You Don’t Know Foo
Friday, June 29th, 2007 | industry events | No Comments
You don’t know foo, and niether do I, so I did a little digging to uncover what all the foo is about.
Foo Camp is an annual invite-only unconference hosted by O’Reilly, complete with a totally-Tim-hosted Foo Bar. This year the conference was held June 22-24 and saw 250 talented participants who do interesting work in fields like web services, data visualization and search, open source programming, computer security, hardware hacking, GPS, alternative energy, and other fields that can be described as ‘emerging technologies’.
Much of the agenda is determined by the participants, who are encouraged to show up prepared to lead or participate in a session, ask interesting questions, or show off what they’ve been working on.
All this makes me think…
Bone Marrow and Sweden’s Longest Border
Friday, June 29th, 2007 | query intent | 6 Comments
As SEOs, understanding the user intent behind a search query is important stuff (What is Java, anyhow?). I often browse through Google Trends and am intrigued by the results. Last night I checked in with Google Trends, to marvel at the latest buzz in cyber space, and saw an interesting result.
A. Red
B. White
C. Both Red and White
The question immediately following was:
Sweden’s longest land border is with what other country?
Google Trends provides us with a snapshot of the output of user intent. We are challenged to navigate through clues, such as Google Trend’s Volcanic Hotness status and related searches, to and make sense of seemingly unrelated relationships between terms and understand user intent. Now that, is why I love SEO.
Leveraging Linkedin for SEO
Thursday, June 28th, 2007 | in house, link building | No Comments
Sadly, Linkedin links no longer pass value. (6/2008)
Helen of non~linear creations wrote a great article earlier this week about Effective Marketing on Linkedin. Linkedin is frequently critiqued on it’s value as a social networking tool, but with 11 million users (Really?!) they must be doing something right. In her article, Helen speaks to a number of strategies that can be used for marketing on Linkedin.
Her article includes a section called, “Supporting Your SEO”. In this section she suggests sending a company-wide email requesting a link back to the company website. I did just that a couple of months ago in my organization. If you do SEO work in-house, this is one more touch-point in the education and empowerment of individuals with respect to SEO and the success of the corporate website.
Linkedin provides quality back links from public profile pages. By leveraging individuals on a large scale (like in a corporate environment) and controlling the anchor text and destination URLs, this strategy can help with rank. Simple Equation: (Quality Back Links + Keyword Driven Anchor Text) x Lots of Staff Members = Good Stuff.
4 Tips to make your In-House Linkedin SEO Campaign a Success
- Make it a big deal. The subject line of my email was, “You Can Help (Company) SEO Through Linkedin!” When you see people in the halls, at the water cooler, wherever, bring it up. If you participate in company conference calls that include a wrap-up round table discussion, bring it up.
- Provide concise step-by-step instructions. I provided six step instructions, and still got questions. Also, be sure to identify the anchor text you want used. You never know what they will come up with on their own.
- Lead the leaders. Give everyone a few days, then knock on office doors. “Excuse me, CEO, do you have five minutes so that I can walk you through updating your Linkedin profile? I know you are busy, and it will be quicker for you if we walk through it together.”
- Follow-up. Be persistent. Send a follow-up email to those who have not participated and link to the CEO’s public profile as an example. Believe me, it is an excellent motivator to the tardy recipients that the Head Cheese found it important enough to contribute.
Humbled by SMX Seattle
Wednesday, June 6th, 2007 | industry events | No Comments
It’s late on Wednesday night, as I contemplate this week’s experience at SMX in a Seattle hotel room. SMX Seattle was everything I love about SES New York, times ten. I am both humbled and inspired by the intelligence and passion of old and new friends who make a living in the realm of SEO, SEM, SMM, and domaining.
As a solitaire in-house SEO, I don’t reach out to the community as often as I should. It is all too easy to put on my company goggles and get caught up in the day-to-day. The energy at SMX was contagious and has me thinking about my niche, how to position myself professionally, where I can make the most impact, and how to get moving on it today!