The Digital Lookout

I spotted something today in the Yahoo Search results I had not seen before.  Now this isn’t to say it hasn’t been around for a while as I can confess to rarely using Yahoo and relying on Google for my search fix mostly because of my iGoogle homepage.

What I found when I searched for virus protection specialist bullguard were notifications in the natural search listings marking the site which had potentially dangerous downloads and spyware potential.  The site in question was Kazaa which was listed twice in the SEO results, both listed accompanied by the message “Warning: Dangerous Downloads“.  This is the first time I have ever seen this warning before in the search results and I would be interested to find out whether it is a manual label on specific sites or if it is picked up automatically in some way.  Either way it is great for the user to see such warnings and catastrophic for the site as I certainly now I would be steering clear of clicking them.

yahoo show spyware warnings in seo results

Google has launched via its webmaster central blog a best practice guide for SEO foundations.  This is an interesting move by Google and contradictory to its usual smoke and mirrors approach to giving away SEO tips and secrets.

It is a pretty basic guide though, listing basic website structure and meta implementation which should be the bread and butter of anyone claiming to know anything about search engine optimisation.  It will however be a useful tool for website and company owners who do not want or do not need expert SEO advice but just a reference point to ensure hey are doing the basics right for achieving decent listings.

It isn’t anything for SEO professionals to be worried about as it doesn’t give away any trade secrets or cover of specifics of “what happens if?” “what do I do when?” and so they wont be putting anyone out of business.  In fact it should make their lives easier, as if all websites arrived at your door having adhered to these Google tips, it would be a much easier process to get them ranking well, quickly, as there wouldn’t be the need for the site overall before the real work can begin.

A recent Telegraph article highlighted how small businesses are starting to recognise the need for effective search engine optimisation (SEO) and in getting their websites recognised and noticed by the search engines. No great news there, this has been growing for a while and more and more small businesses are becoming interested in what not just SEO, but also PPC could do with their business.  The problem is that there aren’t many agencies out their who can effectively service small businesses, with their tight budget constraints often contradicting the importance of the activity to them.  The article references one agency who seem to do this (who I have never heard of by the way!) and there are a couple of other quality agencies who offer PPC and SEO for small businesses.  But all too often a small business owner is left trying to do the work themselves and learning what they can through online help guides, or relying on ineffective off the shlef tools, just leading to further disappointment.

SEO is an art and one which cant be picked up too easily through reading forums and help guides.  You will always come across conflicting advice and confusing technical recommendations you dont have the expertise to carry out.  In my opinion it is always best to seek out expert advice on such a complex topic and for the agencies that can provide this cost effectively there is a large market out there to go after!  It is also a market which is growing as more and more businesses move online to realise the potential it holds.

In a recent report into “Online Solutions” aimed at imparting advice on how to develop an effective web presence American Express have advised companies not to “waste money” on search engin optimisation specialists.  Apparently suggetsing that this is a sure fire way to get your site banned from the listings.  This is a very strong statement and one which Im sure please their incumbent SEO agency, Greenlight!  Imagine being the agency for a company who makes a statement like that! Cant fill you with much confidence for your next contract renewal.  I wonder whether the phrase “expensive” and the warning about being penalised refer directly to Greenlight’s work or whether this is jus a coincidence!?!

The full article is here and I have copied the offending paragraph below:

—  optimize your search engines

Search engines, like Yahoo! and Google, are usually the first place people will look for you. Make it easier for them to find you. Yahoo! and Google offer tools to let them know the site map structure of your Web site. Also, using clean U.R.L.s such as yourdomain.com/store/widgets instead of yourdomain.com/store.php?id=42&categoryID=widgets will increase your chances of getting indexed in a search engine. Finally, don’t waste money on so-called Search Engine Optimization (S.E.O.) specialists. Search engines are very quick to penalize sites that try to trick their filtering techniques, and once your site has been put on Google’s blacklist, it will take forever to get off.

I spotted something on Google today which I hadn’t seen before and is a new development in universal search.  On a search for “times” I was presented with the standard search results you get for a brand term but then in addition to this there was a search box contained with the results! On entering a search phrase into this box I was presented with the site search results but still with the Google SERP.  This functionality is well known and nothing new but the inclusion of the search box in the results is not something I have seen before. 

It is obviously just another element of Universal Search in action but is alos a good tool for Google to make their results as accurate as possible and keep people within their pages.  By allowing them to search within Google for keywords contained within a site you are not only enhancing the user experience but promoting loyalty and boosting query numbers at the same time, win all round.  On top of this they are also able to produce additional Adwords results on the secondary search and potentially boosting revenues as well.