“PageRank sculpting is dead” or “Search engine X doesn’t look at the meta keywords tag” or “Insert your favorite SEO catch-phrase”. A lot of times people in this industry get caught up in the hype of the new buzz topic, which I admit, I have. Something new and shinny is being talked about and it controls a lot of the talk in forums and on blogs. This year alone PageRank sculpting with nofollow was a big discussion. People used it, the search engines then said it didn’t work and then it was in the spotlight again. Did it really not work? It wouldn’t be the first time a search engine said something but the reality was different (Yahoo claiming they don’t use the meta keywords tag as an example).

There is a great article over at SEOMOZ posted by Danny Dover called Tests Show PageRank Sculpting with Nofollow Still Works. He outlines a test he did for nofollow:

The Experiment

We chose the following five PageRank sculpting methods to test:

Rel=‘nofollow’ – The standard mechanism for nofollowing a link. example

Link Consolidation – Consolidating low priority pages. You can read more about link consolidation here.

Iframe – Include a standard link in an iframe that is blocked via robots.txt or meta robots so engines can’t follow it.

Javascript – An external Javascript file (blocked from robots) that inserts links into divs when the page renders.

Control Case – Null test with standard links.

The post is worth a read through as it lays out a good test and shows the results. This test is more evidence that testing IS important. How can you say something works or doesn’t work if you haven’t tested it? Just because someone tells you something, or the search engines say something, that doesn’t really mean that is really what is going on. I think certain things also come in cycles as the algorithms change. Some minor element may not work today or might not have as much importance/weight put on it, but who’s to say it is going to stay that way? In Danny’s post he establishes 2 points at the beginning of his post that I also want to share:

1. There is overwhelming evidence that from a “ROI on time spent working” perspective, there is much more value in link building and creating content that is link-worthy than obsessing over search engine algorithm fluctuations like PageRank sculpting. Link building is human oriented and thus more inline with the long term goals of the search engines. Links also have the added bonus of being easy to measure and thus easier to prioritize.
2. We can’t directly measure how PageRank flows so we can only infer results. This needs to be acknowledged when interpreting test results. That said, we also can’t directly measure objects outside our solar system and this solution of inference has become the basis for modern Astronomy. (If it is good enough for NASA, it is good enough for SEOmoz ;-p)

As the year comes to an end, everyone begins to prepare for a new start in 2010 but we can’t do that without looking back and reflecting on 2009. One trend that I think deserves some attention is the upward shift in comparison search tools. These tools allow users to compare rankings from two or more search engines, which can be very useful to SEO’s.

Comparison search tools enable users to run a query in multiple search engines at one time. This allows me, as a Search Engine marketer to quickly glance at the results to see what sites are ranking for a phrase I’m targeting for a client. Comparison tools enable me to be more efficient and more easily provide results for our SEO clients. Knowing who is already ranking for a phrase in multiple search engines and what SEO tactics (if any) they are implementing on their site will help me create effective strategies as well as successfully track my strategies.

Search Engine Land has a great blog post about some of the best comparison tools of 2009. Learn more about these comparison search tools.

A little more than a week ago, Google announced they were sending letters with decals to 100,000 of the most searched local businesses in the U.S. on Google.com and Google Maps. Yesterday we received our letter:

The Karcher Group is a Google Favorite Place

We’re honored to be named one of the “Favorite Places on Google.” But really, why does this even matter? The answer is Google Mobile searches.

Google’s Matt Cutts is predicting a huge increase in mobile searches over the next few years. With nearly 3 billion phones in the world, there is a lot of potential. Favorite Places on Google is looking to revolutionize the way we research businesses. You can take a picture of the QR code (bar code) located on businesses. You can then read reviews, see the other sites mentioning them, view menus, and more right from your phone. With these Favorite Places on Google, one can research a business they’ve never heard about right from their phone.

You’ll even be able to pull up coupons and deals from the QR code. You won’t have to print out coupons anymore. You can pull them up on your phone. Business owners will be able to see how many people found their mobile coupons and received directions to their store. Videos and other user generated content will be viewable on your mobile phone as well.

Overall, this is pretty exciting for us. Thanks for searching for us and making us a Favorite Place on Google!

Last month Corey wrote about how Website Page Load Speed will become increasingly important to Google down the road. Since Corey wrote about that, Google has had several important announcements that further highlight this:

Google Analytics Launches Asynchronous Tracking
Google Analytics released a new tracking code for their Analytics code. In the past, the Google Analytics code was placed at the end of the file before the </body> closing tag. The reason the old Google Analytics code was placed at the bottom of the page was to allow the content to load first. The new Asynchronous Tracking code is now meant to be placed at the top of the page before the </head> closing tag. This new code allows the Google Analytics tracking code to “load faster due to improvements in browser execution.”

Google Launches Page Speed Data & Recommendations in Webmaster Tools
Google also released a new tool in Webmaster Tools. This new Site Performance tool displays your sites speed information and also, in an attempt to make the web faster, gives you recommendations to speed your site up. Google says it best: “On Site Performance, you’ll find how fast your pages load, how they’ve fared over time, how your site’s load time compares to that of other sites, examples of specific pages and their actual page load times, and Page Speed suggestions that can help reduce user-perceived latency.”

Google Introduces Public DNS
To top it all off, Google has introduced public DNS. The most basic explanation of DNS is it serves as a 411 directory for the Internet. Everyone in the IT world is familiar with 4.2.2.2 and 4.2.2.3. Those are DNS servers offered by Level3 and have been available for years and owned by different companies, all the while being open to the public. Traditionally, your Internet service provider (ISP) provides DNS.

Google has released their own version of free DNS. Their new public DNS is located 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4. The new public DNS offered by Google promises to “speed up your browsing experience, improve security, and give you results you expect with absolutely no redirection.”

As you can see, Google is making a push to speed up the Internet. The speed of your website is going to start playing a role in how well you rank (or tank) in Google. Google is pushing to make web developers write code more efficiently and ultimately, making the Internet a better place.

Read more about Google’s let’s make the web faster campaign.

I was browsing the internet this morning and ran across a post from Mike Blumenthal. Its a great resource for the Google Local Business Center. When you’re submitting your company’s local listing you have to pick the categories that best applies. Google doesn’t provide(that I know of) a complete list, so Mike put one together along with synonyms. The list of local categories will help pick the ones you’re going to fit your business under. Here are some examples:

Auto Insurance Agency allstate, automobile, car insurance, claim, claims, geico, quote, quotes, rates, state farm

Bridal Shop – bridal gowns, bride, davids bridal, gowns, prom, prom dresses, shoppe, shops, wedding dress, wedding gowns

Cell Phone Store – best, cell phones, cellphone, cellular, cingular, phones, prepaid, sprint, verizon, verizon wireless

Pet Trainer – agility, dog, dog obedience, dog trainer, dog training, dogs, obedience, puppy, trainers, training

Wholesale Jeweler – bracelet, bracelets, charms, earrings, jewelery, jewellery, jewelry, jewlery, necklace, rings

I would check it out and bookmark it for future reference if you do anything with local. Its a great list of categories none the less for other uses if you need quick synonyms. Mike also give some more details of the list in his blog post.

I recently came across an interesting Search Engine Watch article that gave some clever ideas for how to develop links in a natural way – all for free! Link building is important to your site because by developing good quality and natural links, you are building trust in the online community by becoming known as an ‘authority’ in a particular industry. Also, having high link popularity is a good indicator of how ‘popular’ your site is. Below is a condensed version of the article which includes 3 different tactics that are not only free, but they are fun to do and my favorite ways to build links!

Link Recovery – When doing link research I often come across sites that mention our clients name but do not link to their site – or link to the wrong website. A quick and friendly email asking the webmaster / site owner to make this change more often than not will result in the link being added or fixed.

Business Groups – Most of the time a client is a member of a group or organization for their industry or a member of a chamber of commerce. Research which groups they belong to and make sure that their website is listed along with all of their other company information. If the site is not mentioned, reach out and request their site be added or inquire if they have a directory of some sort to add website information.

Local & Niche Directories – This is fantastic way to develop links.  If the client has an actual brick and mortar location, submit their business information to local directories. There are plethora out there such as Google Local Business Center or Yahoo Local and many more. We have noticed significant traffic increases after we submitted to local directories. Also, there are niche directories out there for just about any industry you can think of. If your site is relevant to a certain directory or site, it has a good chance of being added.

When creating your link building strategy, you should make sure that you generate quality inbound links. There is no easy way to do that – it demands research and hard work.  The rewards can be well worth the effort. If you are up for it and on a shoe-string budget these tips can help you get you on your way!