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Tynt Is A Cool Specialized Analytic Service

On April 18, 2010, In Internet Marketing, SEO, by Pat McCarthy

John Battelle’s recent post as well as an email from a friend turned me to Tynt. John goes into a bunch of detail that I won’t repeat here, but essentially what Tynt does is tracks what people are copying and pasting from your site’s content while also adding an attribution link to your site [...]

John Battelle’s recent post as well as an email from a friend turned me to Tynt. John goes into a bunch of detail that I won’t repeat here, but essentially what Tynt does is tracks what people are copying and pasting from your site’s content while also adding an attribution link to your site when they do so.

This is a great idea. It’s a little bit shocking nobody has thought of this until now, but it’s a very useful tool for publishers in a few different ways:

  • Generate more links and traffic to your site – Every time any of your content is pasted into email or a blog post Tynt’s code adds a link to the page the content was copied from. This will help drive users back to the original content, as well as potentially help search engine ranking if those attribution links make it onto web pages.

  • See what type of content is being copied – Tynt provides analytics that shows you what content is being shared and how much traffic it is driving. This can be useful to learn what type of content you should create more of, and what types of people are sharing it so you can see if you’re getting engagement from key audiences.

  • Generate revenue from searches – Tynt recognizes short pieces of copied text as likely searches, and intercepts the search going to one of the major engines and then plans to share the revenue from searches that result in ad clicks with the publishers. I’m not sure this is fully scaled yet, but it looks like a potential revenue stream for larger publishers that could be worthwhile.

That being said, I think Tynt would be more powerful built into a pre-existing analytics service. Having to go to another place to check out your “copy and paste” stats separate from the rest of your analytics is a pain. Additionally, having to place another code snippet on your page is not ideal either, it’d be much easier if this was part of an analytics package that already existed today. Maybe this makes Tynt an acquisition target down the road by either a larger analytic company or one of the search engines who wants to serve search results on Tynt copy and paste search queries. Interesting stuff.

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7 Ways to Use the Web Developer Toolbar for SEO

On December 20, 2009, In SEO, by RobOusbey

Posted by RobOusbey

Amongst the add-ons I add to any new install of Firefox is the Web Developer Toolbar by Chris Pederick. (Find the install links at the bottom of this post.)

Obviously, this add-on is chock-full of features that are useful for web developers, but it really does make diagnosing various SEO issues much easier. This list gives the top seven tasks that I find easier when the toolbar is installed.

Web Developer Toolbar
Click on any of the small images in this post to see them in full size.

1. Browse Like a Robot

By turning off JavaScript and Cookies, you can browse the web as it’s seen by ‘bots (which in most cases can’t accept cookies or execute JavaScript.) This basic change can help you recognise site architecture issues pretty quickly, such as when a main navigation bar is displayed using JavaScript or when visitors who can’t accept cookies always get redirected to the front page. (Yes, I’ve seen both of these in the wild.)

2. See What the Spiders See

For a more hardcore spider-emulation experience, use the Toolbar to turn off styles and images. The sudden appearance of previously cloaked text or seeing that the ‘main heading’ is actually an H4 item and sat 75% of the way through the content might suggest why a particular page is having issues.

SEOMoz without the style
This is how the site looked before Timmy joined

Although different spiders treat meta redirects in different ways, it can often be easier to diagnose some on-site issues if you disable them altogether via ‘Disable → Meta Redirects‘. To see what the site serves up to different user agents (such as mobile devices, GoogleBot, etc) you’ll want to get the author’s other successful add-on, the user-agent switcher.

3. See the Structure

Talking of page structure, you can press ‘Information → View Document Outline‘ to see the structure of a page, or simply ‘Outline → Outline Headings‘ to see the hierarchy of headings within the page.

SEOMoz's structure

4. Validation and Best Practices

The toolbar gives quick access to code validation tools (such as the HTML, CSS and RSS validation from WC3.) There are also options to highlight links without title attributes, or images with missing (or blank) alt attributes.

5. A Tip for Search Marketers Who do CRO as Well

Those of us with our massive screens (by the way, did you see this guy?) might not always appreciate how people view our pages. However, a quick click on the ‘resize’ button lets you see the site through the viewport of an older monitor or a net book.

LoveFilm's front page
I should probably let LoveFilm know that 20% of people can’t see their big green ‘Start a free trial’ button.

6. Making Web Page Screen Captures Easier

A change we’ve tried to make at Distilled recently is to include more illustrative images in our client reports. A fiddly task that comes up from time to time is creating a screen shot of a web page, but without it being obvious which links you’re already clicked on. A quick click on ‘Miscellaneous → Visited Links → Mark All Links Unvisited‘ removes the ‘visited’ styles from any links on the page.

7. Reputation Management Tip: Anonymity Made Easy

A year ago, I posted about how to hide your referrer string when browsing, as a handy way to prevent people seeing that you’re probing their site. It’s much easier to do with the Web Developer Toolbar, by simply clicking ‘Disable → Disable Referrers‘

Has Rand used the costume before?

You can read more about the Web Developer Tool Add-On, or if you’re running Firefox, simply install it now.

If you’re already a convert to this add-on, do let us know in the comments of any other features you use regularly.

Do you like this post? Yes No

Posted by RobOusbey

Amongst the add-ons I add to any new install of Firefox is the Web Developer Toolbar by Chris Pederick. (Find the install links at the bottom of this post.)

Obviously, this add-on is chock-full of features that are useful for web developers, but it really does make diagnosing various SEO issues much easier. This list gives the top seven tasks that I find easier when the toolbar is installed.

Web Developer Toolbar
Click on any of the small images in this post to see them in full size.

1. Browse Like a Robot

By turning off JavaScript and Cookies, you can browse the web as it’s seen by ‘bots (which in most cases can’t accept cookies or execute JavaScript.) This basic change can help you recognise site architecture issues pretty quickly, such as when a main navigation bar is displayed using JavaScript or when visitors who can’t accept cookies always get redirected to the front page. (Yes, I’ve seen both of these in the wild.)

2. See What the Spiders See

For a more hardcore spider-emulation experience, use the Toolbar to turn off styles and images. The sudden appearance of previously cloaked text or seeing that the ‘main heading’ is actually an H4 item and sat 75% of the way through the content might suggest why a particular page is having issues.

SEOMoz without the style
This is how the site looked before Timmy joined

Although different spiders treat meta redirects in different ways, it can often be easier to diagnose some on-site issues if you disable them altogether via ‘Disable → Meta Redirects‘. To see what the site serves up to different user agents (such as mobile devices, GoogleBot, etc) you’ll want to get the author’s other successful add-on, the user-agent switcher.

3. See the Structure

Talking of page structure, you can press ‘Information → View Document Outline‘ to see the structure of a page, or simply ‘Outline → Outline Headings‘ to see the hierarchy of headings within the page.

SEOMoz's structure

4. Validation and Best Practices

The toolbar gives quick access to code validation tools (such as the HTML, CSS and RSS validation from WC3.) There are also options to highlight links without title attributes, or images with missing (or blank) alt attributes.

5. A Tip for Search Marketers Who do CRO as Well

Those of us with our massive screens (by the way, did you see this guy?) might not always appreciate how people view our pages. However, a quick click on the ‘resize’ button lets you see the site through the viewport of an older monitor or a net book.

LoveFilm's front page
I should probably let LoveFilm know that 20% of people can’t see their big green ‘Start a free trial’ button.

6. Making Web Page Screen Captures Easier

A change we’ve tried to make at Distilled recently is to include more illustrative images in our client reports. A fiddly task that comes up from time to time is creating a screen shot of a web page, but without it being obvious which links you’re already clicked on. A quick click on ‘Miscellaneous → Visited Links → Mark All Links Unvisited‘ removes the ‘visited’ styles from any links on the page.

7. Reputation Management Tip: Anonymity Made Easy

A year ago, I posted about how to hide your referrer string when browsing, as a handy way to prevent people seeing that you’re probing their site. It’s much easier to do with the Web Developer Toolbar, by simply clicking ‘Disable → Disable Referrers‘

Has Rand used the costume before?

You can read more about the Web Developer Tool Add-On, or if you’re running Firefox, simply install it now.

If you’re already a convert to this add-on, do let us know in the comments of any other features you use regularly.

Do you like this post? Yes No

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Get Ready, Here Come More Google AdWords Account Bans

On November 17, 2009, In SEO, by rustybrick

The mass AdWords banning that has continued on since late September of this year is just going to get worse. Google told me last night that they are stepping up the account level bans and making them permanent on the account level.

Nick Fox of Google told me Google is now better at enforcement and able to offer more comprehensive enforcement of their existing policies. This is why they have decided to step up these efforts by banning not just sites from advertising, but complete accounts and permanently stopping them from signing up for new accounts (they have ways).

In the past, I complained that Google replied to AdWords advertisers with lame responses. Fox promised me that the communication process with these account bans have been improved. All accounts that are being banned will get an email from Google telling them they have been banned and instructing them how to appeal the ban. All appeals will get a response from Google, no matter what.

I am some more details at Search Engine Land about this and AdWordsAdvisor posted a note at WebmasterWorld about this as well, the message read:

In keeping with our mission to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful, we spend a tremendous amount of time and effort monitoring the quality of our search and ad results. As we’ve stated many times before, Google’s primary focus is on delivering the best possible search experience to our end users. To help further this goal, we work with our advertisers in a number of different ways to help them design and run the best ads possible.

Unfortunately, some online advertisers continue to promote services and websites that do not help, and in some cases could harm, our users. For instance, these advertisers may offer free services that bait users into accepting hidden fees. Or these advertisers may attempt to deliver malware to unsuspecting web citizens. Regardless of the practice, these types of campaigns do not benefit our users and we therefore take steps to enforce our policies and prevent such advertisers from running ads through our systems.

Over the last decade Google has implemented a number of systems and processes to identify and disable ads that direct users to these offending websites. However, the ad disabling procedures have resulted in ongoingback and forth between us and these questionable advertisers as they try to outsmart our systems and processes. Therefore, we’re being stricter with advertisers who deliver a bad user experience by permanently disabling AdWords accounts that engage in prohibited behavior.

Recently we began implementing this new account disabling. As a result, many advertisers who provide a poor user experience and have previously had their ads disabled will now have their accounts disabled.

We take our user, advertiser and publisher experiences very seriously, and remain dedicated to delivering only the highest quality advertising results to our users. We believe this new process of permanently disabling accounts will markedly improve the overall experience of our users, advertisers and publishers.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld and DigitalPoint Forums.


The mass AdWords banning that has continued on since late September of this year is just going to get worse. Google told me last night that they are stepping up the account level bans and making them permanent on the account level.

Nick Fox of Google told me Google is now better at enforcement and able to offer more comprehensive enforcement of their existing policies. This is why they have decided to step up these efforts by banning not just sites from advertising, but complete accounts and permanently stopping them from signing up for new accounts (they have ways).

In the past, I complained that Google replied to AdWords advertisers with lame responses. Fox promised me that the communication process with these account bans have been improved. All accounts that are being banned will get an email from Google telling them they have been banned and instructing them how to appeal the ban. All appeals will get a response from Google, no matter what.

I am some more details at Search Engine Land about this and AdWordsAdvisor posted a note at WebmasterWorld about this as well, the message read:

In keeping with our mission to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful, we spend a tremendous amount of time and effort monitoring the quality of our search and ad results. As we’ve stated many times before, Google’s primary focus is on delivering the best possible search experience to our end users. To help further this goal, we work with our advertisers in a number of different ways to help them design and run the best ads possible.

Unfortunately, some online advertisers continue to promote services and websites that do not help, and in some cases could harm, our users. For instance, these advertisers may offer free services that bait users into accepting hidden fees. Or these advertisers may attempt to deliver malware to unsuspecting web citizens. Regardless of the practice, these types of campaigns do not benefit our users and we therefore take steps to enforce our policies and prevent such advertisers from running ads through our systems.

Over the last decade Google has implemented a number of systems and processes to identify and disable ads that direct users to these offending websites. However, the ad disabling procedures have resulted in ongoingback and forth between us and these questionable advertisers as they try to outsmart our systems and processes. Therefore, we’re being stricter with advertisers who deliver a bad user experience by permanently disabling AdWords accounts that engage in prohibited behavior.

Recently we began implementing this new account disabling. As a result, many advertisers who provide a poor user experience and have previously had their ads disabled will now have their accounts disabled.

We take our user, advertiser and publisher experiences very seriously, and remain dedicated to delivering only the highest quality advertising results to our users. We believe this new process of permanently disabling accounts will markedly improve the overall experience of our users, advertisers and publishers.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld and DigitalPoint Forums.



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Is SEO Your Bottom Line Or A Sideline Activity?

On November 3, 2009, In SEO, by Nick Stamoulis

Different online marketers achieve success in different ways. But I’d be willing to bet that most of the ones who hit it big do so by using search engine optimization as a primary internet marketing tool to drive targeted visitors that lead to sales. Why did I come to that conclusion?
Besides having been [...]

Different online marketers achieve success in different ways. But I’d be willing to bet that most of the ones who hit it big do so by using search engine optimization as a primary internet marketing tool to drive targeted visitors that lead to sales. Why did I come to that conclusion?

Besides having been in the internet marketing industry for 12 years, I have seen almost everything (believe me NOTHING surprises me at all! :) Also, social media marketing is still struggling and learning to find its groove with companies from a marketing perspective. A recent survey by CitiBank and GfK Roper reveals that most small business owners don’t rely on social media (in fact 63% of all small businesses surveyed said that the social networking component of social media marketing was not helpful at all!). As a result they get more sales and leads out of their own websites and search engine optimziation efforts. Even without that survey, however, I’d still say the same thing.

Most people, even today, if they want to find information, go to one of the search engines. A few people Twitter a question or head to Yahoo! Answers. But most of them will still attempt to search through one of the search engines. If they don’t succeed in getting the answer to their question on the first search query, they’ll send another query. The same search with a twist.

In other words, search is still the major factor in website success. A few years ago, no matter which website you were looking at, about 80% of the traffic was coming from a search engine – and most of that from Google. In fact, I think at one time about 80% of all Web traffic came from Google. Now it’s probably around the 70% range. The other 30% comes from various social media websites and third-party referrers.

This tells me that you can’t really succeed online without search engine traffic. Most social media traffic still doesn’t convert. That is, a low percentage of social media traffic converts compared to a higher percentage for search engine traffic, which includes organic search and paid search.

That’s why I think online marketers who make SEO a major factor in their online marketing campaigns will do better than marketers who make SEO a sideline activity. Which one are you?

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Different Ways You Can Build Links

On October 16, 2009, In SEO, by Nick Stamoulis

New webmasters get caught up sometimes in the different methods of link building and lose site of the big picture. Perhaps the most common form of link building is directory submissions. Talk to anyone who has done a fair amount of link building and they will almost always recommend link building through directory submissions (really [...]

New webmasters get caught up sometimes in the different methods of link building and lose site of the big picture. Perhaps the most common form of link building is directory submissions. Talk to anyone who has done a fair amount of link building and they will almost always recommend link building through directory submissions (really good quality ones, such as Yahoo! Directory, DMOZ or Business.com). However, directory submissions is one only method of link building. In order to build a more diverse portfolio of links you need to branch out from there.

The most important thing to remember about link building is diversity. It isn’t enough to have high quality links. It isn’t enough to have a high quantity of links. You need to build a good number of high quality links from a variety of sources. It’s called link diversity.

Link diversity is simply the idea that you don’t focus on one particular type of website for your links. For instance, directory submissions. You really need to build links in other ways – in addition to directory submissions. The following list is meant to give you an idea of how you can approach link diversity. It’s not exhaustive.

  • Blog Comments
  • Online Publicity
  • Article Marketing
  • Social Bookmarking
  • Social Networking Profiles
  • Local Profiles
  • Video Marketing
  • Blogging
  • Industry Associations
  • Local Profiles

Link building is not so much about getting as many links as you can or about getting as many high quality links as you can, but it’s about getting the right kind of links from the right mix of websites. Be judicious in your link building and don’t focus on one type of website.

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