google - 10/66 - Arizona SEO | Phoenix SEO

Disabling Right Clicking Should Not Hurt Your Google Ranking & SEO

On January 21, 2010, In SEO, by rustybrick

A new HighRankings Forum thread asks if there is any downside in terms of SEO for using JavaScript that disables the ability to right-click on the page. The thread asks:

One of my company’s sites has right-click functions disabled (yes, I realize this doesn’t really stop people from stealing content – it wasn’t my choice). I’ve noticed when I use a spider emulator (seo-browser.com) that our image alt tags appear to be invisible to the spiders. I can see the alt tags on the actual site, and I’ve verified that they are in the code, but they don’t seem to show up for spiders. Could this be caused by our right-click disabling?

Most people in the thread say that it should have no impact on spiders crawling the site.

I then saw an older thread from Google Webmaster Help where Googler, JohnMu, said the same thing. He said and I bolded the key point:

Personally, I find the use of right-click-blocking JavaScript slightly annoying because there are many legitimate reasons why you might want to use the context menu (eg to bookmark the page) and it doesn’t really stop people from viewing the source (Ctrl-U brings it up if you don’t want to use the main menu). That said, this is not something that would bother Googlebot .

Forum discussion at HighRankings Forum & Google Webmaster Help.

A new HighRankings Forum thread asks if there is any downside in terms of SEO for using JavaScript that disables the ability to right-click on the page. The thread asks:

One of my company’s sites has right-click functions disabled (yes, I realize this doesn’t really stop people from stealing content – it wasn’t my choice). I’ve noticed when I use a spider emulator (seo-browser.com) that our image alt tags appear to be invisible to the spiders. I can see the alt tags on the actual site, and I’ve verified that they are in the code, but they don’t seem to show up for spiders. Could this be caused by our right-click disabling?

Most people in the thread say that it should have no impact on spiders crawling the site.

I then saw an older thread from Google Webmaster Help where Googler, JohnMu, said the same thing. He said and I bolded the key point:

Personally, I find the use of right-click-blocking JavaScript slightly annoying because there are many legitimate reasons why you might want to use the context menu (eg to bookmark the page) and it doesn’t really stop people from viewing the source (Ctrl-U brings it up if you don’t want to use the main menu). That said, this is not something that would bother Googlebot .

Forum discussion at HighRankings Forum & Google Webmaster Help.

Bing’s Auto Search Suggestions Gets More Current

On January 21, 2010, In SEO, by rustybrick

The Bing Search Blog announced that they have now made their search suggestions more current. Now, Bing will update the search suggestions every 15 minutes or so, to take into account breaking news and current trends.

For example, the Australian Open is going on right now and here is me typing [aus] into Bing:

Google already does this with their search suggestions, so it is nice to see Bing go this route as well. Now, Bing will have to deal with questions about censorship of trending topics.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

The Bing Search Blog announced that they have now made their search suggestions more current. Now, Bing will update the search suggestions every 15 minutes or so, to take into account breaking news and current trends.

For example, the Australian Open is going on right now and here is me typing [aus] into Bing:

Google already does this with their search suggestions, so it is nice to see Bing go this route as well. Now, Bing will have to deal with questions about censorship of trending topics.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Build Your Online Presence, One Thing at a Time

On January 21, 2010, In SEO, by Nick Stamoulis

Search engine optimization is not a dash of this and a pinch of that anymore. These days if you are trying to figure out a road map you are already taking the wrong approach. The right approach is fist analyzing every possible communication vehicle online for your website. Find all the national websites where the [...]

Search engine optimization is not a dash of this and a pinch of that anymore. These days if you are trying to figure out a road map you are already taking the wrong approach. The right approach is fist analyzing every possible communication vehicle online for your website. Find all the national websites where the masses are visiting and then find all the smaller niche sites and become visible in all of them.

Here are some things that might be obvious that people over look sometimes that can help your overall online presence and SEO efforts:

• Free Business Profiles: There are many different free business profiles where you can list your business and have a nicely robust business profile with a link to your website that can help businesses move along with new traffic.

• Video Sharing Websites: These days you can launch a relatively inexpensive company video using a variety of online tools. A short forty five second video you can push through all the video sharing sites will tremendously help your SEO efforts over time. Not to mention the video could find its way into search results if optimized correctly.

• Social Networking Profiles: Many people don’t approach this as a source of link building but in reality it does help your overall SEO efforts. The link that the profile gives you allows for communication to the search engines to let them know that you are a legitimate business. Once you start using your social profiles the search engines will understand even more that you are truly trying to market your website with a marketing hat and for this you will be rewarded over time.

• Blog Comments: If you come across a blog post that is relevant to your business make sure to leave a comment behind that is educational and also informative and ads to the blog post. There has been some talk recently if Google will eventually make a change regarding if leaving blog post comments are beneficial. If they are sending traffic to your website even with no link power they are still beneficial regardless. Realize that links send traffic to your website.

When in doubt apply almost every possible communication tool to your business you can find. Some will work well and some won’t but it is important to have every angle covered. Search engine marketing requires you to really blanket yourself across as many locations as possible to really get good visibility within your industry.

First Image for Jesus in Google Images is Offensive

On January 20, 2010, In SEO, by rustybrick

If you search for [Jesus] in Google Images you may notice that the first image has a picture of Jesus smoking a cigaret, with a can of beer in his hand. Here is a picture of the search result:

A searcher complained about this at the Google Web Search Help forums yesterday. So far, there has been no reply by anyone, including a Googler.

I doubt Google will remove the image result. These types of issues come up fairly frequently. The latest one was when Michelle Obama’s image was racist and Google did not remove it, but rather bought an ad explaining why the result was not removed. So I doubt Google will make changes to this image result.

Forum discussion at Google Web Search Help.

If you search for [Jesus] in Google Images you may notice that the first image has a picture of Jesus smoking a cigaret, with a can of beer in his hand. Here is a picture of the search result:

A searcher complained about this at the Google Web Search Help forums yesterday. So far, there has been no reply by anyone, including a Googler.

I doubt Google will remove the image result. These types of issues come up fairly frequently. The latest one was when Michelle Obama’s image was racist and Google did not remove it, but rather bought an ad explaining why the result was not removed. So I doubt Google will make changes to this image result.

Forum discussion at Google Web Search Help.

Google Maps Bugs: Terrain View Missing Labels & LBC Categories Wrong

On January 20, 2010, In SEO, by rustybrick

There are two bugs to report in the Google Maps space. The first is that the Google Maps Terrain view has removed the country labels from the maps. The second is that categories are being added to business listings without them being added by the business owner in the local business center.

The maps terrain issue was reported in the Google Maps Help forum. Here is a picture of what I see in the terrain view. As you can see, the country labels seemed to have disappeared:

Brian from the Google Maps team said, “Thanks for reporting. I made sure this issue was escalated to the appropriate folks and I’ll post an update here when I see it.”

The other bug has to do with the Google Local Business Center. Some are reporting that unwanted categories are being applied to their business listings automatically. A different Google Maps Help thread is tracking this issue. Google Maps employee, Linda said, “Thanks for starting this thread. I will gather some information and get back to you all soon.”

Hopefully both of these bugs will be resolved shortly.

Forum discussion at Google Maps Help.

There are two bugs to report in the Google Maps space. The first is that the Google Maps Terrain view has removed the country labels from the maps. The second is that categories are being added to business listings without them being added by the business owner in the local business center.

The maps terrain issue was reported in the Google Maps Help forum. Here is a picture of what I see in the terrain view. As you can see, the country labels seemed to have disappeared:

Brian from the Google Maps team said, “Thanks for reporting. I made sure this issue was escalated to the appropriate folks and I’ll post an update here when I see it.”

The other bug has to do with the Google Local Business Center. Some are reporting that unwanted categories are being applied to their business listings automatically. A different Google Maps Help thread is tracking this issue. Google Maps employee, Linda said, “Thanks for starting this thread. I will gather some information and get back to you all soon.”

Hopefully both of these bugs will be resolved shortly.

Forum discussion at Google Maps Help.

A Search Engine that Saves the Rain Forest?

On January 20, 2010, In SEO, by Search Engine Optimization, Google Optimization - RSS Feeds

What if you could make the world a greener place merely by using the right search engine That s the question posed by Ecosia a newcomer to a field dominated by Google. Is this just a gimmick Or can we really make this a greener world simply by clicking …

IT Training Programs Get The It Skills That Gets Jobs! Further Your Career Today

Should Google Add “Last Updated” Note to All Search Results?

On January 20, 2010, In SEO, by rustybrick

For new content, Google often adds to the search result a little note of some sort that says how new the content is. Normally in the form of X minutes ago or X hours ago. I have some screen shots of how this works over here. But should Google always do this? Should Google show the date the last time that page was updated in the search results even if it means X years ago?

A Google Web Search Help thread is having discussion just about that feature request. Of course it can come in handy, to know which pages are more up-to-date than others, especially for product reviews and news related content. Google somewhat handles this for articles that contain the dates in them, here is an example:

Notice the dates in the snippets. But again, this is just the date of the article, not the last time the article was updated.

Do you think Google should be sharing this information in the search results?

Should Google Show “Last Updated” Info for ALL Search Results?(polls)

Forum discussion at Google Web Search Help.

For new content, Google often adds to the search result a little note of some sort that says how new the content is. Normally in the form of X minutes ago or X hours ago. I have some screen shots of how this works over here. But should Google always do this? Should Google show the date the last time that page was updated in the search results even if it means X years ago?

A Google Web Search Help thread is having discussion just about that feature request. Of course it can come in handy, to know which pages are more up-to-date than others, especially for product reviews and news related content. Google somewhat handles this for articles that contain the dates in them, here is an example:

Notice the dates in the snippets. But again, this is just the date of the article, not the last time the article was updated.

Do you think Google should be sharing this information in the search results?

Forum discussion at Google Web Search Help.

Study on Google Personalized Search & Re-Ranking Shows Minor SEO Changes

On January 20, 2010, In SEO, by rustybrick

In December, Google announced they will be personalizing all Google results by default. SEOs rightfully were a bit on edge after that announcement, but we did link to an old study on how personalized results impact rankings, overall.

The study has been revised and posted at the Huomah Blog. I won’t go through all the points, but the conclusion is that currently, the personalized changes are so minor that it is not worth SEOs freaking out about them. The overall conclusion of this study stated:

We shouldn’t be changing how we approach things ultimately… Above the fold is the real estate that’s prime (what else is new?). It may be the measuring that we will have to adapt. You will need to find ways to check rankings from a few locales and discern a mean average instead of a definitive placement.

It is worth while reading the whole report at the Huomah Blog.

Forum discussion at Sphinn.

In December, Google announced they will be personalizing all Google results by default. SEOs rightfully were a bit on edge after that announcement, but we did link to an old study on how personalized results impact rankings, overall.

The study has been revised and posted at the Huomah Blog. I won’t go through all the points, but the conclusion is that currently, the personalized changes are so minor that it is not worth SEOs freaking out about them. The overall conclusion of this study stated:

We shouldn’t be changing how we approach things ultimately… Above the fold is the real estate that’s prime (what else is new?). It may be the measuring that we will have to adapt. You will need to find ways to check rankings from a few locales and discern a mean average instead of a definitive placement.

It is worth while reading the whole report at the Huomah Blog.

Forum discussion at Sphinn.

A Canonicalizable Tool

On January 20, 2010, In SEO, by rustybrick

Susan Moskwa, a Google Webmaster Trends Analysts, posted a thread at the Google Webmaster Help forums announcing a new tool her husband created. The tool is named canonicalizable tool and it basically shows you potential canonicalization issues with your home pages. Here is a screen shot:

What I find interesting, and this is not new, but honestly, it is new to me. Susan Moskwa’s husband is the lead developer of the LinkScape tools at SEOmoz. His name is Nick Gerner, so when Susan posted in the Google Webmaster Help , it sparked my interest:

My hubby threw together this tool this weekend:

http://www.nickgerner.com/2010/01/canonicalizable/

What do y’all think? Useful? What else does it need? Obviously I’m biased but I’m sure he’d love feedback.

In any event, the tool looks clean and simple and useful.

Forum discussion at Google Webmaster Help.

Susan Moskwa, a Google Webmaster Trends Analysts, posted a thread at the Google Webmaster Help forums announcing a new tool her husband created. The tool is named canonicalizable tool and it basically shows you potential canonicalization issues with your home pages. Here is a screen shot:

What I find interesting, and this is not new, but honestly, it is new to me. Susan Moskwa’s husband is the lead developer of the LinkScape tools at SEOmoz. His name is Nick Gerner, so when Susan posted in the Google Webmaster Help , it sparked my interest:

My hubby threw together this tool this weekend:

http://www.nickgerner.com/2010/01/canonicalizable/

What do y’all think? Useful? What else does it need? Obviously I’m biased but I’m sure he’d love feedback.

In any event, the tool looks clean and simple and useful.

Forum discussion at Google Webmaster Help.

Google’s New Approach to China: A Closer Look at the Attack Heard ‘Round the Web

On January 19, 2010, In SEO, by Search Engine Watch

Taking a look at the numerous security implications for Google users after last week’s cyber attack on Google by China. …

Disabling Right Clicking Should Not Hurt Your Google Ranking & SEO

Bing’s Auto Search Suggestions Gets More Current

First Image for Jesus in Google Images is Offensive

Google Maps Bugs: Terrain View Missing Labels & LBC Categories Wrong

A Search Engine that Saves the Rain Forest?

Should Google Add “Last Updated” Note to All Search Results?

Study on Google Personalized Search & Re-Ranking Shows Minor SEO Changes

A Canonicalizable Tool

Google’s New Approach to China: A Closer Look at the Attack Heard ‘Round the Web

Categories

Recent Posts

Seth Godin: Sliced Bread

Malcolm Gladwell: Outliers

Anthony Parinello: Your Price is Too High

Tags

Recent Posts

Seth Godin: Sliced Bread

Malcolm Gladwell: Outliers

Anthony Parinello: Your Price is Too High