Tag Archives: search engines

Stop! SEO Not the Desitination

SEO Tips

SEO Is Not The Destination

Drew Hannush by Drew Hannush (28 Feb 2011)  |  1 Comment

I read a couple of great questions on a website company’s blog the other day.  The reader was asking what specifically was guaranteed by the company’s SEO service and did they consider their price competitive.

The answer’s were very telling.

The company representative responded that the client could expect a monthly detailed analytics report, on-going keyword updates and a quarterly consultation.  He also suggested their pricing was very competitive and that they knew of competition that charged much more for the same service.

To the layman, these answers might sound reasonable, but to me they are all wrong.

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blekko

Of Interest

New Blekko Search Misses the Point

Drew Hannush by Drew Hannush (2 Nov 2010)  |  Leave a comment

In a world of seemingly endless start-ups, it is very difficult for any new product or service to gain the massive amount of front-end momentum and market share it needs to grow because of the deluge of competition.

New technologies have similar problems to the ones being faced by network television.  In the old days, you had a captive audience.  For the most part, you had ABC, NBC, CBS, maybe an independent channel and PBS as your only sources for entertainment on the tube.  It was very easy for these networks to battle it out and make an impression because they owned about 20% of the entire television viewing experience.  But now, with a myriad of cable networks, they own only partial percentage points and their impact has dwindled tremendously (as well as the quality of their writing pool).

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SEO Tips

Google Instant Search Creates a Whole New SEO Dynamic

Drew Hannush by Drew Hannush (9 Sep 2010)  |  Leave a comment

Over the last 8 years, Google has lead the pack in terms of creating algorithms that have made their search engine the most valuable in the industry.

Now Google is going one step further.  Over the last couple of years you may have noticed the search bar on Google (and Yahoo! and Bing for that matter) has become more dynamic…showing you multiple results and filtering as you add more text.  Now imagine that same kind of instant recognition of your search results…IN the search results?

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Case Studies

At One Time It Was Ask Jeeves. Now Social Takes Over.

Drew Hannush by Drew Hannush (7 Feb 2010)  |  Leave a comment

Some of the best inventions are ideas that evolve from the original brainstorm. In the past, Ask.com (originally known as Ask Jeeves…what did they do with Jeeves by the way?) came up with the idea of a search engine that would let you ask a question. It stripped all the words out that were irrelevant and returned results of static pages that had your answer.

Aardvark (found at vark.com) is taking this one step further. They send out your question via social networks. They try to find the most appropriate answers and send them to you. The only drawback is they send them to you via IM. I don’t know about you, but my Yahoo! Messenger account hasn’t gained much use in the last year or so. Plus, you have to wait for an answer. Its like letting others do the research for you.

It will be interesting to see if it catches on, how successful the feedback is, and if people are willing to wait for answers in a world of instant gratification.

UPDATE: I found Aardvark difficult to get a response from. It doesn’t really let you know easily. It would be better if it emailed you the answer.  Also, Google recently bought Aardvark, so it will be interesting to see how the Goliath handles making it better.

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SEO Tips

Title Tags for Search Engine Success

Drew Hannush by Drew Hannush (17 Aug 2009)  |  Leave a comment

So you’re looking to search optimize your site and you’ve spent some money on getting a keyword analysis.  What now?

Its time to start looking at some of the elements of your website that are critical to search engine success.

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Of Interest

A Better Economy Leads To Higher Google AdWord Prices

Drew Hannush by Drew Hannush (13 Aug 2009)  |  Leave a comment

For those of you that rode the pony of success through the economic downturn, your good times are coming to an end.  That’s right…during the lean times, Google AdWords were a great low cost way to get traffic moving to your site.  This is because budgets were tight and everyone was cutting back (ie. not advertising).

In January, the average price for competitive keywords were pushing around $2 to $5 and secondary terms were being found at $.10 and $.25.

No longer my friends.  If you have logged on lately, you will probably find $1 per click is the going rate for most decent keywords…and we haven’t really even seen the full turnaround of the economy.

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SEO Tips | Website Strategies

Why You Should Avoid Building Flash Websites

Drew Hannush by Drew Hannush (12 Aug 2009)  |  1 Comment

It happens occasionally.  I’ll get a client who asks about getting a website developed that is high on creativity…inevitably leading to the question of using Flash for the site.

My answer is usually not as simple as just “avoid it.”  I like to give advantages and disadvantages to my clients so they can make an informed decision.

So with that in mind, I also looked for some credible resources to feed their opinion on the subject.  In a world where SEO techniques are growing more and more in demand, I find that drives the decisions of most people.

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