----------------------------------------------------------------- SearchReturn Discussion List "Understanding Internet Search Technology" ----------------------------------------------------------------- Moderator: Published by: Detlef Johnson SearchReturn http://www.searchreturn.com ----------------------------------------------------------------- May 09, 2006 SearchReturn Issue #061 ----------------------------------------------------------------- SEND POSTS: ----------------------------------------------------------------- Refer a friend: http://www.searchreturn.com/subscribe.shtml ----------------------------------------------------------------- .....IN THIS DIGEST..... // -- FEATURED POST -- // "Textbook SEO" ~ Mike Grehan // -- CONTINUING DISCUSSION -- // "Textbook SEO" "Middle East SEO" ~ SearchReturn // -- ESSENTIAL NEWS -- // "Yahoo! Search Marketing Upgrade" ----------------------------------------------------------------- // -- FEATURED POST -- // ----------------------------------------------------------------- ==> TOPIC: Textbook SEO "The most important bit from this conversation comes when Matt discusses Google's use of the description tag that can increase clicks." From: Mike Grehan Detlef, I think you somehow missed what really was the "most important bit". And that's when Matt agreed with me that it's a "top down thing". It's impossible to increase your click thru rate with descriptive text, if you don't get found in the first place. In order for title tags and snippets to work in the manner you describe, you need a prominent rank so that you can be found and earn those clicks. How many URLs on the fourth or fifth page of the SERPs have a huge click thru rate because, as you suggest, their title and description is so compelling? The textbook SEO components you highlight can provide no advantage whatsoever to a link on a search engine results page that end users are never likely to see. "If the number one listing was crawled and as such remained in the top spot, Pinot Grigio would be in the title and snippet to truly capitalize on search impressions." When I have the time to make the whole (lengthy) interview live, you'll hear Matt and I talking about that result. And we both agree that now is the time he needs to look at his on page stuff. But before that, he may wish to remove the robots.txt file which is preventing the page from being fetched in the first instance. I doubt very much whether he gets the clicks he could with just a bare URL. So a strong title tag would really help boost click thru. However, as he was already number one without it, the title tag won't help to boost his ranking any further, will it? My point, which again is being missed, is that the page is number one not only without the use of any paraphernalia, but without ever having been crawled. So, is textbook SEO totally essential to every page to help achieve a top ten ranking? Absolutely not. It's possible to do it with, or without. Cheers! Mike Grehan. ----------------------------------------------------------------- // -- CONTINUING DISCUSSION -- // ----------------------------------------------------------------- ==> TOPIC: Textbook SEO Hello Mike, "My point, which again is being missed" Links can cause the Google [failure] to happen. The opposite is also true. Textbook SEO rankings can happen absolutely unassisted by linking. Consider results with tail terms, specialty search, sudden indexing and Trusted Feed. Results with queries having enough qualifier terms can place number one without any links to the page or site. Specialty Search rankings, such as local, have very little to do with linking, and vertical creep brings these matches into Web search. You can be better than number one (above the natural) without any links. There's other Specialty Search verticals as well. The sudden indexing of a site will nearly always show overnight success. You start with no links to pages. Trusted Feed is successfully used to help sites that have no representation because of crawling issues. Again, you have no links to pages because of the nature of the problem. Trusted Feed is purely Textbook SEO (Title, Meta data and content), and nothing else. Stay tuned... -SearchReturn ----------------------------------------------------------------- ==> TOPIC: Middle East SEO "Can anyone recommend some good sources on information on Middle East/Arab world search engine usage, regional searcher behavior, searching in Arabic, etc?" http://www.searchreturn.com/digest/refs061.shtml News about a planned search engine covering the Middle East and the Arabic Language broke a few weeks ago. The engine is backed by a German technology company, and the statistics are important. They show a tremendous opportunity for growth with that market. The growth for Arabic search looks like it may outpace other major geographic and cultural areas of the world over the next several years. The search engine will be called Sawafi, and is to be released by the end of this year. It's launch is expected to help fuel the growth. ----------------------------------------------------------------- // -- ESSENTIAL NEWS -- // ----------------------------------------------------------------- ==> Yahoo! Search Marketing Upgrade http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/060508-093509 Essentials: It is been long known that Yahoo! plans a change to their existing platform to help it compare more with the current popular AdWords platform from Google. New information is being provided to API developers that access the Yahoo! system so they can prepare for the pending release. Although there has been speculation that Yahoo! will add a "quality" factor to their ad ranking, the company is not suggesting anything about how it will work exactly. It can be assumed that search user behavior will be a factor in calculations. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Stay Tuned. Got feedback?: http://www.searchreturn.com/feedback.shtml Archives: http://www.searchreturn.com/digest-archive.shtml Alternate formats: http://www.searchreturn.com/info-formats.shtml Manage Subscriptions: http://www.searchreturn.com/help/manage-subs.shtml Problems unsubscribing? Contact the postmaster: mailto:postmaster@searchreturn.com Information on how to sponsor this publication: http://www.searchreturn.com/help/advertise.shtml Published by SearchReturn http://www.searchreturn.com Website Membership: http://www.searchreturn.com/register.shtml The contents of the digest do not necessarily reflect the opinions of SearchReturn or Detlef Johnson. SearchReturn and Detlef Johnson make no warranties, either expressed or implied, about the truth or accuracy of the contents of the SearchReturn Digest. Copyright 2006 Detlef Johnson. All Rights Reserved. -----------------------------------------------------------------