Google Alternatives: Search, Mail, Analytics, Docs…
* One day I banned Google search bots on my blog. After that I felt more confident about becoming independent from Google. You don’t have to be a minimalist self improvement guru who wants to live a perfect life to…
Unnatural Links: What is the Purpose of the Google FUD Campaign?
* Google has been sending out “unnatural links” warnings for quite some time now. At first the messages meant that you got penalized on Google search and thus you potentially lost your rankings and traffic. Then Google started sending out…
Why I Banned Google on my Blog
I banned Google on my blog in 2012. Why? Isn’t it ironic for a self proclaimed SEO (as in “search engine optimization”) blog to ban Google? Let me tell you the whole story below! The enthusiastic start of this blog…
Positive SEO Example Campaign to Take Part in
* How positive SEO works Last time I defined what I consider to be positive SEO. Also I went into detail to explain my concept of Google Parkour. How does it work? You link out to your “competitor” in case…
Google Newspeak Glossary: Manual Action in Commercial Relationships
Many words hide things! In linguistics we call such terms euphemisms. Euphemisms are often made up words that are meant to hide the real (in most cases negative) meaning of existing terms. Often the terms used are also real words…
Just Say No to Google Opportunism
During Nazi or Stalinist rule it was matter of life and death whether you were support the bloody regime or speaking out against it. Even trying to subvert it without speaking out publicly ended up fatal in most cases. Nowadays…
Is Positive SEO Possible? A Google Parkour Case Study
* Negative SEO Nightmare In recent years so called “negative SEO” has been one of the most written about topics in the search marketing industry and beyond. Luckily only a few major publications have covered the topic or even used…
The Future of the Web According to Eric Schmidt of Google
* Over the years Eric Schmidt – formerly CEO and now chairman of Google – has been known for giving some intriguing insights into Google, the Internet and the future of technology. Some of his remarks were very controversial to…
How to Determine Content Quality and Write Accordingly
There seems to exist a broad consensus that “content is king”, but only great content or rather quality content. With the so called Panda or high quality update Google made quality content the ultimate goal. How to determine content quality…
Hands On Google Social SEO Techniques for Personal Search
Google personalizes search results. What does it mean? You get search results reflecting your specific interests. How to practice SEO for such “personal search”? You have to choose to get your hands dirty! This is hands on actionable advice! Bring…
Are Category Keywords in the URL a Significant Ranking Signal?
Google has more than 200 ranking signals or factors that determine the fate of websites on their search results. One day I was trying to assess the impact of stolen and otherwise copied content on my rankings here on the…
Does Google Index Your robots.txt?
This is a contribution by SEO strategist Moosa Hemani. It has been slightly edited by myself, Tad Chef – the owner of this blog. robots.txt is a protocol that helps search engines to find out which part of a website…
![[Content SEO] Run DMC and Google Want You to “Keep it Fresh”](http://seo2.onreact.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/run-dmc-150x150.jpg)
[Content SEO] Run DMC and Google Want You to “Keep it Fresh”
* Are you spitting rhymes about gold chains and Adidas kicks? Or shaping your SEO and content strategy? One thing is for sure and essential… “Keepin’ it fresh.” Fresh content is unique and engaging, and Google likes that. It seems…
Who is Your Competition on the Web?
Who are your competitors? You think you know. Yet your offline understanding of competition does not work on the Web! You don’t know or realize though! Let me explain. Who Do You Think Your Competition is? When business owners contact…
Google Buys Links with Hidden Anchor Text
I was awestruck today when I noticed that the perhaps most important German blogging conference re:publica sells high PageRank links. Paid links are forbidden by the Google Webmaster Guidelines since 2007 and Google has repeatedly asked webmasters to report paid…
CSS Tricks for Better SEO
* Are you optimizing websites? Then you probably know it already. It’s often really difficult to build websites for both users and Google. There are even two separate disciplines by now to deal with it: user experience or short UX…
‘SEO is Dead’ is Dead
Diamond Skull by Damien Hirst.* One fine day I checked Twitter and saw to my dismay that a post titled “How SEO is breaking the web (and killing Google)” [sic!] has garnered almost 200 tweets. While I assume that many of…
Internet Legends You Should Know
You certainly know urban legends already. Stories, misconceptions and myths that sound enticing and thus get spread through gossip all over the place. Urban legends mostly proliferate where people use to meet for small talk, thus “urban”. The Internet is…
Google Penalty: Exact Match Anchor Text Links Hurt Your SEO
* It’s always fascinating to see how Google treats SEO techniques that have gone mainstream. You won’t believe what happens next: Google often uses filters or downright penalizes them. Of course many people out there abuse SEO techniques once they…
SEO Tools: Why & How to Track Rankings on Personalized Search
Long story short: You can see actual rankings in Google Search Console. Above you see the query [outreach message] and the number of clicks and impressions for my blog. Yet there are also other tools beyond Google that help you…
