SEOsk.com

Yahoo just announced Shine, and are hopping on the bandwagon that says women are a great target. Why now?

Just like iVillage, Glam and others, Yahoo knows that getting inventory in home, garden, health and other categories can translate into higher effective CPMs. They developed nine separate content areas and 38 sub-topics that appeal to visitors and advertisers.

What's Been Launched?

Yahoo has licensed some decent article content for Shine, from major publishers who already cover this content in print and online. Then they hired both editors and bloggers to fill in the rest. There's no focus on video content yet.

Like any respectable Web 2.0 community, Yahoo also encourages contributions by visitors. If you have Yahoo email, then you automatically have access to your own blog. Of course, Yahoo also encourages you to buzz articles shown at Shine.

You can search content across Shine only, which should equate to site search on competitor sites. Given the sparse content so far, the results are fairly limited. So Yahoo isn't trying to create a vertical or women's search engine -- or directly respond to Ask.com, which recently claimed that position.

Click to read the rest of this post...

More: continued here

Three weeks ago, I wrote an article entitled, ???Online Reputation Management Requires Cabinet War Rooms,??? that reported on the Brand & Reputation Management session at last month??™s Search Engine Strategies conference in London.

Last week, I got some feedback from Dr. Leslie Gaines-Ross, the chief reputation strategist at Weber Shandwick and author of Corporate Reputation: 12 Steps to Safeguarding and Recovering Reputation.

She said: ???Thanks for the roundup regarding the panel discussion. I would add that companies probably do not need 'War Rooms' today and instead incorporate reputation monitoring as a regular course of business. Not just when in the throes of crisis. In addition, reputation recovery does not end in six months or when the negative comments leave the first page of Google. From the work we have done at Weber Shandwick on reputation, it takes nearly four years to recover reputation once it has been tarnished. Reputation recovery and management (online and offline) are never-ending. Thanks again for your thought-provoking comments.???

Now, I agree that companies should incorporate reputation monitoring as a regular course of business. But, they often don??™t ??“ until they are in the throes of crisis.

And, I agree that reputation recovery shouldn??™t end when the negative comments leave the first page of Google. But, that??™s often the first sign that a crisis has passed.

So, how do you convince your CEO to include offline and online reputation management as a line item in the marketing budget before it??™s too late? And, if it takes nearly four years to repair a bad reputation, then how can you earn credibility for yourself and your SEO or PR firm by showing early signs of progress?

As I conducted a few news searches to find some recent information for this post, I was impressed to discover an optimized press release entitled, ???Global CEO Turnover Rises 10 Percent in Past 12 Months According to New Weber Shandwick Study.???

???Given stagnant markets, fierce competition and a complex business environment, it is not surprising that CEO turnover has risen sharply,??? said Weber Shandwick??™s Chief Reputation Strategist Dr. Leslie Gaines-Ross in the release.

Wow. Talk about writing a press release that will get found by your target audience for relevant news search terms. And just what should CEOs do to hang on to their jobs?

???In today??™s uncertain economic environment when information and news are at a premium, CEOs would be wise to actively over communicate and regularly meet employees and customers face-to-face,??? said Weber Shandwick President Andy Polansky in the release.

Okay. So, I know several SEO firms that "get" online reputation management, But, here??™s a PR firm that has gone beyond spouting empty platitudes about the topic and has conducted an ongoing analysis of ???CEO Departures??? to put ???leadership communications??? on the agenda.

But wait! There??™s more!

I conducted another news search and found an interactive case study in BusinessWeek entitled, ???The Analysis: Restoring Reputation.??? Written by Dr. Leslie Gaines-Ross, it tells the story of how Xerox??™s reputation has enjoyed a successful turnaround since 2001, with CEO Anne Mulcahy pulling the strings.

Okay. Now, I??™m really impressed. Leslie provided constructive feedback on my article about online reputation management. She was quoted in a press release that should catch the attention of CEOs in Fortune 500 companies. And she??™s written a case study about how Xerox??™s CEO has turned around that company??™s reputation ??“ for BusinessWeek.

Online reputation management shouldn??™t require a crisis to become a line item in the budget. And it can enhance your corporate reputation as well as help you recover from a tarnished one, which can help your SEO or PR firm earn credibility with the CEO.

And, don??™t just take my word for it. If you need a second opinion, check out what they??™re doing over at Weber Shandwick.

More: continued here

Posted by randfish

High quality directory link building may seem dreary and time-consuming, but it's still one of the best methods to build credibility with the search engines (remember the importance of trust distance?). Today, while adding resources to our list of valuable directories, I stumbled across three webpages with valuable insight into the process of link building. Both are from universities, providing directives on how to evaluate a link - it doesn't get much more relevant than this.

The three pages are:

• University of Southern Maine's Checklist for Evaluating Web Resources
• UCLA College Library's Thinking Critically About World Wide Web Resources
• Evaluating Web Resources from Cornell University

I've pulled some excerpts to help illustrate how those who might consider linking to your site make that judgement:

Is the information easy to get to? How many links does it take to get to something useful?
What is the quality of the graphical images? Do these images enhance the resource or distract from the content?
Does the site have its own search engine?
Is the site easily browsable or searchable?

Accessibility and usability are big issues - and it's one of the key reasons link building goes hand in hand with great design. Build a site that looks like a professional, high quality resource and your informative articles will carry more weight and a greater ability to attract links.

How comprehensive is this site?

• What are the link selection criteria if any?
• Are the links relevant and appropriate for the site?
• Is the site inward-focused, pointing outward, or both?
• Is there an appropriate balance between inward-pointing links ("inlinks" i.e., within the same site)& outward-pointing links ("outlinks" i.e., to other sites)?
• Are the links comprehensive or do they just provide a sampler?
• What do the links offer that is not easily available in other sources?
• Are the links evaluated in any way?

Search engine have always said they'd judge sites by who they link to and who links to them. Humans who evaluate whether they'll link to us are being instructed to do the same thing! Reputations online are garnered through linking in more ways than one, so be careful about what you link to and how you label it.

Determining the author or source of information for a Web site is important in deciding whether information has credibility. The author should show some evidence of being knowledgeable, reliable, and truthful.

• Is the author identifiable? Look for links that say "Who We Are," "About This Site, " or something similar.
• Is there contact information for the author? (e.g. e-mail address, mailing address or phone number)
• What is the author's background? (e.g. experience, credentials, occupation, have they written other publications on the topic?)
• Does the author cite his or her sources?
• Is this site linked to often by other sites?
• Do links on this site lead to other reputable sites?
• Are there spelling errors or incorrect use of grammar?
• What domain does the site belong to? (e.g. edu, gov, com, etc.)?

The perception of authority is easily created and just as easily destroyed. No matter what kind of site you're building, if you want the links to flow, provide some information about the site, about yourself and about the information you provide. Proper citation and effective backgrounds can mean the difference between link building success and failure.

Take a couple minutes right now and look over the site(s) you're working on. Do you meet the criteria for picky link creators?

• Professional design, look and feel
• High usability and functionality
• Non-commercial content is available in a research-oriented form (if you're not providing any non-commercial content, read this post)
• Information about the author(s), the material and the sources is clearly provided
• Contact information is obvious and accessible

If you're firing on all cylinders, there's a good chance you can close the trust distance gap with some very high quality links.

Do you like this post? YesNo

More: continued here

The main Yahoo! page has cleaned up and re-emphasized its search box. The whole top inch or so of the page has a new look.

Similar to the cleaner, pared down page at search.yahoo.com, and reminiscent of some other well-known search engine, it is a pleasing change. The main page still has plenty of portal content below the search box:

Contrast that with the old look that had the logo on the left and additional buttons and boxes. See the Google Blogoscoped post for a series of home page screenshots over time. I still wish that News was one of the choices above the box instead of having it hidden under "more." Otherwise I find the new look to be easier to use and cleaner than the old. . . .

More: continued here

Happy Friday everyone! It's officially spring out here; the weather has gotten warmer and it's almost April! Wow. Easter! Yeah, that's right. Last week was Easter. And there were plenty of celebrations in the search sphere. YouTube Analytics Probably the...

More: continued here

Google Israel turned out the lights and flipped their white background color to black for ?©???? ?›?“?•?? ?”?????? (aka Earth Hour). What is ironic is that we reported in the past that Google argued that black uses more energy that white. (Although they participated in Lights Out San Francisco last October as a symbolic turning out the lights and noted then it was an effort to raise awareness about energy conservation -- not that turning the home black conserved energy itself.)

In any event, Google will likely close the shades on Google.com on March 29th at 8pm, the time of Earth Hour in America. Don't forget to shut off your lights between 8pm and 9pm on Saturday!

Click to continue reading...

More: continued here

Posted by great scott!

This week Rand discusses Trust as a ranking factor: how it originated, what it may look like, and how you can use it when planning your link building campaigns. The closer you can get to major authority sites, the more trust your links are likely to have, and as we all know, trusted links are the most powerful links.

Whiteboard Friday-Using Trust Rank to Guide Your Link Building from Scott Willoughby on Vimeo.

Do you like this post? YesNo

More: continued here