Catfish Latest search engine news blog articles from Catfish. http://www.seocentro.com/seo-archives/author/Catfish.html Catfish News Archive http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=10277 Just when I think I have seen the best that Google has to offer, they come up with something new. And today they did it again with Google Friend Connect . Check out the video and see how this new Google toolset can add social media functionality to your Web site in a matter of minutes (once its out of beta), requires almost no coding and immediately helps your site become more viral. Search Engines News SEO News Catfish Catfish Tue, 26 Aug 2008 16:13:42 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=9562 Here are a couple more videos of my presentation from OMS . I went a little out of order on these because of a couple reasons. I omitted the Flash video because it is now outdated based on recent developments. However, all I really did is reference Benj's excellent post about SEO for Flash . He should be updating it soon based on the new Abode announcement (*hint hint Benj!). The other video I omitted is about Page Titles. As many people know, Search Engines News SEO News Catfish Catfish Wed, 06 Aug 2008 17:24:04 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=7531 I was in Vegas last week at the annual Business Marketing Association conference in beautiful Lake Las Vegas . I had never been there before and even though its odd not to be on the strip, it was both beautiful and relaxing. Our resort ( Lowes ) is a very nice place with ZERO slot machines or gambling so it almost feels like Palm Springs here (never fear though, we did manage find a casino or three..lol). Search Engines News SEO News Catfish Catfish Mon, 16 Jun 2008 19:14:05 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=6717 Ok I admit it. I am a little resistant to change. Which is not a great trait for someone in the SEO / Web 2.0 business. So in an effort to break myself of old habits, I have been using Digsby for the last two weeks. I must say I'm impressed. Not only was it easy to combine my AOL , Yahoo and Gmail chat clients into one interface, but now my life streams from Twitter , MySpace and Facebook are a click away from my task bar. I wasn't sure if I would really use the Facebook, Search Engines News SEO News Catfish Catfish Tue, 27 May 2008 20:36:18 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=4723 Google announced today that they have started to experiment with filling out forms to get access to data that they currently can't see. Unfortunately there are still a lot of potential variables that can prevent your content from being indexed but it is a step in the right direction. Don't skip the noscript tags for your drop down menus just yet though. This experiment is so far confined to a limited number of trustworthy sites, and, Search Engines News SEO News Catfish Catfish Fri, 11 Apr 2008 19:28:15 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=4183 Ok, please be forewarned that this post has nothing to do with SEO...lol. I am very stoked to announce that this Wednesday night, April 2nd, my band Dive Bomber will be opening for WWE Superstar Christy Hemme . Here is a pic of Christy in case you are unfamiliar with her career. And if you are really interested (and over 18..lol), here are some Christy Hemme videos . I checked out her band on MySpace and they rock. Needless to say, Search Engines News SEO News Catfish Catfish Mon, 31 Mar 2008 15:56:42 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=3990 Today I was reading an outstanding article about Meta Descriptions by Barry Welford and I thought I would share a couple more thoughts I have on the subject. In Barry's article he mentions about the importance that description tags play in creating the snippets that the search engines display in the SERPs (search engine results pages). Search Engines News SEO News Catfish Catfish Wed, 26 Mar 2008 22:53:41 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=3767 OK so maybe not history, but if you read this article about ASK changing their business model to appeal to married women , it's pretty clear that they have raised the white flag and given up competing with Google. It's actually a smart move as they are focusing more on their core user group. But it now makes the MSN / YAHOO deal all that much more interesting. Personally, as much as I love Google, I don't believe that this news, Search Engines News SEO News Catfish Catfish Fri, 21 Mar 2008 18:34:15 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=2217 As I was putting together my presentation for OMS next week, I decided to do some research into some old patents for fun (which proves that although I am a heavy metal guitarist and supposed to be cool, I have no choice but to admit I have become an SEO geek..lol). I did some reading on Hilltop , Topic Sensitive Page Rank and a couple others. But one document that I found that I have not read before is called: " Page Rank - A Circuital Analysis ". Search Engines News SEO News Catfish Catfish Thu, 14 Feb 2008 03:22:00 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=2214 Today I read a great blog post by Jeff Quipp about Authority Building . And while I don't agree with Jeff's statement about not being an SEO versus an authority builder, it's a little akin to splitting hairs...lol. The truth of his blog post is a great lesson for anyone who is interested in an SEO campaign for their Web site. The bottom line is that Google rewards sites that it considers authority sites. Search Engines News SEO News Catfish Catfish Fri, 08 Feb 2008 01:28:00 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=2220 As promised, here is the Podcast from my interview with Cindy at EmarketingTalkShow.com . I talk about maximizing internal linking metrics, creating good Meta data and the importance of great content for SEO. I hope everyone enjoys it. Now I have to get my stuff together for my speaking engagement OMS in two weeks. Hope to see you there! Search Engines News SEO News Catfish Catfish Thu, 07 Feb 2008 04:15:00 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=2225 So it appears that Microsoft is hell bent on acquiring Yahoo . This is not a good thing for the SEO industry nor is it good for consumers. SEO is already dominated by three main search engines (sorry ASK but you are not one of em). The three are Google, Yahoo and MSN. And MSN is just barely on the radar. I understand why MSN wants Yahoo. It's pretty easy to see it would help them compete with Google. But the thing that strikes me as funny is, Search Engines News SEO News Catfish Catfish Mon, 04 Feb 2008 01:49:00 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=2218 Just a reminder that I will be appearing on the EMarketingTalkShow podcast on Friday, January 31, 2008 at 3:45pm PST. Here is the link to the page: http://www.emarketingtalkshow.com/seo/seo-secrets.asp I hope you find it valuable. Have a great day. Search Engines News SEO News Catfish Catfish Thu, 31 Jan 2008 05:10:00 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=2219 I was reading a fantastic article from SEOMoz (which isn't suprising) about SEO considerations for CMS systems . The two most common problems I see with CMS systems that have not been mentioned (or I didn't read all the comments closely enough) are: 1) Breadcrumb navigation based on the path the user took to get to the page. So in the event that you have a product that exists in multiple categories, Search Engines News SEO News Catfish Catfish Thu, 31 Jan 2008 03:34:00 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=2226 Many Web masters have been noticing lately that their heretofore #1 or #2 listings had dropped to the #6 spot. This was reported consistently lately on blogs and forums by many Web masters. It's always hard to tell which so called "penalties" or observations reported on these kinds of sites should be taken seriously or believed. Although when the level of outcry rises to what it has recently, it's hard to not start investigating. Still, Search Engines News SEO News Catfish Catfish Tue, 29 Jan 2008 07:36:00 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=2204 I am taking a small break from doing SEO to blog. Just wanted to mention that I will be appearing soon on www.emarketingtalkshow.com . I will post more details soon. OK, enough blogging for today, I have to get my OMS presentation going. Have a great day. Search Engines News SEO News Catfish Catfish Thu, 24 Jan 2008 07:53:00 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=2222 First I would like to congratulate my San Diego Chargers on an outstanding season that come up a little short to one of the best teams to ever play. Having said that, I think we could have won had we had a couple less injuries to key players which bodes well for next year. In the meantime, now I can get more SEO done on the weekends.. lol . I came across this interview with Matt Cutts from Stephan Spencer today. It's a good read and dispels some fairly common myths like . Search Engines News SEO News Catfish Catfish Tue, 22 Jan 2008 03:18:00 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=2223 What a great Friday. First, it's a three day weekend, which always makes it a great Friday. Second, I am about to watch the Chargers shock the world on Sunday and defeat the Evil Empire that is the New England Patriots. I predict 27 - 24 Chargers. and Third, I am going to the NAMM show up in Anaheim where I will get a chance to play the best guitars in the world from Gibson, Fender, Martin, Taylor and too many other names to mention. There is nothing else like the NAMM show . Search Engines News SEO News Catfish Catfish Fri, 18 Jan 2008 01:38:00 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=2224 Happy New Year! And what better way to start it than a San Diego Chargers victory over the Tennessee Titans in the first round of the playoffs last Sunday. As one of the 65,000 some odd fans that attended the game, I can tell you it was an amazing day for the community of San Diego and the energy in the stadium was incredible. Now if we can just beat the Colts again. Search Engines News SEO News Catfish Catfish Tue, 08 Jan 2008 01:10:00 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=2206 Unfortunately I don't have time to blog much this week because I have 200 pages of Title Tags and Meta Tags due on Monday (I won't tell you where I am currently at.. lol ). But suffice to say I have a lot of work to do. So today I thought I would share a video from Matt Cutts about Trust Rank and the lack thereof at Google. I think there is a lot of confusion in the industry in thinking that Trust Rank is a Google concept (probably because it sounds like Page Rank). Search Engines News SEO News Catfish Catfish Thu, 27 Dec 2007 02:54:00 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=2212 Merry Christmas . If you don't celebrate Christmas, then I wish you a very happy holiday season. I'll be blogging about the Top 5 intersections of SEO and Usability after Christmas. But today I am staring at 200 pages of my client's site that need work. So, I am gonna go do that today instead of blog.. lol . Be safe today and tomorrow! Tonight, I recommend staying inside, getting some hot chocolate and watching my San Diego Chargers DESTROY the Broncos on national TV! Search Engines News SEO News Catfish Catfish Sun, 23 Dec 2007 23:44:00 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=2215 It never ceases to amaze me as I read forums and listen to "experts" in SEO talk about how Page Rank isn't important anymore. Yeah I know the standard line about "there are 100 different elements to the algo and PR is just one of em". It makes me laugh a little I have to admit. And the reason is that Page Rank is still an important concept for any SEO to understand. And not because you should only chase links from high Page Rank sites. Search Engines News SEO News Catfish Catfish Thu, 20 Dec 2007 02:46:00 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=2209 Google Webmaster Blog announced yesterday that Google will soon eliminate the differences between how they search the main index and the supplemental index (results) for queries . Google maintains two separate indexes, the main index and the supplemental index. Until now, pages in the supplemental index had less opportunity to rank well for competitive phrases and usually only ranked well for long tail keyword searches. Thanks to new Google technology innovations, Search Engines News SEO News Catfish Catfish Wed, 19 Dec 2007 02:04:00 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=2203 I haven't had a chance to read it today, but Google has a new patent about links, specifically anchor text . Guess I know what I am doing for the next couple days.. lol . I lost my flag football playoff game 7 - 6. That's a tough one to lose. Especially when I had receivers drop 7 of my passes. You can't drop 7 passes in a playoff game and expect to win. However, my Chargers look pretty good in completely destroying the Lions 51 - 14. If we win the next two games, Search Engines News SEO News Catfish Catfish Mon, 17 Dec 2007 07:21:00 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=2202 Yesterday Benj wrote a great article about making AJAX SEO friendly. One of the recommendations he made was to "Solution 1: Serve Alternative Content" and he suggested that providing an alternative navigation to "actual pages on their own URLs that would load the same content as what would load in the AJAX links." This SEO solution will work fine for some folks, Search Engines News SEO News Catfish Catfish Fri, 14 Dec 2007 01:10:00 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=2208 Today on Google Blogoscoped , Philipp Lenssen illustrates a new Google experiment in which Google takes some of the universal search results that would normally be displayed in the main serps column and instead displays them on the right where you might normally see PPC ads. He makes a couple of interesting observations concerning the reasons that Google might have for doing this, Search Engines News SEO News Catfish Catfish Thu, 13 Dec 2007 01:06:00 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=2207 Signed up for www.Feedburner.com for the SEO blog today, so it should be available there now. For those that don't know about Feedburner, it allows you to get a much better idea of how many people are using your feed and where they are finding it. I highly recommend it. The hard part is getting it so that your brand URL redirects through Feedburner so that you can promote your brand URL in the event that someday you ever leave Feedburner. Search Engines News SEO News Catfish Catfish Wed, 12 Dec 2007 04:40:00 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=2221 4:45am... baby crying 5:00am... wife's alarm goes off 6:30am... scrapping ice off my window in San Diego, WTF 7:30am... still hanging out in an hour long traffic jam It started out pretty rough today I have to admit...lol. So I thought I would lose myself in the SEO world today to take my mind off how tired I am. Here are some of the things I found along the way: More on sub domains versus folders and how it effects SEO . Search Engines News SEO News Catfish Catfish Wed, 12 Dec 2007 02:59:00 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=2213 Matt Cutts has recently come out with a new video on ALT tags . It's pretty basic but there are some important takeaways. ALT tags help Google understand what your image is. Additionally, file names and titles also convey information to Google. This information is used not only for Google image search, which is very popular, but now with the implementation of universal search, it's possible to capture front page real estate on the SERPs with your images. Therefore, Search Engines News SEO News Catfish Catfish Tue, 11 Dec 2007 01:14:00 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=2211 Well our San Diego Chargers found a way to win in Tennessee this Sunday coming back in classic style that featured a 2:00 minute drill for the tie and an LT run in OT for the win. It doesn't get any better than that, but it sure does frazzle your nerves...lol. I hope we get another shot at the Patriots in the playoffs :) Speaking of frazzled nerves, I was a little nervous Saturday night before singing for the first time ever at a bar with my band. Search Engines News SEO News Catfish Catfish Mon, 10 Dec 2007 00:24:00 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=2210 I was having a conversation with a client yesterday that I think bears repeating. The question my client had was, why was I recommending changing their 302 redirects to 301 redirects? A 301 redirect is a permanent redirect whereas a 302 redirect is a temporary redirect. My client had a number of pages that were being redirected within the site and had used 302 redirects to get the job done. Unfortunately for the client, Search Engines News SEO News Catfish Catfish Fri, 07 Dec 2007 01:22:00 GMT