Caydel’s SEO Blog

ProBlogger’s Darren Rowse posted this morning that the Performancing Partners Ad Network will soon be launching non-site-targetted network ads. Rowse indicates Nick Wilson, in a private email exchange, indicated that there will initially only be 6-10 network ads running. The ads will be run in conjunction with an undisclosed affiliate network.

I for one am happy to see Performancing Partners start this. I joined the program the day after Partners was launched, listed some of my sites, and have been watching the evolution of the network over the last month and a half.

Their growth on the publisher side has been impressive, and rapid. They recieved a lot of attention when they were first launched with posts from a bunch of ‘A-list’ bloggers. Unfortunately, while their growth on the publisher side has been fantastic, the advertisers growth has not been able to keep up. This has resulted in many smaller publishers not recieving any advertiser interest yet. In my own experience, I have had three of my sites listed since the beginning of the program, and have not recieved any inquiries into the ad space.

The inclusion of network ads into their system while allow some utilization on the advertising space of these smaller publishers who have not had any direct purchases. While I doubt this will pay anywhere nearly as good as a direct buy, it will allow advertisers such as myself to finally see some return on the space invested in a Performancing Partners unit.

Update - the information has been posted to the Performancing Partners site.

Here’s an idea for a Firefox Extension I would like to see.

Often, I will check the top 100 google results for a given keyword, trying to determine how a page is ranking for that keyword. I would like to see a tool that automatically places the result number beside each and every result. This way, I could quickly and easily determine what number it is ranking at with a glance.

That would simplify my life so much!

One useful way to build some extra traffic to your site is to ensure that your images are optimized for . While ranking for terms in Google Image Search is unlikely to ever bring you massive amounts of traffic, the steps to optimizing your images for Google Image Search are extremely simple.

As an example, we will use the image of Barry Schwartz, Chris Boggs and Daron Babin at SES Chicago doing the Search Pulse on Tuesday evening.

Photo Credits SmallBusinessSEM.com

Note:I borrowed (stole) this image from Barry’s blog. Check it out - it’s always a great read.

The first two steps are simply common SEO sense - these should always be done on a site no matter what. These have the ability to influence your ranking in the main Google SERPS for keywords found in the title and description. The way they influence the image results is just the icing on the cake.

Steps to Optimize Your Images for Google Image Search

1. Use Descriptive Filenames - A filename can present you with your first chance to include keywords in your images. Title the image with a word or short phrase which describes what is in the image. For example, rather than using a camera-assigned filename such as DSC05443.jpg, use a filename like barry-schwartz-chris-boggs-daron-babin-SES-chicago.jpg. Notice the way that I have used a dash (-) between the words in the title - this is commonly interpreted by Google as a space in the filename. This is the most search engine friendly way of labelling images.
2. Use the alt tag! - the alt tag in your image link code will allow you to include some more keywords describing your image. Additionally, the alt tag text will be displayed by Google Image Search in place of the filename in each search result. Therefore, use that as well when linking your code. Here is an example for the image we are using:
3. Get Included in Google Image Labeler - The is game in which you and a partner collaborate to write tags for images presented. You recieve points when you both submit matching tags. The matching tags are then assigned to the images, and taken into consideration for the Google Image Search search results.

   In order to ensure that your images are included, access your account, and go to the management page for your site. In the left hand bar, you will see an link which says ‘Enhanced Image Search’. Clicking this link will present you with the option to opt-in to the features. This option signifies to Google that you are allowing them to use tools such as the Image Labeler to assist in the indexing of the images on your site.

These tips should provide you a boost in the amount of traffic you recieve from the Google Image Search. The first two steps will are common SEO sense, which should help your regular search rankings for keywords relating to the subjects of your images.

If you have any other ideas how to optimize your images, please comment!

Todd Malicoat (aka. Stuntdbl) made a post recommending that we all keep things clean in the Ted Leonsis contest. After all, Ted Leonsis has done some good work for charities, and doesn’t deserve to have his name ruined as a result of a careless comment.

If you were to post bad things about Ted Leonsis, that would show a lack of integrity, and poor ethics. Check out Stuntdbl’s Ted Leonsis page!

Note: If you hit this page, and you have no idea what I am talking about, please read my post about the Ted Leonsis SEO Contest, and see my Ted Leonsis category for a blow-by-blow account of what’s going on in the contest!

Just a quick note, I have been searching Technorati for references to Ted Leonsis that qualify for this contest, and so far there are only three, apart from myself:

• A Ted Leonsis post at WickedFire Forums
• A Ted Leonsis post at rightreading.com. This blog appears to be down with a database error
• The Ted Leonsis SEO Contest announcement at Scoreboard Media

Of course, there are probably a lot more Ted Leonsis pages competing which aren’t in Technorati. - I will report them as I see them.

There is a new SEO contest on the block. Michael Gray (Gray Wolf) and Scoreboard Media annouced a contest for $500 to whoever can take the top spot for the name Ted Leonsis.

Who is Ted Leonsis? Ted Leonsis is the vice Chairman of AOL., and owner of the Washington Capitals. Ted Leonsis blogs, and Ted has done some interviews.Why Ted Leonsis’ name? Well, in a recent story in the Washington Post, Ted claimed to be somewhat of an ‘SEO’ and ‘cracked the Google algorithm’ by blogging for a year, and having his blog, or pages he controlled, show up in the top positions for his name. He claimed to ‘own’ the top spots for his name, and to have ‘gotten… inside the Google algorithm. As John Andrews nicely said,

I hate to give good people bad news, but that’s not SEO Mr. Leonsis. You did not “get..into the algorithm”. You don’t own those top spots in Google for your name, you see, it’s simply that no one else wants them.

Following this, Gray Wolf made a Ted Leonsis page which started to rank in a Google query for ‘‘. This was noticed by Threadwatch, and after some ‘back room chatter’, the Ted Leonsis Contest was born.

Ted Leonsis, claimed that he was a competent SEO because he took the top spots for his own name. Well, let’s see how he does now that some ‘real’ SEOs are working to knock him off.

This could be considered my entrance into the contest - this page may rank, and I will blog the progress of the contest. If I win, I will follow the example of Michael Gray, and donate any winnings to charity. Additionally, should I win, which is unlikely, I will email Ted Leonsis himself, and ask him which charity he would prefer me to donate the money to, and do so in his name.

Because Graywolf is competing for charity as well, I will just drop a quick link to his ‘Ted Leonsis’ page. Good luck Michael - so far you are in the lead!

For what it’s worth, I do not want anyone to think poorly of Ted Leonsis - he has been involved in a variety of charities. After the contest ends on Christmas Eve, if I have any ranking posts for his name, I will remove them again.

If you want to know more about Ted Leonsis, check out the Ted Leonsis article in Wikipedia!

I should mention, of course, that any links to this page, or my Ted Leonsis category are very much appreciated!

One persistant annoyance to me is when people look at a site, and declare it as ‘poorly designed’, when the only problem with said site is that it may not have the most ‘professional-looking’ graphics, or perhaps it doesn’t quite have the right ‘Web-2.0′ appeal. I have news for you: Good design has *nothing* to do with pretty graphics.

Hear that noise? That’s the sound of smoke pouring out of the ears of millions of graphic designers.

As webmasters, many of us feel a certain pressure to ensure that our sites match up to the latest standards. They need to be attractive *and* useful, to draw visitors *and* keep them.

Function and Form are two different entities; I have seen some well designed sites with very low circa-1996 graphics. I’ve seen *many* websites created in the Web 2.0 look, with flashy graphics and appealing layouts, which were absolutely useless.

When you visit a site, try to look past whatever visual shortcomings you may see. You may be walking away from some of the most useful tools or services you will ever encounter. In short, don’t judge a book (website or service) by it’s cover (graphics, layout etc.)