If you’re planning to get married, know someone who is, or are involved in the Wedding Industry, then this may be for you.

Our client, The UK Wedding Shows is giving away free tickets.

The winners can choose from the following wedding shows:

• Newcastle Racecourse 12 – 13 Sept 2009
• Liverpool St George’s Hall 19-20 Sept 2009
• Harrogate Wedding Show – International Centre 26-27 Sept 2009
• Manchester GMex 24-25 Oct 2009
• Newcastle Metro Arena 30-31 Jan 2010
• London ExCeL 06-07 Feb 2010

And every visitor to the show receives a gift bag full of treats from the shows sponsors.

All you have to do, is blog or twitter with a link to their site, and let them know about it.

Full details here: Wedding Twitter Blog Competition

The perfect link-profile is the imperfect link-profile

Any link-builder will tell you that the perfect link is one from domain x, appearing in the body there, with this anchor text, and the page title, heading and x, y and z this, this and this. But a whole link-profile that replicates this would be hugely unnatural and as a result you might be overly optimising – missing out on some real superstar wins.

• Quality link-building is less about being correct and more about measured mistakes.
• Boolean search engine algorithms are old school; topic semantics and naturalist styles are the way forward.

The temptations in link-building…

Nepotism, link-buying and using your own portfolio of sites to build links provides a big temptation to those that partake in this activity to drop links onto those sites using highly optimised short-tail terms.

If, indeed you do have control of over the anchor text, the link title and location of the link…why not mix things up? Throw in some ultra long-tail, some URLs, some domain name links, short-tail, some random tail, etc, etc…it’s for the greater SEO good, trust me!

Are patterns natural?

I carried out a site review recently, and approximately 45% of the site’s link-profile was made up of 4 very close variations on a very short-tail term, across 1,000’s of links. This is not natural, and flagged excessive keyword targeting in the link-building activity in a a huge industry, when really they should be optimising for a broader range of terms.

More often than not, you will see the domain name or the URL as the link for the site, not an overly imposing handful of short-tail terms. In this instance, those links also sat on unrelated pages and sites with blogrolls including ‘Replica Rolex watches’ and ‘Cialis’ links, et al…not exactly the ideal online neighbourhood to be associated with.

All it would take is for a search engine to flag this irregularity, have a human moderator review that link-profile and devalue those links – causing a massive shift in the site’s visibility. This is quite obviously not good SEO service.

Empirical Methodological Naturalism

Methodological naturalism, or the testing of causes and events in our surroundings to support or reject our hypothesis, is a great way of developing our understanding in SEO. I for one follow the mantra that it is possible to over-optimise. A contradiction of terms? Well no, I don’t think so.

Experience and some understanding of search engine algorithms tells me that as much as search engines want to provide the exact match, the best and most relevant result, it has to resolve two things…it must satisfy queries with unspecified searcher intent and in doing this, it must filter search engine spam.

A generic search for “DVD”, could have the intent to make a purchase, rent a DVD, informational research, get news, view latest trailers, get an image, etc, etc…It therefore must piece together the most relevant result using a variety of metrics, looking at things like historic searches, possibly behavioural metrics (e.g. frequency or % of returning visitors to a website), etc…As a result you need to optimise for intent as much as you do a keyword.

Optimising for “DVD” might therefore be very unhelpful but optimising for “DVD rental” or “DVD shop” communicates to the search engines that you are online with a commercial intent and therefore the search engine can look to provide the most relevant visitors at the least effort. For this reason, although it’s important to specify your intention, it’s good to mix things up. For this reason you need a healthy list of modifying terms at your disposal.

Variety is the spice of life!

Nofollow, stop words, miscellaneous words, various lengths of anchor text, semantic variations, modifiers, typos, synonyms, IP… these all make the naturalness of the links that much more natural. A site can obviously take quite a number of these ‘perfect links’ but I wouldn’t want to ever suggest that you

The search engines have more data than is possible to imagine – so be mindful of that next time you want to buy a sack full of links and dump them on your link-profile; how natural is that going to look over time?!! Any link profile can of course absorb quite a number of perfect links in a natural way but be mindful of how this occurs and at what rate. A search engines link-graph consists of masses of data so anomalies can stand-out a mile (check-out Majestic SEO for some insights on previous link-profile activity).

More Reading

OK, so maybe ‘sabotaging your link-profile’ is a slight exaggeration but it’s massively important for longevity of results in my opinion. If it’s a topic that’s new to you, make sure you do a load more reading…

There’s loads of stuff out there, but a couple of my favourites that inspired this post will provide you with plenty of reading, include Marie-Claire Jenkins post on Huomah and Shaun Anderson’s over at Hobo << really cool stuff.

What are your thoughts?

Does anchor text density play a major part in your link-building activity?

About Guest Poster, Ben McKay

Ben is a SEO Manager at Mediaedge:cia, and writes about SEO consulting over at Just Me and My and more recently Greensplash Design, SEO Scoop and Search Engine Journal.

Ben’s a huge fan of some of the geekiest SEO blogs around, and has a number of favourite SEO blogs, and hates writing in the third person! He’s a sociable chap so make sure you say hello to Ben on Twitter.

Google suggest is a user friendly feature which gives you some related options based on the first couple of characters you type in the search box. As a full time Search Marketer, it’s a time saving feature that I appreciate. It also shows what people are writing about on the Internet – ordered by a combination of volume and recency.

Quite funny to see what Google’s gossiping about though…

There is a huge volume of search results for the phrase “Is Lady Gaga a man”, and even “is Jade Goody dead”.

Paddy Power have been very responsive to the trend – they’ve got a novelty bet on for whether she’s a woman, man or hermaphrodite.  And strangely, the odds for her being a lady are just 1/3.

For the second item in the list, some insensitive soul has created the website isjadegoodydeadyet.com

By the way, don’t look at the source code. It’s not pretty, I don’t think he was a fan.

So the jury’s still not out on whether Lady Gaga is a man…

What Is Lady GaGa?

Hide

Singles Only. Applies to the sex of Lady GaGa. PP decision is final. Must be discussed in an interview in 2009 after Aug 11th and confirmed by Lady GaGa.

All Lady 1/3

Hermaphrodite 9/4

All Man 5/1

Robot 1000/1

Alien 10000/1

top

Back to: Home » Novelty Bets » Novelty Bets » Lad Or Lady GaGA? » What is Lady GaGa?

- USPGA Championship
- Premier League

Seven out of 10 people don’t know what a blog is, but blogs have been around for a long time now.  You’ve probably been on a few today, maybe without knowing that’s what they are.

Blogs are great for publishing news, and adding frequent articles because you don’t need to go though your web developer to add new content.  They are published via RSS which means people can subscribe & the content can be distributed via other online properties.

The content is the vital thing that makes a blog stand out, makes it readable, useful and good for your business.

Of course there are lots of people writing blogs about thin air & there are lots of spam blogs.  A stereotype is usually there for a reason, and the fact that blogs are so easy to create, maintain, and plug in tools which automate processes means that it’s easy for spammers & teenagers to use (not that all teenagers write the same type of content!).

The younger generation are usually the earlier adopters of technology, which tends to give new developments this type of stigma – putting them into the “I’m too old for that” category.  Just think of Facebook & Twitter, which have now broken into mainstream and have been used for very successful marketing campaigns.

Blog marketing is very useful for niche businesses in particular, because you can talk in great detail, and in a conversational way about your market, your products, and give related advice.  The benefit is seen in increased traffic to your site, you can rank for longer tail terms, and you can encourage returning visitors because there are regular updates with useful content.

WordPress is fantastic, and it has been adopted by more and more people for use as not only their blog, but also their main website.  The features built in, plugins and free themes available make it very customisable, and it can function very well as a full content managed website.

The down side is that sneaky spammers have a blue print for the bank, and if they find a hole in security they can exploit this on any website with the same setup.

Website security is hugely dull, but a very necessary evil.

Here are some things you can do to reduce the chance your site will be compromised:

• Keep your Wordpress install up to date – but leave it until full release is out rather than the beta release.
• Use the Security Scanner plugin to check you’ve not left any opportunities for hackers.
• Use the Secure Wordpress plugin
• Change your administrator username to something other than admin, and generate a secure password… not your dogs name.
• Use .htaccess to limit access to wp-admin, wp-content, etc.
• Enhance your .htaccess file for extra security
• Install Login LockDown
• Be careful about which themes and plugins you install – you may be installing a virus, hidden links, etc.

To check whether you’re already a victim:

• Check what your site looks like with styles turned off, and with JavaScript turned off.  You may already have hidden spam links in your site.
• Check your Web Analytics – has your site had a sudden drop in traffic, or have you received traffic from keyword searches unrelated to your website?  This could indicate a problem with your website, but it could also indicate that your tracking code has been pinched and used on someone else’s site.
• Check your backlinks – if you have any suspicious links (unrelated, foreign, etc), this could be a warning sign… or it may be nothing to worry about.
• Check your common files or template files don’t have any strange code that uses the eval() command, or base64_decode() – cross reference against the original Wordpress files or your original theme file.
• Look for ‘k1b0rg’ or ‘keymachine.de’ in your php scripts

How to fix your WordPress Security problem

I’m no expert in WordPress development, so if anyone has anything to add/amend on this topic, please shout up! But here is one simple process to follow if you find you are a victim of a security exploit, and cant deal with festering around in the code to delete corrupted files:

1. Take a backup of all your files
2. Take a backup of your database
3. Export your posts
4. Export your list of registered users
5. Make a note of the plugins you have installed
6. Make a note of your theme (and any mods you have made)
7. List all hyperlinks on your blog (use your sitemap)
8. Type a search in with your plugin name for each one you have installed, and see if there are comments about SQL injection, security holes, etc.  Take any of the plugins that look dangerous off your list for re-install.
9. Download all your safe plugins & a fresh version of your theme (if you’ve used a template)
10. Change your passwords for FTP & Database administration
11. Delete the WordPress files from your server
12. Drop the WordPress tables in your database related to this install (careful here particularly if you have other sites using the same database)
13. Download the latest full version of WordPress
14. Upload the files to your server & run through a fresh install
15. Import your posts back in
16. Change your options in permalinks to reflect your old site structure (this maintains any link equity you may have built up & reduces the chance of broken links to your site)
17. Install your safe plugins & activate
18. Install your theme & make your  modifications
19. Check your media (images, video, etc) is displaying correctly – you may need to upload images from your backup copy
20. Update your settings (blog title, All in one SEO title tags, etc)
21. Take all security measures listed in the list at the top of this blog post
22. Check nothing has broken in the process

Further reading:

• Geek Ramblings
• Matt Cutts Presentation
• 9 Easy ways to secure WordPress
• Have your stats been hijacked?
• Did your WordPress site get hacked?

In an interview with the MEN, MP Tony Lloyd said “We know Manchester Central has long been one of the poorest parts of Britain. In the Seventies and Eighties, the area was devastated by unemployment and child poverty has come out of this.”

A number of areas in Manchester have a shockingly high proportion of children living in income deprived households.  According to the Department for Communities and Local Government’s Indices of Deprivation Affecting Children 2007, in Bradford, Harpurhey and Hulme, 99% of children are living in poverty.

We literally have poverty on our doorsteps, and the financial climate isn’t looking to improve in the near future.

The effects of poverty can be more long term and serious than having to cut back on the luxuries in life.  Here are some of the sad facts highlighted by the charity organisation End Child Poverty:

• Poverty shortens lives. A boy in Manchester can expect to live seven years less than a boy in Barnet. A girl in Manchester can expect to live six years less than a girl in Kensington Chelsea and Westminster.
• Poor children are born too small; birth weight is on average 130 grams lower in children from social classes IV and V. Low birth weight is closely associated with infant death and chronic diseases in later life.
• Poverty shapes children’s development. Before reaching his or her second birthday, a child from a poorer family is already more likely to show a lower level of attainment than a child from a better-off family. By the age of six a less able child from a rich family is likely to have overtaken an able child born into a poor family.
• Children aged up to 14 from unskilled families are 5 times more likely to die in an accident than children from professional families, and 15 times more likely to die in a fire at home.
• Children growing up in poverty are more likely to leave school at 16 with fewer qualifications.
• 2% of couples and 8% of lone parents cannot afford two pairs of shoes for each child.
• 12% of lone parents cannot afford celebrations with presents at special occasions. Mark Family and Children Study, 2004

Sources:

• BBC Manchester News
• Manchester Evening News
• End Child Poverty

But after a couple of minutes research, and unable to get out of the online marketing mind set, I have to bring these adverts to your attention, which highlight the importance of choosing your placements carefully.

Children In Poverty… how about a pile of cash and a trip to Delhi with Swiss International Airlines??

Manchester’s children live in poverty… is now a good time to book a night in a fancy hotel?

A particularly unfortunate placement…

Sensitive topics, with badly placed adverts won’t do much to build your brand.

Google Street View is an extension of Google Maps, which displays a 360 degree panoramic view of the map. Google Street View has already been implemented in America, Australia, Japan and parts of France, it looks like the UK is next.

There has been much controversy over Google Street View due to people complaining that it is an invasion of their privacy. This has led to Google promising to blur out all faces and car registration numbers. The US government has also requested all military bases be removed from Street View, however many people have republished images of people in situations they might not wish to be seen in, such as men going into adult book shops and girls sunbathing.

Anyway the recent rumour seems to have caused some mixed feeling amongst webmasters as they feel Ebay has been pushing up bid prices but not improving their ad relevancy. We have all come across some terrible and irrelevant ads from Ebay in our time. The one below was one of my favourites.

There will be some interesting times ahead for people in the world of Adwords.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4prgDMt1dR0[/youtube]

What it is, and why you would want to maintain one to help your business.

Also a great explanation of RSS and its usage.