SE-optimization Updates

Google has a couple new elements going on in its results pages. The first one is the addition of brand links for some queries. For example, if you search for "watches" you might get links for Citizen, Nixon, Rolex, Omega, and Fossil. Or if you search for "footballs" you might get links for Wilson, Nike, Rawlings, Spalding, and Dallas Cowboys.

In the ones I've seen, they appear near the top of the results, just below the top paid listings. They are not links to the sites of these brands, however. They are links to SERPs for queries that incorporate those brands into them. For example, clicking "Wilson" in the footballs example will take me to results page for "wilson footballs".

http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2010/04/29/google-making-more-changes-to-the-serps

It's no secret that Google has, on a very steady basis, dominated its competition and managed to return big profits. And Carol Bartz may be in no position to question the company's methods. But Yahoo's CEO nonetheless chose to point out a potential weakness this week, and she may be on the right track.

Does Carol Bartz have enough credibility to criticize Google? Tell us what you think.

Bartz told Jonathan Fildes, "Google is going to have a problem because Google is only known for search. It is only half our business; it's 99.9% of their business. They've got to find other things to do."

Also, in terms of how Google will be judged as it attempts to find those other things, Bartz observed, "Google has to grow a company the size of Yahoo every year to be interesting."

The 99.9 percent figure is obviously an exaggeration. Still, if you figure that Google has a market cap of around $169 billion and Yahoo's market cap is closer to $24 billion, the second remark doesn't seem too inaccurate.

So as Bartz indicated, that puts a lot of pressure on Google to succeed at something other than search. Whether that something's Android, Google Apps, the TV Ads program, or a different product doesn't matter, but in this light, Yahoo's rather scattered network of properties starts to look a little more attractive.

UPDATE: A regulatory filing has revealed that Carol Bartz received $47.2 million in compensation for her work in 2009, which is far more than either Eric Schmidt or Steve Ballmer collected.

What do you make of Carol Bartz's remarks -- and her compensation package? Let us know in the comments section.

What is Rapid Rewriter?

One of the best ways to get to the top of the search
engines is by posting articles, to article directories and blog
networks, with links in them, pointing back to your
sites...

However it's very time consuming to write all this
content by hand, and expensive to hire a writer.

Matt Carter, has spent the last 9 months developing
a powerful tool that drastically cuts down the time
and money spent on writing articles.

This new tool automates a huge amount of the
process and creates 100's of totally unique articles,
that read in perfect English. (unlike so many other
junk spinners on the market)

The crazy thing is that Matt Carter is also giving
out his businesses entire SEO Backlinking plan,
for a limited time to celebrate the release of this
powerful new software.

You literally get to copy the exact blueprint of how
to get as many high quality powerful backlinks as you
will ever need...

...and the more backlinks you get the higher
your sites rank in the search engines, and getting
free traffic become very easy indeed.

This early bird special will disappear shortly, so I
encourage you to check it out now:

Now let's get back to search engine optimization. Many of us started out with a simple free blog, from Blogspot or a similar site, and then wanted to grow. The next step is to buy your own domain. So how do you switch over your content to the new domain and web host without risking a duplicate content penalty and the lost of all that link juice? Check out the two-part series we ran this week on SEO Chat for the details. If you're just getting ready to do SEO on your site or wondering why it isn't working as well as you think it should the article we ran on Monday may answer your questions. It covers what you need to do to prepare your site for SEO.

Once you've been doing SEO for a while, you may decide that you want to try to grab more than one spot at the top of the SERPs for your keyword. Is that best done with one site or several sites? This week's thread considers the question of whether three sites are better than one. Why not stop by the thread and add your experience?

And while you're checking out our sites and forums, you might enjoy paying a visit to Tutorialized. You'd find tons of content related to website design and development, including more than 120 tutorials on SEO. Learn how to get more traffic, how to recover a fallen ranking in the search engines, how to do keyword research, and much more. If you're feeling generous and want to share your expertise, it's easy to submit your own tutorial.

Our Spotlight, just for readers of our newsletter, ponders what is more important: onsite SEO or offsite SEO. The answer might surprise you. Scroll down to the Spotlight to find out.
. As always, thanks for reading.

Until next time,
SEO Chat Staff

Webmasters continue to see breadcrumbs on Google's result pages. What are breadcrumbs, for which websites does Google display them and how can you get Google to display breadcrumbs for your own website?

What are breadcrumbs?

Breadcrumbs is the name for the hierarchical site navigation links that are often used on web pages. Here's an example: "You are here: Home > Category > Sub category > Page".

Since a few weeks Google displays breadcrumbs for some websites on the search result pages:

Why is it good if Google shows breadcrumbs for your website?

If Google displays breadcrumbs for your website then you basically have more links on Google's result page. Each page in the breadcrumbs line has its own link.

If your web page is listed with breadcrumbs in the results then it is more likely that the searcher will come to the right page on your website and that you will get a sale.

How can you get Google to display breadcrumbs for your website?

If you want Google to display breadcrumbs for your website, you have to use bread crump navigation on your web pages. That means that you must have a set of delimited links on your website that reflects your website hierarchy.

Google's Matt Cutts recently published a video in which he tries to shed some light on the topic. It seems that Google is still testing breadcrumbs on the result pages and that the display of breadcrumbs in the search results will change (just like Google's Sitelinks changed).

Regarding the question which delimiter is best for breadcrumb navigation, Matt remains very vague. For example, links could be delimited with >, hyphens or the » symbol. So far, all examples on Google pages use > as the delimiter so it's probably best to go with that symbol.

Depending on the size of your website, it is a good idea to use breadcrumbs. They make it easier for users to navigate your website and they help users to remember where they are on your website.

Of course, breadcrumbs alone won't get you in Google's search results. You must also make sure that Google finds the right keywords on your website and that your website has enough inbound links.

The first SEO training school in the Washington Metro Area has begun enrolling student to learn about the SEO and in its upcoming certificate courses. Classes are designed for people with few or no experience in SEO or Search Engine Optimization for current SE optimizers seeking the skills and SEO certification.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of increasing the number of visitors by ranking high in search results of a search engine.

The Search Engine Academy researches the latest SEO trends or processes and incorporate those into classes. Search Engine Academy certified SEO personnel receive the instruction and tools they need to make webpages to be visible in search engine results.

Two, three and five-day SEO certification classes are scheduled approximately every four to six weeks. Currently Search Engine Academy - DC has scheduled a two-day course for January 11 - 12, 2010; a three-day course for January 13 - 15, 2010; and a complete five-day SEO certification course January 11 -15, 2010. SEO certification workshops are also available on demand for companies who wish to train multiple in-house SEO specialists at their facilities.

Search Engine Optimization Certificate

The first SEO training school in the Washington Metro Area has begun enrolling student to learn about the SEO and in its upcoming certificate courses. Classes are designed for people with few or no experience in SEO or Search Engine Optimization for current SE optimizers seeking the skills and SEO certification.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of increasing the number of visitors by ranking high in search results of a search engine.

The Search Engine Academy researches the latest SEO trends or processes and incorporate those into classes. Search Engine Academy certified SEO personnel receive the instruction and tools they need to make webpages to be visible in search engine results.

Two, three and five-day SEO certification classes are scheduled approximately every four to six weeks. Currently Search Engine Academy - DC has scheduled a two-day course for January 11 - 12, 2010; a three-day course for January 13 - 15, 2010; and a complete five-day SEO certification course January 11 -15, 2010. SEO certification workshops are also available on demand for companies who wish to train multiple in-house SEO specialists at their facilities.

Search Engine Optimization Washington