Weekly SEO news: 11 August 2009
Welcome to the latest issue of the Search Engine Facts newsletter.

This week, you'll find out why optimizing your website is like working with a fitness coach. Is your website fit enough to get page one listings on Google?

In the news: Google is working on a new index, details on the Yahoo/Microsoft deal, Bing seems to show Microsoft tainted results, Bing might crawl SEO forums to find web spam and more.

Table of contents:

We hope that you enjoy this newsletter and that it helps you to get more out of your website. Please pass this newsletter on to your friends.

Best regards,
Andre Voget, Johannes Selbach, Axandra CEO
1. Optimizing your website is like working with a fitness coach

Some people think that getting a website on Google's first result page can be done by purchasing the right product of service. You just have to click a few buttons and that's it. Unfortunately, that's not possible.

If it was that easy to get high rankings on Google then everybody could get high rankings. However, it's obvious that only some websites will make it to Google's first result page and Google chooses these websites carefully.

That's why you have to do the right things if you want to outrank your competitors.

Optimizing a website is like working with a fitness coach

SEO workoutThere are many similarities between optimizing a website and working with a fitness coach:

  1. You must be willing to change

    Good SEO programs and SEO services will tell you what you have to do but the work is up to you. You must also implement the changes on your website. Take the advice of your SEO fitness coach and do something. Try to improve your website. Do not search for reasons why improvement is not possible. Do the things that are necessary to bring your website into shape even if it requires some work.

  2. You must be honest to yourself

    If you want to be fitter then you shouldn't go to the refrigerator at night and pretend that you didn't. If you want to get higher rankings on Google, you shouldn't torpedo your search engine optimization efforts by doing things with your website that you like but aren't recommended by the SEO service.

  3. It helps a lot if you have the right equipment

    It's easier to work out if you have the right equipment. If you want to run long distances, you need running shoes. If you want to get on Google's first result page, you need a good domain name, a good server, clean web pages and a good SEO tool. It will be much easier to get good results then.

  4. It's risky to game the system

    If you want to be fitter without working out, you might take some pills. This can work for some time but ultimately, the pills will make you sick and destroy your body. If you want to get quick search engine optimization results, you might consider spammy techniques that promise immediate or very fast results.

    These methods can work for some time but Google detects all spam methods sooner or later and your website will be banned from the index.

If you're not afraid of change then your website will get the rankings that it deserves. It's not easy to get top 10 rankings on Google but it's also not difficult if you do the right things.

IBP can be your 100% success website fitness coach. It will tell you what exactly you have to do to get top rankings on Google and other major search engines. IBP uses a proven and spam-free method that will bring your website on Google's first result page if you follow the instructions carefully.

Back to table of contents - Visit Axandra.com
2. Search engine news and articles of the week

Google tests a new search infrastructure

Google is testing a new architecture that appears to include crawling, indexing, and ranking changes. Instead of incorporating these changes into their existing infrastructure, Google has started some kind of public beta test.

The new index with the code-name caffeine seems to be an entirely new search infrastructure that will replace Google's current index.



Bing
Yahoo-Microsoft deal: Details from SEC filing

"Yahoo just filed with SEC with some more details of its search deal with Microsoft. Some standouts: [...] Microsoft will hire at least 400 Yahoo employees. [...] Yahoo can terminate if [...] the combined Yahoo and Microsoft query market share in the United States falls below a specified percentage."



Yahoo chief: 'we have never been a search company’

"[Yahoo CEO] Ms. Bartz places Yahoo's position in a rather different light. 'We have never been a search company,' she said. 'It is: I am on Yahoo. I am going to do a search.' [...] Ms. Bartz said she could continue to live with the 20 percent or so share of the search market Yahoo has today, calling it 'a very viable number.'"



BingBing search tainted by pro-Microsoft results

"Just as Bing is gaining popularity, some pro-Microsoft and anti-Apple search results rear their ugly heads. Case in point: a search on Bing for the phrase, 'Why is Windows so expensive?' returned this as the top link: 'Why are Macs so expensive.'"



[Google CEO] Eric Schmidt on where Google is headed

"It's obvious that the highest growth is in our core business as we get better and better at targeted ads, and those ads become more valuable. Our whole theory about advertising is that an advertisement that's not targeted—just a random ad that you just walk by—is a waste of somebody's money because you're not going to buy. It wasn't relevant to you."



How search engines may mine SEO forums to find web spam

"Microsoft has published a patent application that describes how they might target (and possibly hand pick) Search Engine Optimization (SEO) related forums [to] identify requests for links exchanges. [...] We're told that [...] the 'link spam problem has yet to be solved.'"



Search engine newslets

  • Is Google killing general knowledge?
  • Google adds new option "Prices from the page" to result pages.
  • Google is testing new PPC ad layout in result pages.
  • Google shows different search suggestions, depending on your actions.
  • Google sells underperforming radio ad business.
  • Google buys video compression company On2.
  • Microsoft sells ad agency Razorfish to Publicis for US$530M.
  • The Bing jingle winner is...

Back to table of contents - Visit Axandra.com
3. New IBP 11.5 now with Google's keyword tools

Based on user feedback we have improved the keyword manager in IBP 11 so that it now supports the Google AdWords keyword suggestion tool in many different languages.

IBP 11.5 - now with Google keyword tool

In addition to the unique keyword database of KeywordIndex.com, IBP 11.5 now also supports the keyword tools of Google AdWords. That means that you can now get the number of searches for keywords in many languages, including English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, and more. Click here to get IBP 11.5.

Back to table of contents - Visit Axandra.com

4. Success stories

Wynand Vandiggelen"Thanks to IBP."

"First of all: I heartily congratulate IBP for its outstanding program, which delivers a thorough scan of my website, checking its mental and physical condition.

Thanks to IBP I was able to adjust, alter and modify my website in order to get a high quality position on the most important search engines.

Today I note high rankings with my top keywords and receive an adequately response from customers. I am in the sightseeing business and offer private day tours in the Netherlands and Belgium.

Feedback from my clients vary from "you are on top of Google" and "your website was easy to find" to "I really like your site". These remarks are the best endorsements for one's business.

Every time IBP checks my site, I try to comply with its standard. With the Internet Business Promoter I run a profitable business with many satisfied clients."
Wynand Vandiggelen, Private Holland Tours


200,000 readers will see YOUR website

Let us know how IBP has helped you to improve your website and we might publish your success story with a link to your website in this newsletter. The more detailed your story is, the better.

Back to table of contents - Visit Axandra.com

5. Previous articles

Back to table of contents - Visit Axandra.com

Do you have a minute?