#5 — Google Buys YouTube for $1.65 Billion

Everywhere else, this is the biggest item in 2006. I get it, and understand why.Please keep in mind though that my list is of the most influential changes of 2006.The core group of Internet users do not use video search to be productive online.If anything, they do it to kill time and productivity.As a result, I find this less influential than the rest of the list.

So why is Google’s acquisition of YouTube influential for those in the SEM industry at all?Well, even for a major company like Google — $1.65 billion is a lot of money.While the cash flow earned from their advertising programs and stock sales help to fund such purchases — it also leaves many doors open for Google to explore.

If Google can commit that much to the acquisition of a company, then one of two things is now likely to happen.Google with either continue to develop into offering services as if they were a full-scale ISP / portal – or — develop video search as a more productive and useful method to retrieving relevant information.

Google has technically owned YouTube now for just over three months — and so far, there haven’t been any notable improvements in video search.Still, it’s something we all need to keep an eye on as 2007 continues on, because if nothing else, we can expect Google to act quickly on this.

#4 – Mainstream Text Link Sales

Once more people began to understand how search engines used inbound links and anchor text as a major contributor for organic search rankings – literally dozens of text link brokers emerged.While some of these companies were very much in place before 2006 began, it was this past year that truly brought them to the front of the marketplace with millions of dollars changing hands in an effort to beat the system.

Simply stated, a budget for text link purchases became as necessary as that for pay per click advertising and directory submissions.

With more sites now inviting text links to be bought and sold, the search engines have begun to crack down on how effective these strategies can be. It’s been rumored that Google has begun automatic filtering when a large number of similarly formatted links emerge in a short time span.Other engines too have hinted at reviewing inbound links for similar behaviors for the purpose of adjusting the rankings.

For those in the industry, this is a huge change.Gone are the days of strategic link building campaigns – not because they rendered themselves ineffective – but simply because the masses have become too powerful to overcome.While there’s still hope that the weight and value of an inbound link will be more strongly considered – we can only sit back and guess at the true methods in which inbound links will now be viewed.

#3 – The Exposure of, and Reaction to Click Fraud

Since the first competitor stumbled across a paid advertisement, there has been click fraud.Denying it would simply show that you think that everyone else is naive — and Google was wise enough back in July to admit as much.

Google had Shuman Ghosemajumder, Business Product Manager for Trust & Safety, address the issue with a full Q&A following a $90 million dollar settlement in July.The exposure of the settlement and the entire case raised eyebrows and prompted a number of changes in the Pay per Click industry.

Just a few weeks before that settlement was made, Yahoo was also forced to offer a click fraud settlement while they improved their systems of fraud prevention.On June 28^th, Yahoo entered a $4.95 million dollar settlement – and then began to make swift changes.

As a result of these cases, both companies agreed to work with other major players in the industry in an effort to better detect, police and education advertisers on click fraud.In my experience, the efforts and offers from Yahoo to its advertisers have been leaps and bounds ahead of Google’s.That’s not too much of a surprise, but it should make for another interesting thing to watch through 2007 as more evidence and attempts of click fraud continue.

#2 – Social Networking Sites and Birth of Social Media Optimization
Consider these quick facts from 2006… MySpace becomes more popular than Yahoo.Google enters the winning bid of $1 billion to handle three years of MySpace’s search functions.Social networks are the most searched for terms of the year on Google. The result?Social Media Optimization, or “SMO” now hits the scene as the next big thing.As Rohit Bhargava explains, the goal of SMO is simple…

“…Implement changes to optimize a site so that it is more easily linked to, more highly visible in social media searches on custom search engines, and more frequently included in relevant posts on blogs, podcasts and vlogs…”

SMO has become the hot topic dominating webmaster conferences and search industry seminars.More and more people are focusing on the marketing of their blogs and social media sites, and as a result – a new source for free traffic has emerged.

Less than five years ago site owners would create a site, add some backlinks from indexed sources, and wait for it to be indexed after the monthly Google update.Today, there’s a more instant gratification with the help of social networking – and strangely enough – effective SMO now results in stronger organic search engine performance.

Clearly, this trend will continue on through 2007 to further shape the industry as we know it…

#1 – Google Continues to Frustrate
When it comes to frustrating webmasters, web marketers and site owners – there’s usually one common villain:Google.The “minus thirty penalty” was our first true glimpse into some of Google’s automated penalization schemes.

Matt Cutts had eluded to those a bit this year when he said that…

“so we also look for problems and leaks in different semi-automatic ways. Reputable sites that sell links won’t have their search engine rankings or PageRank penalized–a search for [daily cal] would still return dailycal.org. However, link-selling sites can lose their ability to give reputation (e.g. PageRank and anchortext).”

First off, Google is their search engine.It makes sense and I understand why they continue to innovate and improve upon search.Unfortunately, a necessary evil in our industry requires them to also hold their cards close to their vest – which leaves us all questioning, speculating and at the very least, hoping.

Aside from the many business moves that Google made this year, there have also been a number of crack downs on those of us in the industry.From the referenced minus-thirty penalty, to “Quality Score” being enforced for AdWords buyers and beyond – one common theme has continued to emerge.We’re at the mercy of Google if we wish to make the most of their potential – and they’ll continue to throw their weight around.

The good news is that white hat SEO has made a number of strides this past year and it seems as though the industry itself is on an upswing again.That’s great for those of us who have made this industry the basis of our careers.Using the strengths of social networking to our advantage and keeping current with Google’s movements should propel us well into 2007.Just remember that while Google will continue to frustrate us as professionals, it will still continue to dominate in usage statistics.As a result, we need to buck up a bit and put our best foot forward to make the most of the sites we market.

In today’s marketplace though, our world is filled with high profile search engine systems. While Google may dominate the existing landscape – it is obvious that the folks at Yahoo and Microsoft each have their own dreams well into the development stage.

Anyone watching news headlines for the past year or so should be aware that Yahoo is a serious contender in the search engine industry. Yahoo has been the most active player in this field having made significant movements in the past year, most notably with it’s acquisition of Inktomi. When someone mentions Microsoft though – why should we believe that MSN may actually become a major player in the search engine marketing industry?

Early speculations first indicated that MSN would begin to use its own search engine platform in the middle of 2005. Back in mid-March however, significant press circulated around a late-2004 launch. That launch, some say, is about to happen sooner than we may want to think.

Towards the end of February of this year a new search engine spider began showing up in server logs everywhere. “MSNBot” had made its first appearance, and quickly became the topic of discussion. Just as some webmasters became excited to see those first few traces of MSNBot, others became a bit curious as they found evidence of the deepest crawl cycles in months by any engine.

When that initial deep crawl began, site owners and marketing managers were extremely excited and with good reason. Having seen Google make drastic changes in both updating indexes and algorithmic ranking – any positive news for optimizers was bound to be the focus of attention and the topic of the hot conversations.

Fast forward just a few months later – and the topic of discussion turned out to be how abusive MSNBot could appear to be. While Microsoft is certainly no stranger to negative press – becoming the new kid on the block in this industry requires a level of responsiveness that many mature organizations cannot afford.

Surprisingly though, this is where one of the largest technology companies in the world stepped up and catered to the demands of the smalltime webmaster.

It is common to see spiders and crawlers digging through thousands of pages on a single web site each day. For some webmasters, if this does not happen – they get worried. For others though, paying for bandwidth and controlling their server environments becomes are far more important than the traffic potential a new (unreleased) search engine may bring.

So when webmaster complained that MSNBot was too aggressive, MSN representatives stepped up to the plate and did the right thing. Over the past month or so, MSNBot had begun to request pages at a much faster rate than many of us had seen since Google stopped its monthly updating cycles. Seeing a new spider, for a new (unreleased) engine doing this – simply did not make sense for many – and webmasters began taking action against MSNBot’s ability to do this. In typical fashion, the industry responded as webmasters began to speak out against MSNBot as they would any other negative situation.

In a surprising maneuver though, a MSN Search representative (under the alias of “msndude”) informed webmasters that as of June 11th, MSNBot was able to review what your preferences were for crawling time. Using the massively popular Webmaster World forum system, the following discussion had begun:

http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum97/93.htm

Controlling a search engine spider through the robots.txt file is nothing new. But the ability to control the retrieve-rates of a spider is an excellent step in the right direction.

If you have been concerned about MSNBot’s tendencies in working with your site, I strongly encourage you to review this referenced discussion. Not only will you learn more about MSNBot and it’s methods for finding information – but you will also become much more in touch with other similar-minded webmasters throughout the world.

In conclusion, let’s not forget just how powerful Microsoft has been with technology. It is clear that MSNBot is a key component to Microsoft and MSN having built out a large search engine platform. Personally, I would let MSNBot have its way with every site I have managed… You simply cannot doubt Microsoft’s intentions to succeed.

An important element to being productive in search engine promotion is to continually stay focused on the goals of your web site campaigns. When I say “stay focused” though, what comes to mind? Most likely you are thinking, “concentrate on what increases relevant traffic.” While that is one way to stay focused and is also an important element to being productive, it will not make or break your successful promotion efforts alone.

I have found time and time again, that your ability to stay focused in this industry is the key to high levels of achievement. When it comes to the search engines, results and ranking algorithms change daily. You need to be mindful and proactive in order to be most successful.

In most promotion campaigns, the tasks of organic optimization, PPC management, submissions and link popularity all mix together in front of your eyes. After having worked in the industry long enough to meet many professionals, I would caution you to be careful of one thing I have seen in myself and others… the tendency to jump from one task to another.

Most promotion campaigns have those four major tasks involved. By starting one of these tasks, putting it down to work on another, then picking up the first one again, you will substantially increase the time needed to complete just one of those items. Again, I have experienced this myself many times, so trust me on this one. When you juggle the tasks of optimization, it simply is not possible to give anything your undivided attention.

So why is this important? Isn’t a half-completed link popularity campaign better than none at all? Aren’t three search engine submissions better than none at all?

Sure, having any one of these tasks even partially completed will help your site immediately in terms of search engine promotion. But please bear in mind that the days of mediocre efforts paying off are long gone. In order to have any web site successfully promoted in the search engines, you need to devote yourself to full time efforts. Those efforts are much more productive when you can concentrate on one element at a time.

Many times, managing one of these tasks will have to rely on someone else’s input. For example, conducting submissions may require you to clear submission fees for directories like Yahoo or engines like Inktomi. With link popularity, it is not uncommon to have to clear potential link partners through legal review for brand compliance and corporate approval. Any time you need to obtain outside input is another potential loss of optimal time management, so try to coordinate your efforts accordingly.

Another key to maintaining successful task completion in search engine promotion and marketing is to remain extremely observant. While you check through traffic and statistical reports, be sure to document as much information as possible in a quick format. I personally use Microsoft Excel to track the projects I manage because it is quick and will interface well with publishing reports for clients and upper management to review.

With our marketplace being so dynamic, and with the engines being so unpredictable, I would like to share with you some additional ideas to help keep you organized, efficient, and productive as you work on your search engine promotion campaigns.

• Confirm meetings with management or clients before you begin a task. By knowing when you will need to present information for review, you can allocate your time more effectively. Once you can see on a calendar what is due when, you can much more easily focus on single tasks at a time.
  
  
• Create a productive environment. In today’s world of casual work environments, you have a lot of freedom to dress and decorate your work area as you would like. But when doing this, keep productivity in mind. Do not allow distractions or clutter effect your work space and keep as many helpful documents on hand and within reach. Some great that I like to have around include Bruce Clay’s Search Engine Relationship Chart as well as the Bare Bones Guide to HTML.
  
  
• Set aside times each day to check in with industry resources and message boards. Staying on top of current events and news allows you to think more about the industry and can often give you great ideas to keep promotion efforts moving forward.
  
  
• Set priorities for your tasks and set priorities for fun. Spending hours staring deep into code and server log files can kill your ability to think clearly. If you have access to an exercise area or just great weather — be sure to get up and get away from your desk a bit to clear your head. Some of the best ideas I have come up with have been thought up while taking a walk around our office park or while playing basketball at lunch time. For some colleagues of mine, just taking a leisurely drive through some quiet roads helps to clear their minds. Whatever works best for you, it is important to have some sort of outlet.
  
  
  
• Without distracting yourself, ask yourself if what you are doing is necessary and important to accomplish your goals. You should have a good mental road map to your objectives and site’s success. If you find that what your doing is irrelevant, rethink why you are doing it. I recently read a quote by Hyrum Smith of Franklin Quest that I feel applies too well to those working hard in this market… “You can be very busy without being effective. What is important is to learn how to do what matters most.”
  
  
  
• Be careful not to be distracted by others imposing their priorities on you – wanting you to do what is important to them! With more and more news sources discussing search engine marketing and promotion, more senior level managers.
  
  
  
• Always remember that you are in control of something enormous. Search engine promotion and search engine marketing is only a tiny facet of online marketing… for now. While less than one percent of marketing funds go towards online marketing, major corporations and small businesses alike can generate significant and immediate growth. With that in mind, remember that it takes discipline to stay focused on those things that are important to you, job wise and personally.

If you find my focusing and organizing ideas useful, please share them with your friends and colleagues but not your competitors! As always, please share with me your ideas for further concentrating on — and making the most of — your search engine promotion efforts.

When the processes and dissections of search engine optimization are stripped down to the basics, content and clean coding proves to be the most effective approach to SEO. Unfortunately, combining a stunning and effective visual design with clean and effectively optimized code +ó?? is difficult to accomplish.

In my experience, creating an excellent web site truly relies on three aspects. These aspects are design, content and marketing. How do these three variables factor into search engine optimization? Why is it some of the top ranking sites just do no work well? Let+ó??s explore these issues and more surrounding this topic.

First off, is the visual design of a website. In most business circumstances, there are visual and graphic designers responsible for creating a visual representation of what a completed web site will look like. Using existing marketing materials as well as color schematics and usability studies +ó?? a visual designer will create this design either on paper or in an image editing utility like Photoshop.

Once that design has been created, it should then move on to the hands of an SEO. Why many would argue that this is too early within the creation process for an SEO to be involved, recall just how much optimization relies on theming content and structuring information accordingly. So now, with a visual representation in hand, an SEO must dissect the visuals and create a close match using nothing more than HTML code.

Despite the appearance a WYSIWYG editor may convey to you, this process is indeed a difficult task +ó?? and one that requires careful thought and planning. Think now of how complex visual site designs first appear +ó?? then think of how they change before going live on a web server.

One of the primary reasons this occurs is because as an SEO you make every attempt to keep HTML coding to a minimum. By doing this, you effectively increase the value held by on page aspects such as body copy and headings. If you have ever spent a day coding a new web site in HTML, try to think of how complex the visuals were when they made it to your desk +ó?? and suddenly you realize why there needed to be compromises made.

Truth be told, there are two technologies that compliment HTML development while also helping to solve many design integration issues. These technologies include Flash, and Cascading Style Sheets. These technologies can hinder an optimization campaign before it starts, while the other may be just the boost you need. Unfortunately, each case is very different.

Lets start by taking a look at Flash. First off, it is an amazing visual tool that combines vector based art and animation with user-oriented programming. You can create animated rollover buttons that link intricately through your site, or perhaps just have one of those (dreaded) splash screens.

Regardless as to how you can use Flash, if you+ó??re serious about optimizing +ó?? then only use flash pieces within your work. In other words, let the Flash contents hold only 10 or 20 percent of the complete pages+ó?? real estate, and do not create an entire site in Flash. Why not? Search engines simply do not have the technology to review Flash completely and accurately as well as treat as if it were any other page. Yes, some engines have followed Google+ó??s lead in being able to spider, crawl and index Flash documents +ó?? but I have yet to come across any indication that Flash is treated similar to any other form of documents on the Internet.

To make a long story short, Flash will help you to integrate visual effects and animations that HTML and static images cannot provide. This comes at a trade off however, as there is no complete documentation showing how spiders and engines treat Flash files. If no one knows how these files are treated, than they cannot be completely optimized.

Let+ó??s move on and take a look into Cascading Style Sheets, or +ó??CSS+ó?? as it is commonly called. CSS is simple way to attach style to already existing HTML elements. Best of all, it is kept within the HTML code itself, and there is never any additional files associated. CSS allows HTML designers to control margins, fonts, font types, colors as well as limited effects like text rollovers.

While CSS is miles apart from the visual accomplishments set by Flash, it can be integrated and optimized much more easily than Flash. As such, I would recommend using integrated CSS over any other visual enhancers unless absolutely necessary.

It is worth noting too, that CSS files can be called upon externally. So, if you wanted to assign the same style sheets throughout your site, you could simply use one CSS file and call an input to that file on every page. While this sounds complex, after using CSS on just a few pages +ó?? you can quickly learn the ropes.

The best part about CSS is that search engine spiders will breeze through your site without any hitches. Granted, they will breeze through a Flash site as well +ó?? but they are not able to gather as much information as they can in a site using CSS.

Other technologies+ó?-ª
There are certainly other technologies available to Designers and HTML Developers. The two used within this article though serve to be amongst the most supported and most applied.


Making the Designs Work
Regardless of what (if any) technologies you choose to apply to accomplish visual messages +ó?? do so cautiously and work closely with the visual designers. Typically, designers hate to see what the HTML developers do when they chop up designs +ó?? and in return +ó?? HTML developers often cringe at well-designed compositions. In most cases though, you can work together to fine tune the aspects of a page+ó??s coding to maintain the same design theme throughout all of your work.

If you are responsible for coordinating the HTML developments and more importantly – the optimization – bear in mind that a search engine friendly site does not have to be a simple site. There are a number of ways that you can creatively engineer an optimization campaign to work around a very visual design, and still harvest excellent results.

Remember too, that becoming frustrated when working with technologies like these is counter-productive. When all else fails, take a step back and review what someone else+ó??s work looks like for ideas and inspiration