Written on August 11th, 2005 at 03:08 am by Darren Rowse

Search Engine Optimization Tips for Blogs - Lengthy Domain Registration, One Topic Posts, Optimal Length Posts

31 Days to Building a Better Blog, Search Engine Optimization 9 comments

Time for some more SEO tips for the Search Engine Optimization Tips for Blogs Series.

  • Register your Domain for a Lengthy Period - a recent patent by Google indicates that it now looks at the length of your domain’s registration in ranking it. It does this because many spam sites have short registrations and a longer one indicates that you’re building a site with substance and are in it for the long haul.
  • One topic per post - the more tightly focused the theme of a page the better when Search Engines come to rank it. Sometimes you might find yourself writing long posts that end up covering a number of different topics. They might relate loosely but if search engine ranking is what you’re after it could be better to break up your post into smaller more focused pieces.
  • Write optimal length posts - there is some thought going around the Search Engine Optimization community that pages that are too short can get passed over for high rankings. I try to keep posts at least 250 words. Of course there are some posts on my blogs that are shorter, but if I’m writing a post that I want to rank well I try to give it some meatiness in terms of length. On the other hand don’t make it too long either - because in doing so you make it difficult to keep your keyword density up and could end up with a less tightly focused page. Research also shows that longer articles can have a pretty steep drop off rate in readers after the text gets below the ‘fold’ or to the end of the first screen of article.

Written on August 10th, 2005 at 11:08 pm by Darren Rowse

31 Days to Building a Better Blog - Day 10

31 Days to Building a Better Blog 1 comment

Double figures in the 31 day project. Today there were just the two submitted blog tips from readers who are going to get everyone’s attention.

As usual you’re all invited to write a blog tip on your own blog and let me know about it to join tomorrow’s Day summary post.

Written on August 10th, 2005 at 07:08 pm by Darren Rowse

Search Engine Optimization Tips for Blogs - Outbound Links and Choosing a Domain

31 Days to Building a Better Blog, Search Engine Optimization 4 comments

  • Outbound Links - There is debate over how SEs treat outbound links from your blog. I’m in the camp who believe that relevant outbound links enhance your site’s ranking in search engines. I always link out to quality relevant sites that I think my readers will find useful and have a little anecdotal evidence that seems to support the theory that this is healthy for the way SEs index you (check out Waynes article on the topic for more info). Linking to sites outside your own blog does mean you end up sending traffic away from your blog so you need to count the cost of such a strategy. Note that you should always try to link to reputable and relevant sites to your own page. Also keep in mind that too many outbound could have detrimental impact upon your blog. Like in most things in SEO - moderation is the key.
  • Choose your domain name wisely - there are numerous factors to keep in mind when selecting a domain name. For one you might like to include your keyword in it if possible. Secondly you should do a little research to see if someone else has previously used the domain. This could have both positive and negative impact. If it was a quality site with inbound links you might reap some benefits but if it was a banned spam site you could still be banned from Google for a long time. One service you might want to use to check expired domains is Way Back Machine at Archive.org.

This just one of numerous posts in the Search Engine Optimization Tips for Blogs Series

Written on August 10th, 2005 at 04:08 pm by Darren Rowse

Adsense Testing Site Topic Signaling

Adsense 8 comments

DMNews has an article today that reports that Google’s Adsense team is testing a new system with a small number of it’s publishers that allows them to signal to Google what type of site that they are running in order to help Adsense target better ads:

‘Though AdSense already uses signals based on the content of Web sites, such as headlines and font sizes, to generate ads, this would let advertisers tailor ads based on their users’ demographics and other signals, which are yet to be determined.

“We realized there is benefit in allowing publishers to tell us more about the page, [information that is] not directly on the page,” Rajaram said. “This will give publishers potentially more control over what ads are being shown.”

The type of signal would depend on the type of Web site. A music site may send Google information that its users are mainly young males, for example, and Google would use that information to target ads.

“They could send us a list of topics that users of this site are interested in,” Rajaram said.

Eventually, Google will roll out the program to more publishers, Rajaram said.’

This is a great idea and if implemented will be good news for many bloggers who constantly complain about getting ads for ‘Blogging Products’ on their blogs. Of course it could also be open to abuse with publishers telling Adsense there site is about some a topic that is high paying and unrelated to their blog. Definitely a story to watch.

Written on August 10th, 2005 at 03:08 pm by Darren Rowse

Behaviors of the Blogosphere Controversy

Pro Blogging News 2 comments

Well it seems that yesterday’s ‘Behaviors of the Blogosphere’ Study Results have ruffled a few feathers in the past 24 hours with a number of bloggers pointing out some of the problems, inconsistencies and biases in the study. Not the least of these is Jason Calacanis who whilst maintaining he’s Nick Denton’s ‘pal’ also points out multiple times that his said pal paid for the report which should cast some doubt over it’s results (see Jason’s posts here, here and here).

Jason also points out the inaccuracy of the figures in the report that point some pretty massive blogs (including his own) below Gawker blogs in the rankings.

I think Jason has the right to be a bit peeved about the results - after all there is quite a bit of money at stake at the top of the entrepreneurial heap. If I were in his position I’d probably jump up and down also.

Having said that I hope that the squabbling doesn’t take the focus away from some of the findings that illustrate the growth of blogging readership and the incredible potential that blogs have for reaching such a large proportion of the population.

I’m not really wanting to get drawn into the fight - I’ve got blogging to do - but if you’re interested in reading more you might like to head to Rick’s clarification of the Research, Overstated’s opinion, Business Week, Jeff Jarvis and the Young Manhattanite’s thoughts.

Written on August 10th, 2005 at 01:08 pm by Darren Rowse

Blogging Pro Reaches the $100 a Day in Adsense Mark

Pro Blogging News 18 comments

Jacob at Blogging Pro has reached the $100 per day from Adsense milestone - it’s a goal that so many bloggers have but that can be so elusive - he writes:

‘I did it! I finally reached my goal of breaking $100 in 1 day of Adsense earnings. $102.26 to be exact. It’s been a long time since I set this goal, but my goal was to reach it before the end of the year. I had no clue that I would reach it this quick, but doing some simple optimization over the past few weeks has apparently helped. ‘

- congratulations Jacob

Written on August 10th, 2005 at 11:08 am by Darren Rowse

Search Engine Optimization Tips for Blogs - Internal Links and Frequent Posting

31 Days to Building a Better Blog, Search Engine Optimization 9 comments

  • Interlink your Site - The way Search Engines index your blog is to send little robot crawlers to your site to track what you’ve written and follow the links. Make it easier for them to get around your blog by using internal linking wisely. Most SEO experts recommend that you provide some sort of Site Map that means every page on your blog is just a link or two away from every other one. One way to do this for bloggers is to make sure that your category pages are in your sidebars as I do in this blog. Also make sure every page links back to your main page and any other important pages on your site. If you’re writing on a topic you’ve previously written about consider linking to what you’ve written before or use a ‘other relevant posts’ feature at the base of your article. You’ll see in my menus at the top of the page a number of my key categories and articles. One of the impacts of having them highlighted in this way is that they have become some of the most highly ranked pages on enternetusers simply because they are linked to from every page of this blog.
  • Update regularly - The more you update your blog the more often Search Engines will send their crawlers to your site to index it. This will mean your new articles could appear in the index within days or even hours rather than weeks. This is a natural benefit of blogging - make the most of it!

This post is part of the Search Engine Optimization Tips for Blogs Series

Written on August 10th, 2005 at 09:08 am by Darren Rowse

Does personal info belong on a business (or entrepreneurial) blog?

Miscellaneous Blog Tips 4 comments

Tris has an interesting post asking should bloggers get personal on their business blogs? We could extend the question to commercial/entrepreneurial blogs also.

‘The problem is, I think, that blogs started off as very personal efforts. We knew about peoples’ struggles. We knew about their lives. Then as business blogging grew people started setting up rules for themselves, and others. Is that limiting? Are there rules. What about when something great happens in your life? Or bad? ‘

My opinion is that it’s important to define boundaries for your blog up front. Work out what you will and won’t blog about and stick to it. If you decide up front to inject personal posts, humor, personality etc into your blog because it fits with the overall goals of your blogging then I’m fine with that. On the other hand if you want a more professional, information oriented blog with little of yourself in it then that is cool also (as is anything in between).

Across my blogs I have a variety of approaches. If I want to announce something personal I have spaces to do that. Perhaps this is the beauty of multiple blogs.

Here at enternetusers I try to inject a little personality into my blogging - but don’t reveal too much of what is happening in my personal life unless it impacts my topic at hand.

I think when bloggers get into trouble is when they start out one way and build a readership around a particular style and then they leave that style.

What do you think about getting personal in your business or entrepreneurial blog? Head over to Tris’s post to let him know.

Written on August 10th, 2005 at 08:08 am by Darren Rowse

Another Jason Calacanis Fan Hits Adsense

Pro Blogging News 13 comments

Jason-CalacanisIt looks like someone doesn’t like Jason Calacanis - I just spotted this Adsense ad in Google when I did a search for his name.

You’ve got to wonder what gets into people’s minds to pay for ads like these to appear.

Written on August 10th, 2005 at 05:08 am by Darren Rowse

Earning from Search and Contextual Ads - SES 2005

Pro Blogging News 6 comments

Stephan Spencer has posted of his experience of the Earnings from Search and Contextual Ads session at SES today. I have to say as I read it that I’m very jealous of him as this would be one session I would love to have been at - partly for the content (which looks good value) but more so to meet those presenting, Jenny from Jensense and Jason from WeblogsInc - both of whom I’ve come to admire in the past 12 or so months.

I really want to get to some of these conferences next year. I think I might have to start a travel fund.

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