Wired Article: How Google’s Algorithm Rules the Web

Posted by Ben in SEO

Wired is one of two magazines I subscribe to, and at something like $8.00 for a year’s subscription, probably one of the best values I can think of. The March 2010 issue is of particular interest to me for its article on Google’s algorithm. Thankfully, Wired is about as open-source as they come, so you can read the full article yourself here. But before this becomes any more of a love-fest/free advertisement, I should probably move on.

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The Google Ad During Super Bowl XLIV: How Hell Froze Over

Posted by Ben in SEO

In the days leading up to February 7, 2010, there was much online speculation about a rumor that Google would air an advertisement during Super Bowl XLIV. Certain people claiming to be “in the know” were certain that it would happen, but many found it hard to believe. That skepticism had a lot to do with Google’s long-standing attitude toward brand advertising, which CEO Eric Schmidt denounced as “the last bastion of unaccountable spending in corporate America” back in 2006.

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What is “me nofollow”?

Posted by Ben in SEO

I have heard several people asking lately,

“What is me nofollow?”

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Horn Tootin’

Posted by Brittany in Press and Awards, Web design

You’ll have to pardon us momentarily as we unabashedly toot our own horn.

Last year, we were thrilled to learn that the U.Va. Magazine monthly enewsletter (designed and developed each month by yours truly) won the CASE Circle of Excellence Silver Award in Electronic Communications.

The 2010 national awards have yet to be held, but we just got news that our work with U.Va. Magazine garnered no less than THREE awards in the CASE southeast regional awards:

• We received the Award of Excellence, the highest honor, in the category of Overall Web Site Design and Implementation for uvamagazine.org
• We received a Special Merit Award in the category of World Wide Web Home Page Design and Implementation
• We received another Award of Excellence in the category of Electronic Newsletters, Blogs, and Tabloids

...an exciting start to 2010 for Refresh!

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How to Use Twitter for SEO

Posted by Ben in SEO

It is inevitable. Any social media application that gets big enough will eventually become the target of eager marketing executives, convinced that there must be a way to “leverage” it (read: use it to make money). The poster children for this phenomenon are Facebook and Twitter, both of which present challenges not unrelated to the fact that even the owners of these applications have not yet figured out to monetize them.

It’s Twitter that I want to discuss today. Judging by the queries I have received recently, the burning question in the marketing world is…

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What is PageRank?

Posted by Ben in SEO

As promised in my earlier entry about the importance of incoming links, I want to go into a little more detail about PageRank and what it means for your site’s ranking in the search engine results, specifically Google’s.

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Is the HTML Address Tag Useful for SEO?

Posted by Ben in SEO

I was inspired to write this post because it’s a question I just recently asked myself. Having just started this website, I have been working a lot on the back-end, getting all of my SEO ducks in a row. Because I want our new website to rank well for local searches by potential clients, that means making sure our company address is present on every page of our site. My first thought was, “No problem! Stick it in the footer and call it a day!” But then I got to thinking…

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How important are incoming links?

Posted by Ben in SEO

Alternatively, this post could have been titled, “Do I REALLY need to conduct a link building campaign?”

I think everyone asks this question because they are hoping to find the answer they WANT to hear. Something like, “A link building campaign? Nahhh, you don’t need one of those!” Unfortunately, it’s my job to bear the bad news (which you probably know deep down already!)

Here’s the short answer: Incoming links are VERY important, and YES, you need to conduct a link building campaign. Strategic on-page optimization is still the first step of an SEO campaign, but incoming links are necessary for genuine success.

All search engines are not created equal, and it’s really Google that values incoming links more than anyone else. So if you are only interested in your site ranking well in Yahoo, then perhaps you can discount my advice and do just fine without seeking out links. But how many of us does this really describe? For better or for worse, Google is the 800 pound gorilla of search, so if you want SEO success, you gotta play the game Google’s way.

Once you’re on board with this cold, cold truth, there are some things you should know about acquiring those precious incoming links…

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