Recently we have received a great deal of mail on the subject of SEO Spam, especially as it relates to Google. It seems lots of folk are complaining about the quality of the SERPs (search engine returns pages) at Google and the fact that many (not all) of the Top10 found at Google seem to have gotten there by using Spam tactics. We are getting a number of inquiries asking what a webmaster should do when they find their site(s) pushed out of the Top20 by sites using Spam and if SEOs should start using Spammy techniques on their client’s websites. These questions have raised a number of important ethical and practical discussions amongst the staff here and has generated more than one debate at our quarterly staff/client parties. At the risk of generating even more email, here are some of my thoughts on the issue. Read more…

For the past six months, Google has been rewarding several websites using techniques that are considered spamming. We constantly see hidden text, keyword stuffing, cloaking and false-link networks used as ranking tools by websites that really shouldn’t be ranking in the Top10. Read more…

In the feature article of this week’s StepForth newsletter, we speculate that Google, as we know it, is ill and perhaps beyond repair. If that is the case, the new methods of search engine optimization will need to be revised as older methods are revisited. Here is a few quick tips to look at when considering SEO friendly design. Read more…

If you have yet to hear of blogging then let me warn you now, you will be hearing a lot about it over the next few months.

What is a blog? Here is the answer straight from the pioneers of blogging at Blogger.com:

“A blog is a web page made up of usually short, frequently updated posts that are arranged chronologically like a what’s new page or a journal. The content and purposes of blogs varies greatly from links and commentary about other web sites, to news about a company/person/idea, to diaries, photos, poetry, mini-essays, project updates, even fiction.” Read more…

Your website address, or ‘URL’ (uniform resource locator) is like your street address on the information super-highway. Like a street-address a URL is a commodity, like a property. Unlike a physical address, however, URLs are portable and can be changed, moved and re-registered at the push of a button. Another difference is that URLs can only be leased through the registration of that URL. Herein lies a potential problem for all webmasters and website owners. There is a large number of squatters out there watching popular URLs to see when the registration expires and if the webmaster or site administrator has or will renew it. Read more…