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November 27, 2008

Don't Think Like a Student for .edu Links

I've written posts before on some tips to fixing existing .edu links and why .edu link acquisition services are typically worthless. But what about when you're trying to get links the old-fashioned way? By providing valuable content to users and then telling Webmasters where to find it? What do you do? Where do you start? How do you go about it?

When you're doing research to gain some much-coveted .edu links, be sure to do your homework. You want to find sites that cater to your target market. But stop and think before you channel the zen of a college student to get your links.

Why not? It's simple. College students don't dictate links on University sites. Professors and staff do. How do I know this? Take a look at any college Web site and find a resources page of sorts for students. These days with so many college kids graduating with excessive debt (and I'm not just talking about student loans) many sites are now putting up a page packed full of resources on how to manage your credit from the start rather than how to fix it (although there are links for that too).

Let's take a look at this sample page from Baldwin-Wallace College on how to manage your finances. Lots of good stuff in here, right? Perfect opportunity to maybe place a link to a well-respected site that offers additional tips and financial information? Want to put a link to a big and flashy Web site that college kids just seem to love? Stop. Read the content again. The thing I heard most in college is "You're an adult now." Colleges are set up to groom promising professionals into upstanding citizens (not to mention that whole education thing). The content on this page is geared towards the students with a parental tone.

"But wait," you might say. "College kids love my big flashy Web site!" True, but they're not the ones who are managing a large university's Web site. Even if they are, a professor is mentoring them and watching their every move. Those links, even if they do get put up, won't last long. The biggest mistake I see in trying to get .edu links is that some link builders think that you are marketing to the students. You're not. You're marketing to their parents. And their professors.

"So what do I do?" I'm so glad you asked. Market to the professors and parents of these students. They're the ones who, ultimately, dictate what types of content goes up. Typically, parents pay the bills to these schools. So, professors and staff answer to them. The staff and teaching professionals are responsible for the education of these young minds. They don't want something as glaring as a junk link on their Web site. Think like an adult when marketing to .edu sites.

The bottom line in all of this? You must provide valuable content to the user to get .edu links. No ifs, ands, or buts. Sure, you can get other .edu links without much effort. But I doubt they'll provide any long-term value for search engine rankings. And in link development, long-term is the way to go.

Oh, and by the way... Happy Thanksgiving!

Posted by angela at 6:53 AM | Comments (13) | TrackBack

November 20, 2008

Google Lets Users Promote, Remove, Comment on Listings

This has been discussed for a few months here and there, but this is the first time I've seen it in the wild. Google SERPs are giving users the ability to "promote," "remove," or "comment" on listings:

Here's a closeup of the three. See if you can figure out which is Promote, Remove, or Comment:

I've only begun to play with them, so I have no idea what the implications are. I suspect that like with most things, Google will harness the data and use it in aggregate to try to improve relevance of results. I'm sure we'll read more about that in the next couple days, along with the imminent speculation about "what it all means," which, in the grand scheme, is usually very little. Still, it's cool.

Posted by erik at 10:32 PM | Comments (47) | TrackBack

Google SERPs Showing MySpace + other Videos

I'm surely not the first to notice this, but I saw MySpace video thumbnails in Google SERPs for the first time today:

Looking around, G is pulling from multiple sources, including MetaCafe, CollegeHumor, and this example from Spike:

A couple months ago, AccuraCast noticed two video results in a horizontal line, but in that sample, both videos were from Google-owned YouTube.

This is the next logical step in the universality of Universal Search, so to speak. Is it also the beginning of the end of big corporate presence on shared video sites?

Posted by erik at 6:32 PM | Comments (15) | TrackBack

November 13, 2008

Perceived Competition vs. Actual Competition

It happens 80% of the time I ask the question. I am talking with a client on the phone and I ask “who do you feel is your direct competition in your industry?” What I then receive is a list of competitors that are prominent in the industry. But how many of these competitors are showing up in the search results? Generally, less than 10% of the competitors that I get from my client are actual competitors in the SERPs.

If my client is a big brand, then I get a list of other big brand companies that have a Web site. These competitors typically are not engaging in SEO nor are they targeting the same keywords that my client is focusing on. These competitors tend to rely on their brand name to draw customers and make online sales. There are times when big brand competitors are showing up in SERPs for broad keyword phrases due to their brand name and domain. For instance, if I’m doing research on the keyword “toys,” it makes sense that Toys R Us shows up at or near the top. “Toys” is in their brand and their domain. Since most people link to Web sites with the brand name, that adds to their ability to rank.

But what about my clients’ actual competition? There is a tremendous amount of value in doing a thorough competitive analysis that focuses on link development. Why? Because a) it shows you what your competition is (or is not) doing in terms of link development, b) it tells you who your actual competition is for specific keywords that are valuable to your SEO efforts, and c) it is a springboard (or smorgasbord of information) into researching potential sites that you can acquire links from.

Big brands aren’t always optimizing their site nor are they engaged in an active (or well designed) link development campaign. More often than not, I find resource sites, niche brands, and other lesser-known players in a particular industry performing the best for these types of keyword phrases. And, surprisingly enough, these smaller sites tend to out-perform the big brand competition in their link development efforts. They have a more varied link portfolio than the bigger companies. Why? Generally because they teach themselves the ins and outs of the industry because they know they are competing with bigger brands. And also because they tend to have a little more time on their hands since they are not managing the daily activities of a multi-million dollar corporation.

There are, of course, exceptions to this. Auto insurance is a great example. Several of the big players in the industry are actively engaged in strategic SEO and link development campaigns. While some are definitely performing better than others, there is quite a bit of evidence that points to the fact that these companies are SEO savvy.

So the next time you think of your competition, think beyond the big players in the industry. Do some queries and find out who is truly at the top. And dig a little deeper to see what more you can be doing.

Posted by angela at 7:43 AM | Comments (12) | TrackBack

November 7, 2008

Social Media Reality Check: Facebook vs. MySpace

Submitted without comment:

Posted by erik at 9:26 AM | Comments (14) | TrackBack

Dropping Balls On Facebook

A die-hard Cleveland Browns fan my entire life, I sat through yet another disappointing game Thursday night. Having watched hundreds of these games since my childhood, now I just laugh and turn off the TV.

So far, this season has been a season of watching Browns receivers drop balls. It's so hard to watch a receiver have a ball go right through their hands or catch a ball and then drop it. I'm not sure who leads the league in dropped balls this season, but I would bet a dollar that it's the Browns.

I have a hard time watching TV without my notebook computer in my lap. As I sat through the familiar misery of another Brown's loss Thursday night, I found someone else dropping balls on Facebook - big time. In fact, let's call this a dropped touchdown pass to win the game.

I have a tip for professional recruiters using Facebook to find job seeking candidates. If you really want to appear professional and find good talent, you should be careful what Groups you join on Facebook. Yes, your potential candidates can see them and I'm certain that most quality job seekers open to being contacted on Facebook by a professional recruiter would be turned off by a recruiter who's a member of several groups that include the name "Whores".

Now that's a dropped ball.

Posted by doug at 9:19 AM | Comments (6) | TrackBack