Michael Gray

Guest Posts Like them or Dislike Them

Posted on August 14th, 2008
by Michael Gray in SEO

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Read my top posts or learn more about Michael Gray. Want more frequent updates follow me on Twitter. Thanks for visiting!

Ok so I’ve run most of my guest posts, I still have two or three to run, but they won’t be going live until after SES San Jose. So what did you think? Like em? Dislike em?

Share your feelings in the comments. Constructive criticism is fine, being a dufus troll is not. if you don’t want to be public feel free to drop me an email.

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Joe Hall

Why Old School Real Estate Brands are Losing to New Web 2.0 Innovators

Posted on August 13th, 2008
by Joe Hall in Guest Posts, SEO

The following is a Guest Post from Joe Hall.

The internet is changing the real estate industry on a daily basis. And, not surprisingly, it’s the Web 2.0 innovators that are leading the revolution. Of course this isn’t the first time that new media gurus have redefined an industry. However, this time around old school brands are being left in the dust, while innovative startups are reaping all the benefits.
Why Old School Real Estate Brands are Losing to New Web 2.0 Innovators »

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Michael Gray

Teaching Advanced Link Building and Why Pagerank Will Never Die

Posted on August 13th, 2008
by Michael Gray in Link Development

One of the difficult things of trying to share ideas, or teach a concept to large group of people is the different levels everyone is at. What some people consider advanced others consider intermediate. The second problem is the larger and more diverse the audience, the more general and ambiguous the examples have to be.
Teaching Advanced Link Building and Why Pagerank Will Never Die »

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Michael Gray

Viewzi - Interesting Advanced New Search UI

Posted on August 12th, 2008
by Michael Gray in Tools

Last week Giovanni Gallucci sent me a link to Viewzi which has some interesting search UI’s that I think advanced users might actually use. Unlike Cuil I don’t think they spent 30 million and ended up with a product that thinks the best picture for me is a picture of Elliot Spitzer.

Viewzi - Interesting Advanced New Search UI »

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Michael Gray

Short Videos, Long Videos, and Don’t Take Everything So Literally

Posted on August 12th, 2008
by Michael Gray in video

Many moons ago I wrote about how short videos are better than long ones, and I took lumps in the comments because I didn’t do a good job explaining myself and some readers took me far to literally. However I came across a video last week that allows me to explain myself a little better.
Short Videos, Long Videos, and Don’t Take Everything So Literally »

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helloamber

Are You in Violation of Google’s Double Serving Policy? You Just Might Be!

Posted on August 11th, 2008
by helloamber in Google, Guest Posts

The following is a Guest Post from Amber Benedict.

A client of mine emailed me in a panic, saying two of their affiliate PPC sites have been “tagged” by Google Adwords for violation of the Google double serving policy. “Tagged” meaning that Google is planning to take down my clients’ paid ads for violation of the policy.  The Google double ad serving policy, according to my Google rep, states that, “Any client that offers the same products or services at similar price points as other advertisers without significant differentiation in terms of website content may run into this policy.”
Are You in Violation of Google’s Double Serving Policy? You Just Might Be! »

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Michael Gray

Hey Google Can We Get a Clear Cloaking and First Click Free Explanation

Posted on August 8th, 2008
by Michael Gray in SEO

One of the more common questions I get from people is how do I show my paid context to search engines, but not to non-paying/membership customers, and staying within search engine guidelines. The answer always comes dangerously close or steps over the cloaking line.
Hey Google Can We Get a Clear Cloaking and First Click Free Explanation »

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Everett Sizemore

Five Search Queries to Find Sponsorship Link Opportunities

Posted on August 8th, 2008
by Everett Sizemore in Guest Posts, Link Development

The following is a Guest Post from Everett Sizemore.

The ethics of paid links aside (we all know how Michael Gray feels about that already) the best paid links don’t usually come from a network or broker, and aren’t generally thought of as ‘paid links’ in the first place - though they are. In fact, they don’t even come from someone who knows what a nofollow tag is, or why selling links is against Google’s guidelines. And regardless of the fact that they are paid, Google doesn’t seem to mind them so long as they are on-topic and coming from a reputable website. As the title suggests, this “link buy” comes in the form of sponsoring an event or website. The trick is to find sponsorship opportunities that are in your corner of the web (read: on-topic).

Five Search Queries to Find Sponsorship Link Opportunities »

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Michael Martin

KISS SEO

Posted on August 7th, 2008
by Michael Martin in Guest Posts, SEO

The following is a Guest Post from Michael Martin.

Photo Courtesy of Gene Simmons

When performing SEO its best to first implement the KISS strategy, Keep It Simple S…..

Forget about the old school keyword density equations, being completely W3C compliant, creating X amount of content, pages or acquiring X amount of links.

KISS SEO would include, but not limited to:

  • Unique TITLE tag for each page that includes your page’s targetted keyword(s) plus the benefit followed by Company/Site name.
  •  

  • Unique META Description tag for each page that should be used to enforce the page’s usefulness and be the marketing pitch to the visitor.
  •  

  • A CSS styled H1 tag centered around the page’s main keyword(s) focus - as a side note when I spoke with Matt Cutts at SMX Advanced he said Google doesn’t weigh the H1 tag any heavier than an H2 or H4, but it shouldn’t be used more than once.
  •  

  • Content that is both informative, unique, and useful by fulfilling a need of your target audience.
  •  

  • URLs in a non-dynamic descriptive format.
  •  

  • A flat site structure with breadcrumb links.
  •  

  • Absolute internal linking.
  •  

  • An html user friendly site map plus the backup parachute of a sitemap.xml file.
  •  

  • Robots.txt file blocking any duplicate content (print pages, etc).
  •  

  • Using 301 sever side redirects to consolidate similar pages and domain changes, including canocalization such as www vs non-www.

SEO can be boiled down to simply good organization of your site’s code and assets plus acquiring quality links natuarally via useful interesting content.

If this were Gene Simmon’s KISS SEO then it would be keyword heavy toward the ASSets.

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Michael Gray

How to Use Twitter as a Marketing Tool with Tweet Pro

Posted on August 6th, 2008
by Michael Gray in Tools

So my friend Cesar Serna launched his new site this week and is making his first tool Tweet Pro available. If you don’t know Cesar he used to work for Greg Boser aka Webgeurilla. I was in on the beta program and had a chance to put the tool thru it’s paces this weekend.
How to Use Twitter as a Marketing Tool with Tweet Pro »

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Eddings

Blogher, Pro-Woman or Anti-Man?

Posted on August 5th, 2008
by Eddings in Guest Posts, conference

The following is a Guest Post from Brandy Eddings.

Last school year while at recess my daughter approached a group of boys playing kickball. She asked if she could join, the boy holding the ball told her “only boys can play”. My daughter’s response was “then why are they letting you play” she grabbed the ball and ran onto the field and no one else opposed her joining and the game went on. Her teacher told me that now all the games at recess are now co-ed and they have never had that happen in the years she has taught at that school. Without realizing it she used determination and humor to change the culture of the school.
Blogher, Pro-Woman or Anti-Man? »

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Michael Gray

Two Wordpress Plugins That Need to be Developed

Posted on August 4th, 2008
by Michael Gray in Blogs

After my SEO plugins for wordpress and backend plugins for wordpress most people would think that should cover most of the things anyone would need. However I can think of two that are needed right off the bat. Two Wordpress Plugins That Need to be Developed »

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Michael Gray

Hey Disney World You Had me at Hello …

Posted on August 3rd, 2008
by Michael Gray in Jobs

Somedays there are jobs which were absolutely made for you … sadly I’m just in NY … hey Terry *cough* *cough* telecommunting *cough* *cough* I heard working from home is great for the environment :-)

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Michael Gray

Conducting a Real Time Google Experiment on 7/30/2008

Posted on July 29th, 2008
by Michael Gray in Random Thoughts

I’m going to be doing some real time experiments on Google tomorrow, if you’d like to participate be sure to follow me on twitter and retweet the messages … lets see what happens shall we

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Michael Gray

Wordpress - Clean Up Your Backend

Posted on July 29th, 2008
by Michael Gray in Blogging

There are lots of posts dedicated to showing you wordpress plugins that enhance your post functionality and add features but not many that focus on helping you clean and maintain a secure and orderly backend. I’ll include a few you may have seen before but also a few new ones to help keep things running smoothly. Wordpress - Clean Up Your Backend »

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Michael Gray

Looking at Fake Social Media Profiles

Posted on July 28th, 2008
by Michael Gray in Social Media

Somewhere in the middle of all the drama last week was a discussion on fake social media profiles, and as usual the white hat zealots were ready to crucify anyone associated with them, claiming they were yet another tool disparaging the SEO and internet marketing industry. Well it’s my profession responsibility to provide some examples of this nefarious behavior and out some of these high profiles social media spammers …
Looking at Fake Social Media Profiles »

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Michael Gray

Performancing Ads Launches

Posted on July 27th, 2008
by Michael Gray in Advertising

If you’ve been reading blogs for any length of time it’s hard to miss the presence of those 125 x 125 square banner ads in sidebar. They represent a great opportunity for publishers to make money and monetize their blogs. The problem is unless you’re a big or well known blogger it’s tough to find people willing to advertise. It’s even more difficult if you aren’t technically inclined and aren’t comfortable monkeying with your code files every time you get a new advertiser. Lets not forget the biggest headache is chasing people down to pay bills.
Performancing Ads Launches »

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Michael Gray

Digg’s Most Valuable Asset is User Data … Who Else But Google Needs That

Posted on July 26th, 2008
by Michael Gray in News

As much as I loathe rehashing news stories I’ll throw my hat into the failed Google buying Digg story. Digg’s Most Valuable Asset is User Data … Who Else But Google Needs That »

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Melanie Nathan

SEO Haters: Misconceptions and Misinformation

Posted on July 24th, 2008
by Melanie Nathan in Guest Posts

The following is a Guest Post from Melanie Nathan.

There is a harsh wind blowing through our industry. We all feel it. and if we don’t, perhaps we’ve got our heads in the sand. The truth is SEO’s are, for the most part, loathed.

As a transparent and somewhat public SEO I personally receive at least one piece of hate mail per week. Whether it’s via email, a private message, a stumbleupon review etc; even though I’m an ethical marketer, people always seem to have a problem with what I say or do.
SEO Haters: Misconceptions and Misinformation »

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Michael Gray

First Guest Post

Posted on July 24th, 2008
by Michael Gray in Guest Posts

I’ll be having my first guest post today from Melanie Nathan, I’m reaching out to other folks this week. Let me know what you think in the comments or in private.

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