Toronto SEO Firm
Search Engine Optimization Marketing Services

Most webmasters suck up to Google and Matt Cutts on a regular basis but there are a few out there that voice a negative opinion.   www.GoogleSux.com is a pretty funny site.  On that topic I did find something interesting, guess who owns the domain: www.GoogleSucks.com?

Google of course!

I just found another “SEO company” (and I use that phrase with plenty of sarcasm) offering Guaranteed Page One Listing Results on Google and to make it even better – your credit card is not charged until they email you the screenshot showing this achievment.

But don’t forget to read the fine print:

What type of keywords will my website show up on page 1 under? Your keywords tend to come directly from your website text so your keywords are going to have to do with the product or service your website is promoting.  Your keywords will have to do with whatever product or services your website is promoting.

and make sure to read the pièce de résistance:

Where on page 1 will my website show up? You can show up anywhere on page 1.  You can be listed in a non sponsored area, a sponsored area or both.

Well you know the saying, there is a sucker born every mintue and two to take ‘em.  It looks like this site is paying good PPC with adwords since I found them in the #1 sponsored position that goes for around $1.50 a click.

This fad started a few years back and it seems there is no end in sight.  As long as ‘pretend’ SEO’s and newbie webmaster chase the ole might ‘green bar’ I guess the business of buying dropped domains with page rank will continue.  Here is one of my favorites that I just found on DP with links for sale, it is a health site btw…..http://ColumbiaWomensLacrosse.org/

This question has been floating around the web for years and the myth still looms quite large.  Does a high page rank help me get a high search engine ranking?

The simple answer is a big, fat NO!  But it gets much more complicated.  A high page rank could be representative of many other high quality backlinks or it could just be one not-so-good high page rank backlink.

Here was a post on DigitalPoint which hammers home this point.

Tried everything to improve google ranking but didn’t work

I have noticed a little up-tick in my traffic on www.allweirdnews.com and when checking on some of my keywords I noticed I am ranking number one for a nice secondary one, “crazy news stories” and not only that but I have site links too!

I got involved in online marketing back in 2000 when I started selling virtual items as a hobby.  I started on eBay then moved to PlayerAuctions.com and by 2004 I designed my first website in Frontpage with the flashing page dividers and all, take a peek at it here.  I was so happy with it I even ironed on my logo to a few tshirts for myself and my kids.

I followed up with some interesting ideas, including a satire site using celebrity cartoon animations of George W. Bush, Micheal Moore, Martha Stewart and more!  At the time I did not really have a business model in mind for my sites, I just wanted to express myself on the web.

A special thanks to Waybackmachine for being around and preserving these memories (because the computers themselves broke down long ago).

If you enjoy my writing and want to learn a bit about SEO Tips for website analytics then you should head over to read my new Google Knol.  If you have your own Google Knol related to SEO please comment here and I will give yours a read too!  Here is an excerpt:

Fear of Data or FoD is an affliction that can affect anyone, regardless of how intelligent you are and the symptoms include; a look of confusion, a marked state of panic or an uncontrollable shaking of the head while uttering the words “what they heck does all this even mean”.  These symptoms are universal and can begin anytime you need to look under the hood of a website and figure out where the traffic is coming from and what they are doing during their visits.

In order to understand website analytics we need to first know what we are looking for and how it can help us.  The following are the top ten most important analytics and what they mean to your success as a website owner or SEO.

Read the rest of this Google Knol titled: Website Analytic Tips for SEO

I have heard of online rep management but have not really had a reason to experience it first-hand until now.  I Googled my name “Jay Granofsky” and found a couple of first page results that I did not particularly like.

First off (in the number 9 position):

I started this G rated site about 6 years ago, it had a quiz on it where you had to guess who’s famous butt was in the picture (fully clothed of course).  I have not owned this site in about 4 years so I have no idea why this old info is still floating around.  In the meanwhile I contacted Alexa and told them that I am no longer the owner and would like my name deleted from the owners information.

Next up (in position 10) is someone that I reported on in my SEO scam section, I caught him selling search engine submissions as part of his ‘SEO’ services.  He apparently did not like the fact that I outed him so he went on some relevant blog and made a horribly phrased retort.  Now most people reading his comment will realize this person is just a vengeful scammer but it still does not look that great on the first page of results for my name.

I also replied to him but the comment is waiting approval, maybe the owner of the blog will realize that both comments are way off-topic and delete them?  On second thought I will contact the blog owner and make that exact request.  Furthermore I decided I would manage my reputation by creating a few blog posts about my favorite hobby, photography and build a few backlinks to each post in hopes they will outrank those bottom of first page ones and will actually represent me in a more true light.  If you are interested in following this case study I will post the results in the case studies section of this site at a later date.

Here is a quick update, 4 hours later this post and another have moved the two offending results off the front page!!  That was some speedy rep management but is probably only short-term due to the extra juice Google gives fresh news.  For the longer term solution I hope the points I touched on in the above blog come into effect.

April 23, 2009 update – Just got an email back from Alexa saying they would delete my name from the ownership of the site and I should see the search result gone in the next week or so.  Great!

April 29, 2009 – The Alexa listing has been gone for a few days and the other silly listing has now been pushed to 2nd spot on page 3 which is amazingly quick!  If I can get it to the bottom of page 3 I will be satisfied because although it is negative it is really just a bad SEO’s ‘sour grapes’ about me calling him out on being flakey.

The biggest search industry buzz for the past year has been mobile search.  No doubt because the mobile market is growing at phenomenal rates there will be a huge opportunity for the search industry to cash in on it.  As most assumed Google has entrenched itself quite quickly in the mobile search market and professionals like me are watching (and testing) what they are doing very closely, lest we be left behind.

Thus far it appears Google mobile search results are almost identical to their bigger brother’s.  We have been testing many search terms and have found very similar first page results, rank-wise.  With the only differences seeming to be in the descriptions and sometimes a blog post or piece of news seems to sneak its way in (this could also be because of the various data centers but we are still testing this out).  It appears all data is taken from the same cache snapshots and it does not appear that any tld (like .mobi) nor any specific pages made for mobile viewing have an advantage in the SERP’s.  I should point out that I use an iPhone and that is where almost all my testing has been done so far.

I will have some of the others here test on their own phones, Blackberry’s etc… and post the results shortly.  Considering how much resources Google has invested into their search algorythm I would expect the mobile search to always follow similar ranking rules with maybe a few tweaks.  I am not sure Google will ever give preference to mobile optimized sites because most sites seem to show up just fine and it would be too easy to open that door for folks to manipulate the search engines and gain an unfair advantage.  Google has fought spam too hard to let it back into their mobile results.

My conclusion as an SEO expert is that if you want to rank well in Google mobile then you need to stick to the tested and proven SEO methods that already work.  Don’t run out and buy a buch of .mobi’s and don’t create mirror sites for mobile use only.  Instead spend your time build rank and trust and you will continue to thrive in the rankings.

Ok, so I know I am not the first one to discover the new way Google seems to be displaying site links but I did find it very interesting that they gave my site the new fangled site links even though I was the 2nd search result.  Not only that but no other result on the page has them, a bit strange, I wonder if it is a bug or the new site links can show up anywhere in the rankings.