================== From: AE Brantley Subject: URL naming > In regards to SEO... How important is it to have > the product name or description in the URL? Is > it important, borderline, or not important? - Chris Oberst, LED 2115 Unless you are willing to fight Google every three months to get reincluded, don't. Our URL is also a keyword that is bid on by our competitors. We are regularly dropped by Google and have to petition for re-inclusion. We're moving to a different domain name as fast as we can. AE Brantley -------- new post - same topic -------- From: Ian Smith Subject: URL naming The understanding I came away from the people at this years Search Engine Strategies conference was that it is really important to put information in the URL. Google (at least) uses it as one of the factors in determining page rank. I think it is more valuable if your website domain contains the key term, but file name is important too. Also, don't forget that people can see the URLs. As I understand it, some folks did some tests using Google AdWords where they showed ads using just the normal domain name (zzz.com) and then showed a URL using the domain plus keyword (zzz.com/keyword). The one with the keyword in the URL had the better click rate. Hope this helps! Ian Smith http://dottactics.blogspot.com -------- new post - same topic -------- From: Brad Waller Subject: URL naming Chris asked about names in the URL path and if they helped with search engines. Interestingly enough, this very question was asked at the ad:tech 1MPACT conference http://tinyurl.com/ohqun [adtechblog.com] I covered in LA last week. Which one of these do you think will work better, particularly if you look at the factor of the person viewing the results who will see the URL: mysite.com/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/69771/ref= dp_brlad_entry/104-5772225-1073 542 mysite.com/Books/Subjects/Computers_&_Internet/ Home_&_Office/Internet/Online_Searching Barbara Coll emphatically said that you are better off with real descriptive names in the path over numbers or nonsense. This does not have to be just for the page name, as it can fit the path for sites with hierarchy as you can see above. That said, she also advised that anything you do just for the search engine will eventually be seen as search spam. If you do it for the users, you can rarely go wrong. Brad Waller http://adjungle.com waller, adjungle.com -------- new post - new topic -------- From: Tony Gschwend Subject: "Why" is a good word, use it often. Our "Web Guru" at work will always tell our sales guys and clients that the "secret to getting a good rank in the search engines is a good link campaign and you have to get more inbound links than your competition's website." Our web guru is real good at wind-speak and often sells this idea but has yet to get a site on the first 5 pages of a search for the targeted keywords. When I check rank, if a site is not on the first 5 pages I consider it as not being there at all and will look no further. Two of these clients that got sold on the idea of a link campaign and were really upset about paying so much money and not getting results complained enough that my boss asked me if there was anything I could do. I looked at the sites and reported that there was a good possibility that we could get them within the first 5 pages in a couple months but I was not going to guarantee that because search engines are fickle animals. Our clients are in a very competitive industry (home improvement). I used the tried and true method of relevant keywords, descriptions, and copy, plus adding alt tags to images not part of the template. One month later one of the sites showed up in the fourth page. Two months later both sites ranked for a product search. That means a search for vinyl siding on google or yahoo and these site are in the first 5 pages. Combine a product and the area that the company services and they show on the first page and many times at the first natural spot. Why did I just type all that? Cause sometimes it really grabs my goat when I read people's remarks to or about what Michael Martinez has written. Now, I'm not trying to say that inbound links are not a good thing because they are to a certain extent provided they can be seen, but they are truly not needed for good SE ranking. What some people need to do instead of flying off the roof and saying "Once again, Michael, you've advised someone to not buy what I sell" is maybe think about it and ask why did he say that. When I am asked to make a site either at work or freelancing the very first question is why do you want a website? At first I really don't care what the person wants their site to look like or even what type of site they want. What really matters is what the site is going to do and if the client doesn't know that then I don't make the site because it will never be right or what they wanted, the bill will get too high, and I just don't have the time for that. Those sites are better left to the wind-speaking "Gurus" who can throw enough words around to squeak by and leave the client clueless and fooled for at least another day. Why is a good word, use it often. Why do you want a website? Why did you say that? Why do we make the sun yellow in our pictures? Why twist Michael's words? Michael, I hope you keep writing and sharing your knowledge. Tony Gschwend http://www.gschwend.net/tony ==== BILLBOARD =================================== From: Nancy Schettler Subject: Outsourcing / Made in USA I just can't let this go by without putting in my two cents! Yes, it is sad that for those of us in the USA that so many jobs are going overseas. It's difficult to watch my young children grow up, knowing that it's very likely that they are likely to have a much harder time earning a good income than I did when I just out of college. I think, that while I agree with Peter [D'Aprix, issue 2115] that "the herd of horses, cows, pigs and chickens are far gone," that if we do what we can to at least think, while we're out shopping, about where the goods are coming from, and read the labels, and maybe make do with a little less, so that we can afford to buy something made in our own country, we can help just little bit. Educating our kids about this issue will help too. Even buying from our local farmer's markets (yes, summer will come) helps to save fuel, as transportation costs are lessened, and we really will be supporting our neighbors. Personally, I find that what troubles me the most is that growing gap between rich and poor. I think this gap threatens us (especially business owners), because we are the ones who often carry an extra share of paying for the social services programs to help those who have little. Here in New York State, this is especially true. My own philosophy as a business owner is to be sure that I am paying my workers a decent wage that they can live on. If I can't do that, then there is something fundamentally wrong with my business. It's a moral issue too. If those that work for me can't get by on what they earn, but I have money to spare, then isn't that greed on my part? And isn't it a more efficient use of the money, to be directing it straight to the worker, than to let it filter down to them through various layers of bureaucracy, shrinking as it goes? Just my thoughts on the matter... Nancy Schettler A Well Dressed Kitchen (a made-in-America business) www.awelldressedkitchen.com -------- new post - new topic -------- From: Rick Gortatowsky Subject: Fighting spam > It is not unusual for an unsubscribe link to try to sell you > something first, before you actually get to unsubscribe. > If the SPAM does not contain an unsubscribe, there > are other options. - Tom Aman LED 2113 Hi All, Gee I am getting a lot of bandwidth lately at LED! I also managed to get on the Lionel show and be broadcast across the country pertinent to the reality of the state of the nation if you will (See LED 2114's Billboard) last week. As to this SPAM stuff. Unfortunately what many do not realize is that by clicking an unsubscribe button they may well end up being subjected to even more spam! There is no law saying an unsubscribe link must unsubscribe. I have found in my years many sites that do just that. What an effective business model! Perhaps US businesses should look at this one LOL. You inadvertently subscribe to some spamola site. Usually the real good spammers have the email coming from completely bogus mail addresses (easy to do) and often even the message routing ends up in a black hole if one traces it back. You then go unsubscribe. The perpetratior(s) then take that information and subscribe you to legitimate mailing lists and get paid for the submissions or perhaps even affiliate money if you purchase something! What a business model! Greasy cheese feeds the rat (c) R Gortatowsky 2006, LOL. You've heard of the "Early bird gets the worm" right? Not so true today, actually the bird gets shot for having West Nile virus. Here's what needs to happen. First off SPAM needs a new name. Something that sounds really really bad. Like the term "terrorism" sounds very very nasty (when in fact terrorists and those who support terrorisists don't call them terrorists but in fact things like freedom fighters, martyrs etc.) We need a term that has some shock value such as "Possible Identity Security Threat" or PIST for short. I am sure I could do better but off the cuff, you get the idea. Now... to take a real SWIPE at spam which in fact really can be a identity and security threat getting folks truly pist (lol) a differing mechanism need be invented. Its not secure mail per se but instead lets take an example from Federal Express! Trackable mail. That is to say a new standard need be made. So ISP's have a filter that basically says, "Well hay, if this mail coming in does not have a tracking number then it will be returned to sender". Said number is registered back to the initiating domain before the mail is released to the client. Via this mechinism we could also really create secure mail. If a PIST'r is slamming people with email upon arrival to the recipients mail server said server sends back the tracking, then the originating server domain handshakes. Ok, now we know where it comes from or it will not be delivered to the recipient. Imagine how much this would cut down on viruses. Even if the mail was just dumped thats ok. I think it better to slam it right back to the originating domain with a have a nice day (LOL). Mail could also be secured. Said tracking number could be used to encrypt the email and decrypt it. So on the occassion that a PIST might come through the user can take measure of it first, before running the decrypt on it. Said mechinism would help eliminate spam, virus propagation, phishing etc. Now I have not placed heaps of thought into this but you get the idea. Rick Gortatowsky ------------------------------------------------------- The LED Digest is sponsored by pair Networks: pair.com for Hosting | pairNIC.com for Domains © Copyright 1995-2006 Orange Wheel, LLC. All Rights Reserved. "Work joyfully and peacefully, knowing that right thoughts and right efforts inevitably bring about right results." - James Allen |
