SearchMasters

Country bias in Google Search Results

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +1300

What bias is there in Google search results to the country you are searching from? My findings are that there is not only a country bias in Google search results, but there is a regional bias. In New Zealand results from both Google.co.nz, and on Google.com as seen from New Zealand, I found a bias towards not only New Zealand websites, but Australian and UK websites!

Please see my previous articles on Geographic Targeting.

In general, country bias is shown when searching on your country specific Google - ie Google.co.nz, Google.com.au etc:
If

you have a country specific domain (ie .co.nz),
or a generic domain that is hosted in a specific country (ie .com hosted in ...
Source: Country bias in Google Search Results

Fickle Google

Sun, 28 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +1300

Fickle Google! Competitive search phrases are not easy to maintain high rankings for given the fickleness of Google.

Basic SEO is easy. Just get the right words onto the page, and have the website SEO friendly with plenty of links coming into the domain. I do that to many websites and get great results.

But when you are competing for a competitive search phrase, you bear the full brunt of Google's anti spam algorithm intricacies, and the humanness of their programming engineers.

The ups and downs of my SearchMasters Marketing page

I wrote an article in Sept 2008 about my efforts in ranking for the phrase Marketing - Fickle Google

Backlinks can go stale

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +1300

Matt Cutts says that backlinks can go stale.

Matt Cutts said...
"In order to prevent things from becoming stale, we tend to use the current link graph, rather than a link graph of all of time,"

Matt Cutts (Google employee and unofficial SEO spokesperson) was replying to a question about the Geocity website shutting up shop, but in doing so, gave further detail about how linking is used in rankings.

[[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fia_1b07jCQ]]

So what does this mean?

In order t ...

Source: Backlinks can go stale

'Paid Links' can reduce Google PR

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +1300

Paid links can reduce Google PR. Removal of paid links followed by a reinclusion request can get PR back to what it should be - all within 7 days!.

Case Study - SLAMXHYPE

I recently consulted with SLAMXHYPE for SEO of their mens fashion website. Part of the SEO question was why their Google PR was so low. With thousands of incoming links, their Google PR was only PR3. I considered their PR should have been a PR5-6.

I noted there were sitewide footer links to 24+ other websites in a COMPLEX Media Network. The links were not proper search ...

Source: 'Paid Links' can reduce Google PR

Google Personalised Search

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 00:00:00 +1300

How well does your websites pages rank on Google? Google Personalised Search has gone the next step, introducing personalised search results even for not logged on users. When you are manually checking your websites rankings on Google, if you often click through onto your website via Google, your site is likely to rank higher than it would otherwise.

As an SEO Consultant, I want to make sure that I turn off all search personalisation so that I can see the true rankings on Google for a client.

I need to make sure that I am firstly logged out (and I have Google Personalised Search

Christchurch Motels - 162 Kings of Riccarton - SEO Case Study

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +1300

The hotel industry is intensely competitive, and it is not easy to get websites ranked high for Motel/Hotel related phrases. An SEO case study for 162 Kings of Riccarton Motel.

162 Kings of Riccarton Christchurch Motels - an upmarket Christchurch Motel with a range of room types from 1 and 2 bedroom units, to luxury studio rooms.

The 162kings.co.nz Christchurch Motels website is hosted with AA and has a simple AA based content management system that allows text of the page to be edited within a pre ...

Source: Christchurch Motels - 162 Kings of Riccarton - SEO Case Study

SEO of News websites - BBC makes changes

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +1300

SEO of news websites is interesting. Headlines and intros need to be catchy and short for readers, yet they are generally too short, and don't properly include search phrases.

The BBC has acknowledged the issue, and has made changes to the way it lists stories on its pages by including another data entry point for stories - longer headlines for the web.

Rather than having a headline as say:
"Doctor 'responsible' says Jackson"

They will include the full names:
"Janet Jackson blames doctor for Michael's death"

An example from todays news:
short headline for home page: "Ma ...
Source: SEO of News websites - BBC makes changes

Google Side Wiki

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +1300

Google side wiki - Did you know that people can publicly comment in html enabled notes attached to your website? When you have the latest Google toolbar installed, you can click to see publicly available notes attached to each and every page of your website. People that are logged into Google can add notes to the sidewiki.

This has the potential of being a public relations nightmare for businesses if they do not handle it properly. Notes can be submitted for removal, and c ...
Source: Google Side Wiki

Public Relations Agency - ImpactPR - SEO Case Study

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +1300

Impact PR is an Auckland Public Relations agency whose aim is to utilise the press to bring clients to the mind of their target consumer.

Part of that exercise is to bring their own Impact PR website to the mind of their target consumer. And where better to be found than higher on the search engines.

Impact PR - Click through to find out about the Public Relations expertise Qantas Media Award winning journalist Fleur Revell can bring to your organisation.

SEO and web development issues
With a domain n ...
Source: Public Relations Agency - ImpactPR - SEO Case Study

Public Relations Agency, Alexander Communications, SEO Case Study

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 00:00:00 +1200

Alexander Communications is an Auckland Public Relations Agency right in the middle of the web 2.0 movement.

Reputation management has become ever so much more, how you manage your interaction with media, and then how they in turn interact with the public. Media - TV, radio, press, and the internet. For we have all become self publishers in addition to having interactions with traditional media.

SearchMasters was tasked with the job of creating and optimising a website for such an Aucklan ...
Source: Public Relations Agency, Alexander Communications, SEO Case Study

Maten Floral Design - Auckland Florists - SEO Case Study

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 00:00:00 +1200

Maten Floral Design is a leading Auckland Florist. In a Consumer Magazine survey of a number of online Florists (April 2009), Maten rated the highest 95%.

I like Search Engine Optimising websites of businesses that are leaders in their field, and so it has been a privilege to SEO the Maten Auckland Florist eflower.co.nz website.

The website is an ASP based custom coded website. I used the developers services to enable ...
Source: Maten Floral Design - Auckland Florists - SEO Case Study

More international sites in country top ten

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 00:00:00 +1200
I have noticed more international results in the top ten of Google.co.nz recently. I have surmised that Google has been reducing the country bias on Google country searches. I have noticed that for instance, a Google.co.nz for Search Engine Optimisation shows SearchMasters second to Wikipedia, but also shows 5 other non New Zealand websites. In the past, there have been more New Zealand websites in the top ten.

Google released a YouTube video about how more .com's were showing in the UK search results. So we have official confirmation that there is less country bias in the Google results
[[youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgMdRKJOE_M]]

This is great ...
Source: More international sites in country top ten

The Elliott Hotel - SEO Case Study

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 00:00:00 +1200

Experience the olde charm of The Elliott Hotel - Auckland Hotels. The Elliott Hotel sits in the heart of the Auckland CBD, right next to the Civic Theatre, SkyCity, and The Edge Aotea Centre. With a refit that has kept the old look and retained the high ceilings, you have the best of both worlds.

The Elliott Hotel Auckland www.elliottaucklandcityhotel.com boasts 60 Apartment style rooms ranging from studio to 1 and 2 bedroom units. Book and enjoy.

Web Development and SEO
We have a good working relationship w ...
Source: The Elliott Hotel - SEO Case Study

Link nofollow changes

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 00:00:00 +1200
June 2009 is the month for cat out of the bag with use of rel=nofollow on page links. Link nofollow changes were made over a year ago in the algo, but not specifically talked about till now by Google.

Matt Cutts talked at SMX advanced, and had a number of interviews where he specifically talked about how Google assigns Google PR when it encounters rel=nofollows.

Is what is Good for Google, good for SEO?

Matt: ... If you have 10 links and 5 are nofollow, there is this assumption that the other 5 get page rank. That might have been partially true at one time, but that’s less effective these days.

Source: Link nofollow changes

Howick Ltd - SEO Case Study

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 00:00:00 +1200

Howick Ltd is a manufacturer of specialised roll forming machines used for producing steel frames, sidings and roofs for buildings.

Their previous web site was a Joomla 1.0 site based on the main built-in template
(rhuk_solarflare_ii).

Howick came to SearchMasters to improve the SEO of their site, to improve sales of their roll forming machinery. They have distributors in number of countries and want to ensure that their pages are well optimised in ...
Source: Howick Ltd - SEO Case Study