Can a Flash .SWF outrank a .HTML file?
I’m running a small test to determine if .swf files can achieve higher rankings then .html files. Why is this important? Well, historically full flash web sites have been difficult to rank well, but in the past few months, the major search engines have greatly improved their indexing of flash based files.
So, have we reached a day where full flash web sites and html sites can be ranked equally? Probably not. But what happens if we throw some major link love towards the flash sites?
Test:
1. Create two similar files - one flash, one html.
2. Optimize both for a non-existent search term “sirchingine“.
3. Link to both through this post using the anchor text “sirchingine“.
4. Track which file ranks better for the search term - I hypothesize the HTML file will.
5. Add additional backlinks to flash file - monitor change in rankings.
What can we learn?
My hope is to show that full flash web pages can indeed outrank well optimized HTML pages if enough backlinks fuel the flash page.
Google Knols - Open to the Public
Today Google opened to the public a Wikipedia like service called Google Knols.
Google Knols is an online, collaborative authoriship platform (much like Wikipedia), but with a social side. The idea is to encourage people to write authoriative articles about topics they know about, while the Knols community comments, rates, reviews and in come cases, adds to the article.
The Difference Between Knolls and Wikipedia?
Wikipedia is setup like an encyclopedia. The content is trustworth, and tries to rely on facts - not opinions or viewpoints. Google Knols is exactly the opposite. Knols encourages multiple articles on the same topic, and embraces different viewpoints and opinions. Therefore the structure of these two web sites is remarkably different. Wikipedia collects and consolidates the authority of the Read the rest of this entry »
Google Adwords - Keywords and placements — together!
Here’s a new feature in adwords:
Keywords and placements — together!
- As of today, both keywords and placements can be targeted in all AdWords campaigns. Use both to get better control and pricing power on the content network.What can you do with keywords plus placements?
- Bid more or less for specific placements. Let contextual targeting with keywords place your ads across the content network, while you set placement bids for sites that have a special value for you.Selling soccer shoes? You might bid $1.00 for clicks from any content network pages that match your keywords, but $2.00 when those clicks come from a soccer fan site that’s converted well for you in the past.
- Show your ad only when both keywords and placements match. You’ll get the benefits of keyword targeting while also limiting the places where your ad can appear.For instance, set your campaign to appear only on your favorite soccer fan site, and only when the site content matches the keyword soccer shoes. You may see less traffic, but AdWords contextual matching will help make sure your placement pages are highly targeted.
Placements are always optional. They’re an advanced feature with no impact on your search network advertising. You can add keywords or placements to existing ad groups, or you can leave those campaigns as they are and create new ones with keywords plus placements. Learn more
Search volume statistics in the Keyword Tool
- You can now see statistics on the approximate number of search queries matching your keywords. This data allows you to better plan your budget and pick keywords most likely to return quality leads, which in turn can help improve your ROI. Learn more
Google Announces they Crawl Flash
A few days ago, Google officially announced they can crawl flash files. Here’s is what they said,
“Google has been developing a new algorithm for indexing textual content in Flash files of all kinds, from Flash menus, buttons and banners, to self-contained Flash websites. Recently, we’ve improved the performance of this Flash indexing algorithm by integrating Adobe’s Flash Player technology.
In the past, web designers faced challenges if they chose to develop a site in Flash because the content they included was not indexable by search engines. They needed to make extra effort to ensure that their content was also presented in another way that search engines could find.
Now that we’ve launched our Flash indexing algorithm, web designers can expect improved visibility of their published Flash content, and you can expect to see better search results and snippets. There’s more info on the Webmaster Central blog about the Searchable SWF integration.”
Now this revelation is something I already posted about back in may (see post), but I suspect the general public wasn’t catching on. So Google now makes an official announcement. I guess the days of “flash web sites can’t be crawled” are gone. I guess that’s a good thing. Now be prepared for spammy .SWF’s in the results pages for a while.
Social Media in SERPS Thanks to Universal Search?
I’m making a prediction. I’m predicting that Google has developed their “Friends Connect” service with the intention of using social media to change the search engine results pages (SERPS) as we know it!
I’m seeing at least two major changes.
1) Universal Search meets Social Media
The idea of universal search (the inclusion of different forms of media to Google’s search engine results pages) will soon include product recommendations based on what your friends think of the product. For example, say you’re searching for “coffee pots”, and a friend on Facebook purchased a coffee pot recently and wrote a review on telling how much they loved it. This review shows up in the SERPS with a little blurb like, “See what your friends had to say about ‘coffee pots’” and right there on the results page is your friends review.
2) Personalized Search will change.
Google is already tracking most peoples web history. It influences the way results are displayed for individuals based on past searching/surfing habits. Now image that your searching on a search term like, “king”… Google doesn’t know if you’re looking for a definition of the word, a list of past kings, the king of the jungle, “king of queens” television show, etc. Now if you’ve never searched for a term like this, Google can’t use your web history to help determine results. BUT what if Google knew who your friends were? What if Google could use social data to determine that you have 8 friends who are major Elvis lovers? Google would then assume that when you search for “king”, you might actually be looking for information about Elvis, and tailor your search results accordingly.
So there you have it. Two ways I predict social media will change the face of search results and in term search engine marketing.
Local Results Search Forms in SERPS
Sometimes I feel that Google is doing everything they can to fill their SERPS (Search Engine Results Pages) with everything BUT natural search results.
I’ve been watching with concern as Google’ s Universal Search Results continues to bury the natural listings under paid listings, news clips, images, YouTube video’s, local listings, product listings, sitelinks, internal site search and now today I find yet another “feature” sneak out into the wild - Read the rest of this entry »
Facebook Shoots Down Google
I’m sad to say that all the excitement I had built up around Friday’s “Friend Connect” post is pretty much gone. I learned today that Facebook is refusing to let Google access their data for the future Friend Connect service.
“We’re disappointed that Facebook disabled their users’ ability to use Friend Connect with their Facebook friends,” a Google spokesman told Wired.com.
Facebook is citing privacy concerns, but from what I understand it’s simply that Facebook doesn’t want to build the privacy controls into their API. Therefore Google has no way of meeting the privacy “standards” that Facebook requires.
No More No-Follow
I’ve removed the No-Follow tags from comment links for the time being. The site is new enough, and small enough, to fly under the radar from spammers.
So from now on we’ll be giving a little ’search engine love’ kick back to the growing community here.
Googles Invention of the First Laser
I think Google is stretching their logo creativity when trying to honor the, “invention of the first laser”. Looks more like a Captcha to me.
Before You Send Out Your SEM Resume
If you’re in the search marketing industry, and you’re looking for work, there’s one thing that you MUST DO before you start sending out your resume, and that is… Rank for your own name on Google.
Every hiring manager who knows what they’re doing is going to do a Google search for their job candidates name before the interview. If you’re looking to get a job doing anything with SEO, you better make sure you can at least rank for your own name. Why do you think www.dancristo.com exists?
Since this is a blog about advanced SEM techniques, I’m not going to insult you by explaining how to rank for your own name. I will however stress the importance of it, and give a few ideas of the types of web sites that might work well for this type of thing. Read the rest of this entry »
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