11/7/2012
At SEOmoz, we're always trying to improve our customer service by keeping our customers as happy as possible. Aaron Wheeler, our Help Team Leader, discusses lessons learned in customer service at last month's UserConf and touches on what's to come from our amazing Help Team.
4/1/2012
My name is Aaron Wheeler and, up until a couple of weeks ago, I was the manager of the Help Team here at SEOmoz. Rand's been out of the office at conferences and I've decided it's time to make my move. I've been waiting for this moment for 2 years now, sitting idly by, watching SEOmoz use a bunch of robots to tell us about websites and links and the internets. Robots!...
2/1/2012
Have you ever wondered how SEOmoz supports 15,000 PRO members and over 250,000 free members and blog readers? The six mozzers that make up the Help Team answer all of the emails, phone calls, and chat requests we get every day. This post is going to talk a little bit about them and give you a look at the way we've built the SEOmoz support channels to meet our overall goal: to provide the best customer service on the planet. It's a hard goal to reach, but I can't think of any more worthwhile endeavor.
10/28/2011
Choosing keywords to optimize for is a tricky business, made all the more tricky as keyphrases grow longer than a couple of words. As Google has said, up to 20% of search queries in any given day are unique. Should you try to optimize your tauntaun sleeping bags product page for "tauntaun sleeping ba...
10/22/2011
On Tuesday, Google announced that signed-in users will, by default, be routed to the SSL version of Google (https://www.google.com). Before Tuesday, most users used non-SSL Google for their searches. In this emergency Whiteboard Friday, Rand will go over the changes Google has made, why it happened (and why it really might have happened), and what you can do to stay calm and fight back.
10/14/2011
You've already got a lot of visitors coming to your site through your SEO efforts, but how many of those visitors convert on their first visit? If your site is like most sites, less than 5%. Those visitors that don't convert the first time around might come back to your site, but why not make the decision easier for them? Use retargeting! There are a lot of great reasons to imple...
10/7/2011
A couple of weeks ago, Rand went over his general SEO checklist for new websites. It's a great resource to reference and help give your site that initial advantage other new sites don't have. Keep in mind, though, that there are other factors at play when trying to rank in the local results specifically...
9/30/2011
It's often pretty difficult to make a short title for a webpage that offers a lot of varied or super-specific information. At SEOmoz, we say that the best practice for title tag length is to keep titles under 70 characters. That's pretty pithy considering that the title also includes your site or brand name, spaces, and other nondescript characters. So, does it matter if you go over 70...
9/23/2011
Over 160,000 new top-level domains were registered yesterday. 160,000! This huge volume of new sites being birthed wasn't unique to yesterday; this happens every day (you can check out today's progress at DailyChanges.com). The sites that start out pre-optimized and that continue optimizing immediately after publishing will be at an incredible ad...
9/16/2011
We all have access to a lot of great metrics surrounding keywords we research and target, including data from search engines themselves, analytics suites, and other third-party companies (ourselves included). It's one thing to gather and parse this data, but it's a whole 'nother thing to actually act on that data to drive traffic. On this week's Whiteboard Friday, Rand illustrates some wa...
8/26/2011
Article marketing is mostly a scam. Well, wait... some types of article marketing are really scammy. Guest blogging, legitimate article sharing, and similar tactics are great and sustainable linkbuilding practices, but making up terrible article content and passing it off as something people should read or link to is both bad for users and bad for long-term SEO. This week, Rand d...
8/19/2011
Statistics can be very powerful tools for SEOs, but it can be hard to extract the right information from them. People understandably make a lot of mistakes in the process of taking raw data and turning it into actionable numbers. If you know what potential mistakes can be made along the way, you're less likely to make them yourself - so listen up! Will Critchlow, the co-founder and chief ...
8/12/2011
Sure, PageRank is older than Emperor Palpatine, but a lot of SEOs still use it as their primary metric for link research. Unfortunately, using PageRank exclusively to measure linkbuilding outcomes can yield results as ugly as the Emperor's face. Since Google updates PageRank so sporadically, you may not know the results of your actions for months, or longer. That being said, ...
8/5/2011
Roger Mozbot invited you to join him on Google+! Well, he would, if he had an account. Unlike the rest of us, he's waiting until it comes out of beta, a wise decision considering some of the problems the social network has faced in the past weeks. On the other hand, there's a lot to like a...
7/8/2011
A site can be a lot like a mullet: business in front, party in the back. How do you muss it all up and keep a site in style? Any given website naturally attracts a broad set of visitors, and herding that diverse audience onto the right pages is a huge undertaking (as you know, it's something to consider when doing site infrastructure SEO, etc.). This funneling gets even more difficult whe...
7/1/2011
We've all been in difficult interview situations - you get a hard question and go on and on and on without giving a solid answer. In our realm, though, there are some SEO best practices that are so well established that everyone should know and be able to describe them to other people. If you're a business looking to hire an SEO...
6/24/2011
It's here! Google has released Panda update 2.2, just as Matt Cutts said they would at SMX Advanced here in Seattle a couple of weeks ago. This time around, Google has - among other things - improved their ability to detect scraper sites and banish them from the SERPs. Of course, the Panda updates are...
6/17/2011
Link building can be the most tedious and time-consuming task of SEO. At least, that's how a lot of people feel about it. Ever want to know how to scale link building to avoid the pitfalls of wasted time and effort? This week, Tom Critchlow from Distilled interviews Ross Hudgens, an SEO currently working at Full Beaker in Bellevue, Washington, about some...
6/10/2011
When most of us talk about SEO, the search engines we implicitly refer to are Google and Bing/Yahoo, but that's about it. Do you know which of these search engines is most popular in Russia? Neither! The largest search engine in Russia is Yandex, with millions of users and more market share than eithe...
6/9/2011
This week, SMX Advanced has taken over Seattle - and we've managed to get a piece of the action! That's right - we've got Duane Forrester, the Senior Project Manager of Bing's Webmaster Program, to talk with us about some of the new updates to Bing and Bing's Webmaster Tools. Rand talks to Duane about the new Facebook integration on Bing SERPs, the adoption of Schema.org metadata markup,...
6/3/2011
Time management is one of the toughest parts of any job, but in web marketing, it's impossible to do your job if you can't manage your projects. Since web marketers are wearers of many hats, it's helpful to collaborate, regroup, and organize often enough to keep on top of things. In th...
5/20/2011
On this week's Whiteboard Friday, Cyrus from SEOmoz's very own SEO team gives some pointers on how to keep sites optimized for cells and tablets without breaking the bank or the brain.
4/29/2011
Last week, Rand discussed the importance of correlation data in general and how you can use it for SEO research. It's a lot easier to get things done if you know which tasks are high priority and which are low, and correlation data can help. This week, Rand finishes...
4/22/2011
One of the most helpful aids in doing SEO is knowing what factors actually affect your rankings. It seems obvious on its face, but not everyone prioritizes their SEO work with the knowledge of how changes to a site and link profile actually affect the SERPs. It's important to at least have some heuristics to use in pursuit of higher rankings, and while it's not always easy, it is possi...
4/15/2011
Sure, you know SEO like you know the back of your hand. You know how to linkbuild, and you know how to do keyword research. Of course you've got a lot of SEO knowledge - you've been watching these Whiteboard Fridays every week, right? Well, now it's time to get crackin'! Unfortunately, it feels like you never have enough time to get done all the things you know you should do. Maybe the...
4/8/2011
Over the past couple of weeks Rand has been discussing the metrics available for link research and how to use them appropriately for different research situations. This week, he discusses some potential pitfalls in link...
4/1/2011
We all know that, at first, it can be really difficult to decide what the most valuable link metrics are and when to use them. Last week, Rand outlined and defined a variety of metrics that are used to assess the respective values of domains, pages, and links between them. This week, he's back with the stunning conclusion: how to actually use these link metrics in your research and...
3/25/2011
For both personal knowledge and client satisfaction, it's really important to be able to track SEO progress quantitatively as well as qualitatively. In a two part series beginning today, Rand is going to go over the definitions of some of the most popular metrics available right now, as well as the best ways to use metrics in your SEO analysis.
3/18/2011
On this week's Whiteboard Friday, two members of the SEOmoz Help Team will walk you through some solutions to 5 of the most common SEO problems we see on the Help Team. They'll also let you know how to change your profile picture.
3/11/2011
At the end of February, Google announced that it was updating its search algorithm to serve higher-quality results to searchers. The update has since been dubbed the "Farmer Update" due to the algorithm's new bias against what Google considers "sites which are low-value add for user...
3/4/2011
This week we are thrilled to have a special guest joining us for Whiteboard Friday: Duane Forrester, a top-of-the-line SEO who went over to the other side of the fence and now works at Bing's Webmaster Project as the Senior Project Manager. Duane discusses Webmaster Tools, metrics, and some important and exciting news about sitemap quality thresholds...
2/25/2011
Linkbuilding: can't do it alone, can't not do it! In this week's Whiteboard Friday, Tom Critchlow, head of search marketing at Distilled, shows us some tips on how to reach out to webmasters and online marketers and more easily get the links we so badly want. All it takes is efficient contact-gathering, enthusiastic communication, adamant (but not overbearing) follow-up, and, well... maybe a little bit of hustle...
2/18/2011
A little over a couple weeks ago, Search Engine Land broke the story that Bing uses clickstream data from Google searches as a ranking factor in its results. This week on Whiteboard Friday, Rand talks to the Director of Bing, Stefan Weitz, and discusses some of the implications of using clickstream data in Bing's search algorithm...
2/11/2011
There are of lot of rad birds out there in the Twittersphere, and the more of them you can engage with, the better! This week, Jen Lopez, our community manager, talks about how we managed to increase our total Twitter follows by 250%...
2/4/2011
International SEO is big business, and big business equals big websites. It can be really confusing when you have to cater to a target audience that is the entire world: you know that people from different countries and cultures are going to be looking for different things. We've had a lot of PRO members' Q&A questions come in about this issue lately, so this week, Rand helps us ...
1/14/2011
Lately, we've been seeing a lot of chatter on forums about the age of domains and links. A lot of people think that, like a sagely seaman that acquires wisdom and whiskers as his years trickle away on the sea, domains and links gain value as they age. Sure, age could be a small factor, but as Rand will show you in this week's Whiteboard Friday...
1/7/2011
For this week's Whiteboard Friday, Rand is going to show you some great ways to start the new year out right by getting those links you so desperately crave yet, time and time again, are tragically denied. You can do a lot for your yourself by simply making a personal connection, openly communicating with your peers, and making other people's jobs a bit easier...
12/17/2010
As we all know, SEO is a very labor-intensive job. It can be really easy to let some things fall by the wayside even if you know you're supposed to do them but don't have the time. It gets even more complicated when you forget to do them in the first place! Now, Danny is an awesome man of many strengths, but he can be a bit of a forgetful grandmother at times - even he knows that it is im...
12/10/2010
This week, Rand helps us figure out how to create content that's not only interesting, but is easy to read and share. We all love sharing interesting, funny, and topical content (look at me, of all people - I'm sending people to videos of Oprah!), so why not play to that instinct by making your articles, images and pages as easy to share as possible?
12/3/2010
PPC and SEO may be siblings, but their contention with one another can run deep. Danny helps us sort out the strife and bring this band of brothers together (and actually keeps his bias out of it, kind of!)
11/26/2010
Happy Thanksgiving! In case you haven't heard, this week Seattle underwent the most brutal snow storm in the history of mankind. To call it a snowpocalypse would be an understatement, as can be witnessed herein (it gets good so keep watching!). Unfortunately, Danny Dover was the one up to bat this week for Whiteboard Friday, but he perished in the harsh...
11/19/2010
Feeling lost or listless, like your head is in the sand? It's clear what you need: a monthly action plan! What with all the resources available to SEOs these days, it can be hard to stay on track and maintain a campaign without getting bogged down in minutia and losing track of the big picture. Well, for this week's Whiteboard Friday, Rand is here to help! Just as Superman ...
11/12/2010
Brands and company-specific brand name products have become much more important to search engines recently. Google tries to serve us with relevant content, so if it thinks we want to know more about Adidas or Puma, it's going to tell us about these brands rather than about the random online shoe stores that we'll probably click away from (you know the ones!). This might be great if you're...
11/5/2010
Howdy mozfans! This week's Whiteboard Friday features the return of Danny Dover, our lead SEO here at SEOmoz. He's going to be discussing the basics of local SEO, a rapidly developing, important niche in SEO land that involves a complex amalgamation of many data sources and metrics. Hey, sounds a lot like the regular SEO we know and love! Take a look at what's on Danny's whiteboard here below t...
10/29/2010
Happy Halloween mozzers! Oh, Roger wants me to tell you: "Trick or treat!" Actually, this week we've got a lot more treats than tricks for you. Our treats will even help you overcome some of the nasty trixes of the SEO world. Jen Lopez, our Community Manager at SEOmoz, is here to tell you about some of the scary SEO mishaps that could happen to you if you're not careful!
10/22/2010
Everyone loves metrics! Even more so, everyone loves taking action! After all, that's why we have Action Man, international man... of action. This week, Rand helps you become an action man or woman yourself - that's right, we're talking about you! In this week's Whiteboard Friday, Rand discusses two metrics that you may not be using.
10/15/2010
A few weeks ago Danny showed us some of the basics for image SEO, a medium that may not initially seem valuable for SEO purposes. Well, Danny dispelled that illusion swiftly, with a little help from his friend Doc Brown. This week, Danny's out there alone but still manages to show us that words aren't all they're cracked up to be; videos can yield some great SEO value, too.
10/8/2010
I've always liked encyclopedias; when I was in middle school I started using Encarta on CD-ROM, and sure, I usually needed it for "help" with my homework, but sometimes I would stray to non-copy-and-pasting-from-encyclopedia activities and watch terribly animated videos of war battles or Shakespearean plays. My poor children will never know the joys of a succinct five page article on the American Revolution with an accompanying 30-second 160 X 200 resolution video! Anyways, if my aforementioned future kids do end up needing to write about the American Revolution, and you have a great site about it, how can you make sure they end up seeing your content? This week, Rand discusses some great ways to get your reference content to the top of the SERPs.
10/1/2010
Social media is becoming more and more important as the days go by; how else would I get my tri-weekly fix of XKCD delivered to me? Many people know about the marketing benefits from social media profiles, but sites like Facebook and Twitter can make a significant difference in your SEO campaign, too! This week, Rand shows us five great ideas for using these sites to help with your SEO strategy.
9/24/2010
Video SEO isn't something we always think about when optimizing, but we really should. In this week's Whiteboard Friday, Danny Dover reviews some of the video SEO basics that every SEO should know about. After all, it's a largely untapped market, unlike the Canadian maple tree market. Which is very tapped.
9/17/2010
Hello everybody! My name is Aaron Wheeler and one of my new tasks in the office will be video production so you may end up seeing my gob around the blog every once in a while. This week, our very own Danny Dover discusses some important and scalable ways to optimize your SEO resources. We all know that pickins' can be slim when it comes to many companies' budgets for SEO, so why not make the best of what you've got?
9/3/2010
In this week's Whiteboard Friday Rand Fishkin clues you in on four link building tactics that you likely haven't heard about. Given the importance of link building to SEO, this video should prove to be worth its (virtual) weight in gold. (I mean that in the best possible way ;-p)...
