NeoSeo,
Must be nice to chill out somewhere else. Not that I wouldn't expect you to be proactive and lurk on multiple boards across many industries.
Amazed you have the time though.
Amen to Mods you can trust and do a bang up job.
WRT SE reps lurking or being public. I'm *sure* there are Google Lurkers and anonymous G and other SE employees all over your board. Clearly, any official rep will have an agenda and heavily skewed bias. This is common sense.
Ain't much one can do about that except allow readers to think for themselves.
That stated, you forum is still the place to be. Bummer on the no adult stuff but well understood.
I do feel GG steers newbies in an awkward path of aligning morals to website practices. The whole ETHICS thing some people have drives me friggin' nuts.
I think Google's mindset would have newbies believe:
1) Build a quality website.
2) People will naturally link to you because it is good.
3) Hence, the cream rises to the top.
Being based on the 'democratic' nature of the web- perhaps doable.
Too bad...the web ain't democratic. Perhaps, within the confines of a tightly nit academic and scientific community this seemed an ideal solution...at the time.
I think GG's response to the question: "Well, how can people find me to link to me if I can get ot he top?" would be AdWords.
Ask any average non computer professional person and they will tell you they click the top 5 or so sites because they feel those are the best sites. I know many people avoid clikcing on those links because "No, they are paying to be there- they are advertising. I want to see the natural best." Sure- I'm paraphrasing and extrapolating but this is the deal.
Anyone who deals with PPC knows the % ads get under broad competitive terms.
I took this report into strong considerations when I first saw it:
http://www.webmasterworld.com/presentation/
I saved it to my local drive and feel a link to it should be posted on those Google threads every 10th post.
In the end- Google's results ARE "free". LOL. And ya get what ya pay for.
Did I metion I
really took to the report above?
.
.
.
THAT would probably be the best thing for newbies to see first and seasoned pros to take a look at now and again. BTW, I don't consider myself a seasoned pro by any stretch. Just someone who latched onto reserach like, well- a wolf and really spent a lot of time learning.
Actually, just 11 mos into SEO. So, everyone feel free or inclined to ignore my ramblings.
>>>I don't stress too much about minor flux as we aim for that soft under belly of google (3+kws per phrase). <<<
Yeah- took me a while of going over logs to 'get it'. Convincing clients of this is tough to impossible. Put simply it's an ego trip for many to see their site on the top of Page 1 of google for that broad term.
One can copy and paste referral info from logs showing 80% of traffic comes from those 'less important' phrases, but not many 'get it' much less appreciate that more targetted but less glamourous KW's.
>>>We pull from 80-90k unique phrases a month so it is hard to tell what an update has done until we can look at traffic for a week.<<<
I found WMW from a comment on another message board. Did I mention I like that report above?
>>>I've always thought it better to hunt with a shotgun and spray a big pattern of 4-5 kw's per phrase, than going hunting with a rifle trying for that 1-2 kw sweet spot.<<<
"It depends."
There are some niche industries where 2-3 KW phrases are pretty much it. = $$$$$$$$$$$
Sometimes a shotgun is good, but there are times when one needs an expensive custom made sniper rifle + a few dozen shotguns to get the job done.
Anyyywho...wish I could get to a friggin PubCon, but all my money is going to naked pics lately.
Nice to see ya here. When GreenGuy gives me the finger I figure he means it in a loving way.
It's my only Adult hangout where I actually post.
Hope you can hang out here a bit more, NeoSeo.