Google, PageRank, and Why It Matters - Or, Not

"Is Google Ditching PageRank?"
Daniel Snyder, Info Carnivore (December 5, 2010)

"Is Google ditching PageRank? Is it possible that the number one thing that website owners chase could soon be history? Google hasn't updated PageRank since early April 2010. That is odd. In fact being December now, that is the longest length of time that Google has gone EVER without a PageRank update.

Many people have been asking (including myself) when is the next Google PageRank update? But a better question might be is there going to be a next PageRank update? Why would I say that? Because for some SEO experts the question now is 'Google ditching PageRank?'

Though opinions vary greatly in the realm of SEO one thing that is generally agreed upon is that PageRank is used to determine how powerful a site is based primarily on backlinks. PageRank essentially encourages SEO, which is really not what google wants at all. Consider this official excerpt from google.com in their technology overview section: 'As Larry [Page] said long ago, we want to give you back "exactly what you want." When Google was founded, one key innovation was PageRank, a technology that determined the "importance" of a webpage by looking at what other pages link to it, as well as other data. Today we use more than 200 signals, including PageRank, to order websites, and we update these algorithms on a weekly basis. For example, we offer personalized search results based on your web history and location.'..."

The rest of the article discusses Google, PageRank, why PageRank is important to SEO, and why - by extension - PageRank is important to folks who have blogs and websites.

The Lemming is pretty sure that, if Google stops using PageRank, it will have an effect on how many folks find this blog. If the Lemming had the staff and budget to carefully analyze how many folks read what, and why - my guess is that a statistically-significant difference might be found if PageRank joins WordStar as something that was a really good idea. At the time.

Please note: The Lemming is not criticizing WordStar, or PageRank. WordStar was, arguably, a hot item. In the eighties.

Back to Google, PageRank, SEO, and common sense.

In the Lemming's opinion, whether or not Google continues using PageRank matters a great deal. To folks who have devoted time and effort to:

• Unravel Google's method of
  • Indexing the Internet
  • Responding to queries
• Use assumptions about Google's method to
  • Design blogs and websites
  • Write content

The Lemming isn't one of those folks.

SEO Optimization, Effective Communication, and the Lemming

The Lemming is interested in SEO, AKA Search Engine Optimization. I like having folks finding what I write, and reading it. That's partly an ego thing, partly good business sense - and the Lemming is getting off-topic.

Back when the Lemming was learning about Search Engine Optimization, the occasional nuggets of information were buried in a whole lot of dross. Which isn't another topic - and I'll get back to that.

Dubious Advice

Some of the advice was - dubious is a very polite way to put is. This is not what Mr. Snyder advocates, by the way. His approach to online marketing is a little different from the Lemming's: but I think we share a 'serve the reader' philosophy.

Back to dubious advice. You've probably run into some of what the Lemming calls 'stupid-clever' tricks: disabling the viewer's 'Back' button; typing lots of naughty words in the Alt tags, putting more naughty words in the page's background - as text that's the same color as the background.

Clever? In a way, yes. Calculated to produce qualified traffic, over a longish span of time? Probably not.

That sort of cybernetic scamming has, in the Lemming's opinion, the same sort of relationship to legitimate SEO as some guy selling a pocketful of stolen watches has to a third-generation family store.

Now, about 'real' SEO. The sort that's not likely to get the user blacklisted.

Smart SEO: Or, How to Not Make Enemies and Avoid Alienating People

Mr. Snyder's article is a pretty good example of what the Lemming calls 'smart SEO.' It's a cluster of techniques recommended by quite a few folks who actually had marketing experience - and who had a reputation to lose. Folks who were probably giving sensible advice, that is.

'Smart SEO' doesn't involve trying to intuit the inner workings of Google, or any other service. It does require the assumption that Google and other search sites want to present a list of links in response to queries - with the links most likely to reflect the user's interests on top.

And, that Google and other services aren't run by nitwits. In other words, that Google actually works, as a search site.

To get at or near the top of one of these lists, 'smart SEO' demands (in the Lemming's opinion, based on what I've read and learned) that a writer:

• Find keywords
  • What word or words describe the post or page's content?
• Place keywords in the page or post's
  • Title
  • First sentence
  • Second sentence
    • If possible, without repeating what the first sentence said

There's more to it. Quite a lot more.

The bottom line, though, of 'smart SEO' seems to be pretty much the same techniques that an effective writer should use:

• Let the reader know what you're writing about
• Write about what you said you'd write about
• Use words that the reader is likely to understand
• When you're through writing about your topic: stop writing

The Lemming doesn't always follow his own advice - but what can I say? The Lemming is only human. And that's several other topics.

Related posts:

• "History of Travel Luggage: Sort of"
  (March 29, 2010)
• "SEO Optimization: What Not to Do"
  (March 2, 2010)
• "Domain Tasters: Google's on the Move"
  (January 30, 2008)
• " 'And We're All Gonna Die!' Search Engine Optimization, Journalists, and Facts"
  (October 10, 2007)
• "Noo Ideea: Mispeling For Sukses"
  (August 26, 2007)
  Discussed, briefly:
  • "Misspelling for Success?"
    Starting a Small Business Without Losing My Mind (August 26, 2007)

Like this post? Tweet it: Tweet Or, not: your choice.

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A tip of the hat to dragonblogger, on Twitter, for the heads-up on his article.

History of Travel Luggage: Sort of

"History of travel luggage: From the beginning to today!"
Chris Vorelli, CreativeInfoOnline.com (undated)

"Travel luggage is an important part of every traveler's wardrobe. There are various luggage models, sizes, styles, colors, materials and prices associated with the luggage currently on the market. There are even vintage and collectible luggage pieces available! Whether you are going to be gone for a day, a month or a year, you will most likely need to help of luggage to keep your items together and organized. Travel luggage is designed for professionals, sportsmen, men, women, kids and even animals! There are a ton of models that can be bought today, but in the old days, the choices weren't as plentiful.

"For as long as man has traveled, there has been a need to take items with them. Christopher Columbus would have carried a trunk/chest that housed his clothing and navigation products. In those days, the trunk was the most popular form of luggage...."

I don't think the Lemming has written about the history of travel luggage before. Now I've corrected that oversight.

This article is four paragraphs long, and a quick read. Which is just as well, since quite a lot of it sounds like it was written by someone in marketing with an old-school manager.

No criticism of the author intended - those paragraphs are packed with keywords and should put the page fairly high in search rankings. Which I'm pretty sure is the purpose of the thing.

From "100s of Tips" down, the page seems to be a link farm.

Well, that's okay: and the first two paragraphs give a quick look at the last few thousand years of travel luggage's development. A very quick look.

On the other hand, this is not how I think SEO (Search Engine Optimization) should be done. Selecting focused keywords and putting them in the first few paragraphs? Yes, that's a good idea. Writing something that starts with an implied promise of discussing the history of travel luggage, and starting the second of four paragraphs like this: "Manufactured in countries all over the world, you should have no trouble finding the perfect travel luggage piece to carry your items...."? Followed by a sort of laundry list of products and features?

Not how I'd have chosen to handle the topic.

My working philosophy for SEO is that a writer should load text with keywords high on the page - and follow through on any stated or implied subject. That's not just high-minded ethics: I'd like folks to feel like coming back for more.

But, like I said, when it comes to search engine ranking - those four paragraphs will probably get the job done.

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A tip of the hat to starbucksofc, on Twitter, for the heads-up on this article.

SEO Optimization: What Not to Do

"10 easy ways to kill your website"
Kneoteric eSolutions (undated)

"If you own a website, you probably know that search engine optimization is an inherent part of design and development process. It would not be an overstatement if we said that the website design and development process is critical and a determinant of your position on search engines. It can make or break your success online...."

I'm not an "SEO expert," but I've studied - and used - Search Engine Optimization techniques for years. This list of ten points is a pretty good summary of advice that's out there - and makes sense: from "Optimize as an afterthought" (don't) to " 'Click Here' as anchor text" (okay: but think about it).

One thing I appreciated about the article was the calm, common-sense approach. Like whether or not to use Flash. There wasn't the gushing hype I heard a few years back - and there wasn't a strident assertion that Flash should never be used.

A few things are pretty close to 'absolute' no-nos for people who want search engines to find their websites: like splash screens. Sure, they look pretty, and your manager may just love the things. But search engine robots can't see, not the way we do: all they'll notice about a splash screen is that it isn't text - and odds are, they'll move on.

On the other hand, what isn't mentioned at all, as far as I could see, was how to write for SEO optimization. (Basically: don't ramble; and tell the reader what you're writing about in the first paragraph or so. Bots, like readers, are (supposedly) apt to assume that what's toward the top of the page is what's most important.)

I'm being a little nit-picking here, but I think the author missed the boat by focusing on Ajax. It's probably a hot item for dynamic content right now: but the problem isn't that software, as far as I've been able to discover. It's dynamic content. Again, those bots simply aren't human.

Bottom line? It's a pretty good refresher about (or introduction) to SEO optimization.

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A tip of the hat to timethief, on Twitter, for the heads-up on this article.

Domain Tasters: Google's on the Move

"Google takes a stand against domain tasters"
profy (January 26, 2008)

"Domain tasting - also known as domain kiting - an underhanded exploitation of a loophole in domain name registration rules that allows unscrupulous SEO ad jockeys to grab a domain name and make money off of it without paying for it. What this means for legitimate web users is that they often can't get their hands on the domain names they want because the domain names are being wasted on these money making schemes."

Good for Google. This post discusses possible motives and probable results of Google's actions.

'And We're All Gonna Die!' Search Engine Optimization, Journalists, and Facts

"Writing for the Machine: Hysteria among journalists" reminds me of an old joke I just made up:

Recipe for fear and panic:

• Take one handful of journalists
• Add a pinch of facts
• Fold in one gallon of assumptions
• Shake vigorously
• Serve before facts rise to surface

The first paragraph of "Writing" reads, "Last year, The New York Times published an article called "This Boring Headline Is Written for Google," which focused on the effect search engines are having on journalistic writing. The primary focus was on the negative impact of "writing for machines" and the corresponding loss of creativity such an endeavor entails."

My hat's off to a real writer, who brought this post up in a BlogCatalog thread.

A Pretty Good Idea Page for Webmasters

"10 links for a cool website" has a title that's fairly accurate.

There are 10 links, all right, but the "Color Trends and palettes on colourlovers.com" is more of a collection of color pallet samples than a discussion of color trends. Maybe I missed something there.

"40 CSS layouts on blog.html.it/layoutgala/" is a link that lives up to its promise a bit better.

The last link, "Learn about SEO on seobook.com" is okay, if you want to buy an ebook for "only $79." I think you'd be better off, getting involved in an online community like www.blogcatalog.com, and looking around the discussion threads for opinions and observations on the subject.(1)

"10 links for a cool website" is a fairly good place to go for ideas, but not the best place to start if you're looking for something like tutorials.

(1)(Actually, BlogCatalog has had a few discussions on that subject recently. Yes, I'm biased: I'm a member, and think BlogCatalog is great.)

Attracting Visitors

Getting people to visit your blog or website is, I think, a matter of attention to three facets: content; content; and everything else.

In the "everything else" category are unrelated but entertaining pages.

An example of this is "You might be a cop if ...." The business part of the site (Web Site development and Search Engine Optimization) seems to be still under construction.

I appreciate the social conscience shown by Mr. Savoca, who assures us that "This is a CSS site. No tables were injured building this site.."

Update, September 14, 2007. Big mistake in this post. I should have included "voice." More about this on another blog.

A Discussion About Google, SEO, and Keywords

Everybody's uncle, aunt, and cousin seems to have sure-fire ways to outsmart Google with SEO, keywords, and other nifty buzzwords. "Get On Top Of Google Search in 10 minutes ( My experiment )" is a discussion on (what else?) BlogCatalog that brings together quite a few points of view and levels of experience. I recommend paying particular attention to comments made by "MadameX," someone with professional experience.

Blog Day: My Post

It's The Third Annual Blog Day!

(Some) bloggers (almost) everywhere are finding five new blogs, posting a brief description of each, with a link: all because it's Blog Day!

Here's my contribution:

• "Blogger and malware"
  (August 31, 2007), Blogger's own blog about blogging on Blogger. This post is a reality check for the next blog's recent post.
  
• "Blogger Spammed With Malware Links"
  (August 30, 2007) Research first, then post, is a wise policy. this post may be alternatively accurate.
  
• "Increase your blog comments using incentives"
  (June 28, 2007) A recent post on the business blogger's blog, "Business Blog Consulting."
  
• "Podcast 2007.3: Blog Comments & who’s abandoning the iTunes store?"
  (August 31, 2007) A recent post on the "Blog Herald: The Blogosphere's Latest, Daily."
  
• "Wayne Gorman: Elliott Wave Theory & Real Estate Markets - Blog Business Success Radio"
  (August 28, 2007) "Blogs in business, marketing, public relations, and SEO search engine optimization for successful entrepreneurs"

Now, is that bloggish, or what?

More about Blog Day at, where else, "Blog Day."

Noo Ideea: Mispeling For Sukses

"Do you optimize for misspellings?" has a startling recommendation: misspelling as an SEO technique.

I've got an opinion about this, briefly discussed at "Misspelling for Success?."

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Advice for New Bloggers

I ran into a pretty good post with advice for people who are new to blogging. Like me.

Blogging Advice to Beginners from Successful Bloggers, in my opinion, makes good points. Although I'm very new to blogging, I've been a webmaster for quite a few years. Much of this advice is familiar, and generally accepted.

I wonder if the advice to "register your own domain" and not use services like WordPress or Blogger is all that good. Registering a domain costs money: not all that much, but at my end of the income scale any expense is significant.

Besides, I've found that using Blogger (now a part of Google, I understand) puts my posts on Google's blog search function in hours: much better than the weeks it could take for frequently-updated pages on my longest-standing website to get fresh Google listings.

A final bit of nit-picking: "SEO" means Search Engine Optimization" or "...Optimizing" or whatever Optimiz[sufix] you want. I know what it means, but wonder how many blogging newbies do.