New Google Toolbar plays down PageRank
by Brian TurnerThe Google Toolbar on my IE install has just updated – and the PageRank bar has been really shrunk down.
As you can see, that’s a radical shrinkage, and almost certainly is a continuation of Google’s policy to try and diminish how PageRank is used and abused by webmasters.
Interestingly enough, most commercial SEO’s see little importance [...]
December 15, 2008
Makes affiliate programs pass link juice
by Brian TurnerAn excellent guide on how to ensure your affiliate program passes link juice on blogstorm.
This is something I try recommending to companies I work with, but unfortunately, is usually not taken up.
Companies who do leverage this do really well in the SERPs – just run a few finance terms and see how often MoneySupermarket [...]
New Google Features: PageLinks and Google Suggest Links
by Brian TurnerGoogle are really trying to push on new features for Google Search at present.
I’ve already covered how the local search options are now being pushed on Google UK (even though a cursory test here shows the results to be poor – try searching for the HSBC branch in Inverness – I get one IFA, a [...]
December 12, 2008
Wordpress 2.7 released: now with auto-update!
by Brian TurnerWordpress 2.7 has been officially released, and it looks as though the sneak preview of Wordpress 2.7 we posted a few days ago was right on the ball.
The admin interface may look more cluttered at first, but it really does improve usability by reducing the number of clicks required for any single action.
The big news [...]
December 11, 2008
Buy.at suffers tracking issues
by Brian TurnerAny affiliates with buy.at will have had a few emails this week warning of tracking issues and programme suspensions brought about because of this.
Campaigns I’ve seen suspension emails for include the RAC, Prudential home insurance, and Legal and General.
Interestingly enough, a number of affiliate programs moved to buy.at after tracking issues with Tradedoubler last year, [...]
December 10, 2008
A sneak peek at Wordpress 2.7?
by Brian TurnerI’ve been taking a look at the interface on Wordpress.com, and the format of the admin panel has changed from the 2.6 version to something completely different:
If this gives us a sneak peek at Wordpress 2.7 then it certainly looks like a more intuitive navigation system is in place and a release actually worth looking [...]
Google pushes Local on UK search
by Brian TurnerJust noticed Google trying to push local search on Google UK SERPS:
I’ve read about Google pushing this before on Google.com, but only just seen this in action on Google UK.
While a number of businesses may serve local markets, this tends to only really apply to the smallest SME’s, with larger SME’s looking for a national [...]
December 5, 2008
What newspaper sales stats tell you about content
by Brian TurnerA report in the Financial Times today providing stats on the fall of newspaper sales shows a very interesting trend.
Take a look at the following stats, showing year on year falls in sales:
The Independent: -8%
Daily Express: -5%
The Guardian: -4.2%
Daily Telegraph: -3.9%
The Times: -3%
Financial Times: -0.7%
It didn’t state stats for the Daily Star and Daily Mirror, [...]
December 4, 2008
New .tel domains are launched
by Brian TurnerNew .tel domains are now available for registration by trademark owners, with the aim of providing a single contact address point for companies.
A land grab will open to the public on February 3rd next year – though at a premium, with .tel domains then available at “normal” price from March 24th next year.
However, as yet, [...]
December 2, 2008
Social Media profiles: the next internet economy
by Brian TurnerBen McKay asks Could you Buy or Sell Social Media Profiles like Business Assets? – to which the resounding answer has to be “yes!”.
The growth of social media has meant that tapping into this market has become a lucrative business, and while at present most try and buy favours from the influencers, it’s obvious the [...]
RankNet and fRank as an indicator of search future
by Brian TurnerMarios Alexandrou takes a look at an older Microsoft fpaper and compares it to PageRank, but what I find interesting in the reading is human user indicators Google could already have in play.
* Popularity as measured by the number of times it was visited by users over time via the toolbar
[...]
Lessons for Freelancers
by Brian TurnerSteven Snell writes an interesting post at Design Mag providing 16 tips for freelancers.
While we’ve seen these sorts of lists before, this is a nice collection in terms of range and depth, and raises pointers that really need underlining, especially in today’s climate of economic uncertainty.
I’ll provide a brief over view of the points below:
1. [...]