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When I got home on Friday I started to put the mac away for the night and just relax, but for some reason I decided to check some email and see what was happening on Twitter. Boy, was I glad I did that. On Twitter, Brad Gosse (his last name rhymes with boss) had a tweet that really caught my attention, “Google Algorithm Updates http://su.pr/ADk8o7 ”. The link took me to his website where a video was posted: Needless to say I went right out and picked up a copy. The article alone is worth the price of the magazine (about $5 US). One of Wired magazine’s senior writers interviewed a few members of Google’s team and a member of Bing was also interviewed. This is a really great piece, I recommend reading it. One of the points mentioned in the article that Brad brought up is the varying results for the same term when searching on Google. Since I’m not giving away anything Brad hasn’t already from the article, I feel okay expounding on my opinion about one revelation of the many revealed in Wired. Google revealed they are placing users in two different algorithms when performing searches. One is the normal or “control” algorithm and the other is the “test”. If a user gets different results than normal the chances are he/she just got to experience the test algorithm. I was sharing this news with a client who asked me days earlier why he got different results in Google from time to time. So I called him back and explained what he might be experiencing. He responded, “What? You mean they are intentionally skewing the results? That’s not fun.” And I have to admit for a split second I agreed with him. Then I realized as an SEO what Google was potentially offering me, a behind the scenes look at what the engineers are testing. Now I realize this is just a test algorithm which means there is no guarantee that the changes will be made. Not to mention this same articles tells us that Google is planning 550 changes this year. But the fact remain, we are being given a chance to see what is being tested. So how can you use this to your advantage? The next time you notice Google providing some different search results ask yourself these questions: How are these results different from the usual? Are these results better than what I normally find? If so how? Would these new alerts benefit my clients? What challenges would they present? I realize that this may seem trivial, attempting to look at what Google is testing in order to predict what may come. Ultimately no one knows what Google will do but Google. But come on, you can’t tell me a chance to see what is being tested isn’t intriguing. Part of SEO is staying on top of trends and changes. Google is offering us a chance to look at what is being considered. I think this is incredible. What do you think? Joshua Titsworth is a Ouachita Baptist University graduate currently working as a Digital Marketing Specialist at Chemidex in Overland Park, KS. Josh got his start in digital marketing working for a non-profit in Kansas City as the Director of Development and Project Manager. Since finding his niche he left the non profit realm to purse a career in digital marketing. In addition to this job at Chemidex Josh volunteers at various non-profits in the area to aid and educate in their online endeavors. Check out the SEO Tools guide at Search Engine Journal . Different Search Results for the Same Term On

Recently the company I worked for made a big decision to rebrand and with it came the dreaded domain name change. We are also having a new website being built so another SEO favourite URL’s. This article will share my leanings from my sleepless nights and epic amount of research into making sure it didn’t go wrong. After my research I decided to not listen to what I read and decided to change our domain name and page paths all in one hit. I bet you’re thinking “That’s suicide”, well yes but my results further on may surprise some. Post Migration

Competition is stiff these days. It’s getting harder and harder to achieve optimal search engine rankings, at least without professional help. So how to compete in a space where it might not be feasible to increase rankings for your most competitive keywords? Believe it or not , there are actually plenty of ways to leverage existing visibility to increase traffic. To name a few: Test Meta descriptions . This is one of the easiest ways to increase traffic even without increasing rankings. Obtaining a first page ranking for a given keyword is just one step to getting more traffic because there are still nine other organic competitors on that page. So take the time to test different marketing messages within the Meta description to improve your organic click through rate.  For starters, make sure descriptions are relevant to page content and ensure competitive differentiators such as price and quality are included. If running paid search, take the highest performing ads and test them in the organic space. By overlooking how your listings are displayed in search results, you are passing up one of the easiest ways to capture new visitors. So start testing those Meta descriptions because you better believe your paid competitors are doing it. Run PPC on branded keywords . It’s the old 1+1=3 saying. Coupling organic visibility with paid search visibility has been proven to improve click through rates within both spaces. Consistent messaging and prominent display improves trust among searchers – especially for those that might not yet be familiar with your brand – thus increasing their likelihood to click. Manage sitelinks . Check to make sure these are displayed in an ideal manner. If non-relevant sitelinks are being displayed over more useful ones (About Us vs. Book a Room, for example) then log into your Google Webmaster Tools account and block the sitelinks that are not adding any value. This will make room for the more valuable sitelinks to be displayed. Utilize rich snippets . Again, it isn’t always about how well content is ranking. It’s how content is ranking. In other words, take full control of how your content is displayed. One way to do this is to use rich snippets to provide more information and context about your products and services directly from the search results. These can be used for reviews, individuals, events and videos. Structured data will play a key role in the future of search, so this is not something to be ignored if you have the type of content that is currently supported with this format. Tweet strategically for real time search . Now that Google is integrating dynamic streams of real time content into their search results, much of which comes from Twitter, this represents a huge opportunity for additional traffic.  Use relevant keywords in your tweets so that these will rank in real time search results and you can gain additional (albeit short lived) search engine visibility. Now I’m not saying to halt all search engine optimization efforts. Just remember that there are quite a few tactics that can be deployed in conjunction to SEO that will help to garner additional traffic. By taking advantage of all opportunities, large and small, you should see a lift in new visitors. Rachel Andersen works for the Portland based SEM agency Anvil Media, Inc . She has expertise in all aspects of search engine marketing and specializes in SEO for large sites. Andersen has been responsible for the development and execution of dozens of search and social marketing campaigns over her time spent with Anvil. Check out the SEO Tools guide at Search Engine Journal . SEO without the

Have you ever sold a client linkbaiting content and when it came time to produce the bait, you’ve thought “oh dear, there’s not much to write about ___” (copper pipe manufacturing, hermit crab pet insurance, massage distance learning, etc)? Writers block.  Brain freeze. Call it what you will – the inspiration behind link bait doesn’t come easy to all.  Most of us are SEOs, not trained copy writers, but on occasion writing link bait or guest blog posts for client products land in our laps.  I tend to get creative, and think up dramatic story lines to combat the sometimes sterile concepts at hand. Creative Writing Tips for LinkBait Production Tone . Toys for kids, project management software for AB’s, electric guitars for musicians – these groups don’t speak the same language.  Get the lingo down for any one group – lets focus on guitar musicians in this case. Google’s Wonder Qheel is great at suggesting industry relevant terms . After searching for top blogs in any given industry, I use the Cloudlet plugin for Firefox which scrapes SERPs to form a tag cloud of often used keywords on a results page. Looks like I should also mentions amps, top brands like Fender, and the popular sunburst finishing glaze. Character Development . SERPs image results, Flickr, and Picassa often give a pretty accurate idea of the types of people using any given product.  Results for electric guitar: men, 20 – 60yrs, dark outfits, large boots, long hair, holding electric guitars, sweaty, 1 syllable names.  Now I must imagine myself as a man who likes to dress for funerals, goes hiking, doesn’t own scissors, is in need of some Axe, named Spike. Adversity . This is the opportunity to incorporate the client. What is your character having to overcome?  This challenge will ultimately result in utilising your client’s product as an aid or the full on solution.  Spike’s adversity: He needs to buy a new guitar because he smashed his old favourite on stage in last weeks gig. Plot Line .  Like any good story line we need a beginning, middle, and end evolving in the face of this adversity. Beginning: Set the scene and explain the adverse situation.  Spike the electric guitarist has just moved to Memphis.  His record company has given him an instrument allowance and he needs to decide on a new electric guitar. Middle: Spike hum’s and ha’s over the types of electric guitars in his price range. End: Spike decides on the client’s brand of electric guitar because of the great X, Y, and Z features it possesses.  Spike can’t wait to play it on stage and share it with his friends. While an obvious challenge, try to be subtle about how you introduce your product.  The entire point of a story line and character is be more organic so that you appear legitimate, and not just another product cheerleader. I hope you take away a refreshed creative edge when producing client linkbait, be it a blog post or perhaps even using your character to explore (infiltrate?) social media avenues and forums.  Please, leave comments below and share your own inspiration for writing linkbait copy for clients – bonus points for especially monotonous industries. My “Spike” inspiration. Chelsea Blacker is a London based search consultant currently working at Base One Search With a background in SEO & PPC cultivated at Promediacorp in NYC, Chelsea focuses on engaging B2B brands in social media and online PR. If you want to further procrastinate from getting on with your real work, check out her current Marketing Pilgrim post You Know You Work in Search When… or say hi to her on twitter @ChelseaBlacker Check out the SEO Tools guide at Search Engine Journal . Creative Writing Tips for LinkBait