Google Launch YouTube Channel for Webmaster Tools

The Google Webmaster Tools channel on YouTube contains 5 new video tutorials for webmasters, including subjects such as submitting reconsideration requests and setting a geographic target for your site.

The new additions add to the pre-existing video presentations by Google support engineers which cover canonical link elements, image search and my favourite 'preventing virtual blight' in which Matt Cutts talks about how tactics such as 'no-follow' links can deter spammers from blighting your website.

Improved results for searchers using Google

People using the search engines (and there are about 30,000 searches in the UK every minute) are increasingly using longer search terms.

To help searchers in their quest for the information they seek, Google has just introduced an enhancement to its (natural / organic / SEO)  results page listings.

When a longer search term is entered - over three words - Google has added more lines to the text snippet that appears for each result. This is designed to provide more information containing the words typed within the context of the page.  

Research already shows that people trust these snippets more than the sponsored listings - about 90% of people prefer text snippets compared to Google ads. This new step looks certain to increase this trust. Searchers consider these results to be more independent.

To feature consistently well in such results requires websites to be optimised for natural search. Find out more about optimising using natural SEO techniques.

Read more detail about this search enhancement on the official Google blog and Econsultancy. 

Explaining about the Google sandbox for SEO

SEO firms are pretty much all in the same boat when it comes to the Google sandbox... how to get out of it! This week SEOmoz leader Rand Fishkin has found a concrete case showing that the sandbox is alive and kicking (or should that be digging!).

The Google sandbox was started as a filter to combat spam. Unfortunately, legitimate websites get caught up in its 'quicksand'-type qualities - dragging in often young websites that otherwise might enjoy better progress up the search rankings.

Effects of the sandbox that can be documented include pages not ranking for, say, optimised title tags; initially terms rank highly before dropping off 30-500(!) places; spam is not causing the negative effects.

For more details of this penalty mechanism enacted by Google, read the SEO's guide to Google's sandbox.

Google downplays the importance of branding in SEO

Matt Cutts responds to the recent suggestions that the latest tweaks to the Google algorithm favour websites with strong brands.



Although Matt Cutts says that the latest update is known within Google as 'Vince's change,' he is very vague as to the specifics of what it is trying to achieve. He goes on to put webmasters' minds at rest by stating.

"What you should be doing doesn't change. Try to make a great site. Try to make a site that is so fantastic that you become known as an authority in your niche. Those are the sort of sites, the experts, that we want to bring back"

Use other search engines to gain more website traffic

About 90 per cent of the UK Internet population uses Google to search. The other 10 per cent of searches are carried out on other search engines such as Yahoo, MSN and Ask.

Interesting to note that optimising for these less popular search engines can still be effective, reports Rand Fishkin of SEOmoz. Traffic can be boosted by between 15-20 per cent if optimisation companies focus on the alternative algorithms of these other search engines.

Lawyer takes aim at SEO con artists

"The Internet... it's filled with scam artists, conmen and rip-off merchants."

This first line of an article by a lawyer about the perils of hiring Internet marketers - and search engine optimisation companies - got my attention.

To be honest, this piece by a US legal commentator called Dan Jaffe is quite right. Businesses must not let themselves be taken in by fraudulent web marketers. 100% agree.

One part is wrong, at least to some extent - where Jaffe says most people selling internet marketing are essentially selling nothing at all and trying to make it sound good.

In fact, I've seen many hardworking web workers out there. But Jaffe is taking a lawyer's tack i.e. this is my case, now let the web guys prove it wrong and walk out of the dock free men (or women)! And besides that, he's suffered at the hands of SEO conmen peddling snake oil who do no favours for the legitimate, hard-working SEO firms.

Fair enough and fair comment, is what I say. No-one wants to be taken for a ride that costs a great deal of money. It is unfortunate that the SEO buyer must still beware of being taken in by dodgy or cowboy web marketing firms.

Jaffe's final piece of advice made a great deal of sense. He said, "Educate yourself, think through your strategy and selection, and you will find the right internet marketing person and quickly rise above your competitors who go with the scammers."

This comes from a client who was looking for great results in SEO for law firms, but his guidance could be applied whether looking for SEO for accountants, financial services, insurance companies, banks or whatever your business.

If you're thinking of employing an SEO company, think about the critical points that Jaffe covers here. However, exercise your own judgement too - he's not got it all right. But as yardsticks go, Fuse Optimisation is happy to let others, as well as itself, be measured by it.

Spammers employ new technique to manipulate search engine results

Some webmasters have warned of a new technique which search engine spammers are employing in order to gain a large amount of inbound links to domains under their control.

The method begins with an email similar to the one below

From: webmaster[at]umich.edu webmaster[at]umich.edu>
To: webmaster[at]example[dot]com
Subject: Moving domains

Dear webmaster

We`re writing to you, because our web address www[dot]exampleuniversity[dot]edu/ will undergo a change of domain on [specified date] We would be grateful if you could change the link on your site to our new website www[dot]exampleuniversity[dot]com/

Yours sincerely
Mr Example
webmaster[at]exampleuniversity[dot]com

The new domain may look authentic, but some time after all the new links have been collected, the content of the page will be changed. The new content could may be selling products that a webmaster would not want to link to,. In the worst case scenario it can include malicious code delivered through an iframe which allows the spammers to take control of unpatched or unprotected PCs turning them into 'Zombies' or becoming part of a botnet.