20 replies to this topic

[Andre]

Greetings HR Forum members.

First up, congrats to Jill for creating an obviously successful forum. Last time I was here, HR was still finding its feet.

I've been out of the SEO loop for exactly 12 months. I used to live and breath SEO, but I finally took the plunge and started a full time online business (logo design) and have been working 12 to 15 hours a day 6 days a week. No time to keep up with changes in the SEO world.

Now I need to get back up to speed quickly, so I was hoping that one of you might recommend a site or a book that can give me a good summary of what happened in the SEO world in 2005.

At first glance (having spent a couple of hours on this forum today), it seems we're still talking about the same old stuff, but I want to make sure that I'm not missing anything.

Thanks.

[RonBurk]

seems we're still talking about the same old stuff

Maybe it's a matter of degree:

• reciprocal links even less useful
• page rank even less important
• even more variation in "what works" across different topic areas
• even more ad money flowing into AdSense away from traditional advertising
• Google ranking algorithm updates eliminates more crud (scrapers suffer this year)
• usual complaints about good content penalized and bad content rewarded (Google still the worst search engine around -- except for all the rest)

The main thing I view as new in 2005 is the overall tilt towards paying more for better-qualified AdSense traffic. I believe this represents the long grind towards high-quality traffic, just as the ranking algorithm represents the long grind towards high-quality content. Smart pricing, ability to block specific AdSense publishers, lowering of minimum bid to $.01, and more ROI-related features to come all presage the emerging gulf between the AdSense publisher haves and have-nots.

For serious AdSense publishers, keeping poorly-qualified traffic from seeing the high-paying ads and routing well-qualified customers to the most appropriate ads is going to become as important of an SEO task as getting traffic to the website in the first place. Expect the EPC for the same ad to commonly vary by a factor of 10 or even 100 between smart publishers and dumb publishers before long.

[Jill]

Welcome back Andre!

No book will give you an up-to-date idea of what's happening, since by the time they're published they are obsolete.

Your best bet is to read around here and you might be interested in my new and improved 10 Tips to the Top article that I re-wrote a few weeks ago.

[Randy]

Oh goodness...

Yahoo! begins to become a force in search.
MSN Search debuts.
Google institutes an Aging Delay that keeps new sites from being able to rank for somewhere between 6 and 12 months.
Google begins starts to get serious about eliminating scraper sites/directories, probably because of the additional competition.

Funny thing is that if you knew how to get clean, quality sites to rank in the late 1990's, you still know how to do it today. So the only real change is that you have to resign yourself to the fact that your new site isn't going to rank for the first several months due to their aging delay.

[Michael Martinez]

I hate to say it, but maybe 2005 should be called "The Year of Google".

[Jill]

I hate to say it, but maybe 2005 should be called "The Year of Google".

Oooo I don't think Randy will like that!

[Randy]

Doesn't bother me any Jill.

I made a bundle on Google's IPO.

[Andre]

Thanks all.

My comments:

1. I was amazed to return to the SEO game after a year and find everything almost as it were. To me that says that we are either making too big a deal of SEO or we're just not seeing all the changes going on behind the scenes as search engines refine their algorithms and find better and smarter ways to improve relevance.

2. A year ago, few people disliked Google. That has changed. It seems clear that Google is still acknowledged as the best, but that's not such a great achievement considering the competition.

3. Google Earth, Gmail, Google Chat. You name it. Lack of focus is IMO precisely what was wrong with the SE world before Google, and Google's laser focus on being "the best search engine in the world" is what helped it rise above the noise. Now they've opened a back door for a clean, pure search engine to take the throne from them. All it takes is enough anti-Google sentiment and an acceptable alternative. And it won't be Yahoo or MSN.

[Randy]

I was amazed to return to the SEO game after a year and find everything almost as it were.

It really shouldn't be any great surprise Andre. In all honesty, not a lot has changed about how one performs good, solid optimization since Altavista came onto the scene a decade ago!

Sure there are always new tricks for trying to fool or game the search engines. But if you're of a mind to stick to the basics and build a long term business not much has changed. Other than that there's a heck of a lot more competition these days than there was in 1995.

[Andre]

In all honesty, not a lot has changed about how one performs good, solid optimization since Altavista came onto the scene a decade ago!

True. The only really significant change the last ten years was when backlinks became a ranking factor and we all became obsessed with PR for a while. Other than that, it's keywords in the title... etc. etc. as it has always been.

[Jill]

Looking to write a new 2005 Search Yearbook again, Andre?

[Andre]

Looking to write a new 2005 Search Yearbook again, Andre?

Jill, I'm flattered that you remember my Search Engine Yearbooks.

Yes and no. I would like to write a new one. It sure was fun and the books did well. But the real reason I want to get back up to speed is because I'm involved in the creation of a really ground-breaking SEO tool. I'm no programmer - I'm the "search engine guru" in the team so I better brush up on my knowledge.

A new Search Engine Yearbook will happen if I can find the time to do a proper job.

[Michael Martinez]

Let's see. "Ground-breaking SEO tools" that have come out in 2005:

1) Link analyzers (wait, they've been done)

2) Link managers (wait, they've been done)

3) Google rank checkers (wait, they've been done)

4) Multi-engine rank checkers (wait, they've been done)

Hm. 2005 could definitely use some innovation in the SEO tool craze. I hope you can bring out something truly useful.

[Andre]

Yes, they've all been done.

I hope you can bring out something truly useful.

I would not be involved if it wasn't.

I've promised to keep it under wraps, so I apologize. I shouldn't have mentioned it.

[Michael Martinez]

I don't mind the tease. Heck, I look forward to hearing more about it at the right time.