First Scribe Creates SEO Facebook Application

Let's face it, a good portion of an SEO Specialist's job is spent in competitive analysis. What better way to cut through the repetitive motion than with an automated tool? The First Scribe development team has built us a tool that saves us a ton of time checking inbound links and page saturation in Google. Now we're releasing it to the public!


The SEO Facebook Application by First Scribe

The SEO Widget is a fairly simple tool that saves us an amazing amount of time. The app is available as a true Facebook application and also via the SEO Widget 2.0 page on our website.

The application accepts your URL and any number of competitors. It then pings Google with the website addresses and returns the number of inbound links and current page saturation in Google.

Why go to Google repeatedly when you can fetch the list all at once?

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Google and Bing Fight for Content

It’s becoming clearer by the day that Google sees Bing’s presence as a threat to their service.

Because of Microsoft’s investment in improving Bing’s search algorithm and speed, the technology gap that once separated Google from its largest competitor has been narrowed significantly. Whereas years ago improvements to scalability, client-side usability, and relevancy of contextual search results helped push Google to the front of the pack, this noticeable technological disparity has slowly evaporated over time. Given Bing’s relative success when it comes to shopping and travel searches, as well as its recent deal with Twitter and Facebook to improve search results for these services (Google struck a similar deal just two hours later), it looks as if both companies are attempting to aggressively expand their feature-sets and the scope of content being queried.

The most recent development is Google’s partnership with streaming audio service Lala and the MySpace-owned iLike. The deal promises to bring streaming music to the Google page, allowing users to listen to a song once-thru for free or to pay for repeated listens (10 cents for an online-only version, and $1 for a downloadable mp3). The technical details are still a bit sketchy, but if Google manages to integrate this into their search in a substantial way (audio search, store search, improved MySpace search and caching, etc.), then they’ll have managed to set the bar higher for content search and potentially make up for any shortcomings in other areas like their previous attempts at integrating their search with online merchants.

Google clearly recognizes the level of competition that Microsoft brings to the table with Bing, and as time goes on it will be interesting to see where these two tech industry giants focus their efforts.

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Bing takes search share from Google

Bing has started to take some search share from Google.

Yahoo has dropped from 20.1% in May to 19.3% in August. Google has dropped from a 65% share in May to 64.6% in August, which is only half of the market share loss experienced by Yahoo.

Microsoft, which started at an 8% share in May has increased to a 9.3% share in August according to the latest comScore search engine rankings.

The question remains to be seen if Bing's market share is from the advertising initiative and "I have to try it" factor, or if it's from actual customer satisfaction. If Bing's success is customer satisfaction then they will easily have a double digit share of the search market before the year is out. Satisfied customers tend to give great word of mouth advertising, which can only help Bing in the long run.

If Google continues to lose their market share at the same pace, while Bing grows at this pace, Bing should overcome Google around August of 2020. We'll be watching. (yes, we're aware this is faulty math)

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Does domain age matter?

Within the last year Google has finally gone on record to comment on the significance of a domain name's age and how it affects rankings in search engines.

The most recent instance occurred when Matt Cutts addressed this in the GoogleWebmasterHelp YouTube channel back in May:



Cutts also provided a similar glimmer of insight earlier in the year when he said:

To the best of my knowledge, no search engine has ever confirmed that they use length-of-registration as a factor in scoring. If a company is asserting that as a fact, that would be troubling.

So, yes, we do have two recent statements wherein Google specifically touches on the issue of domain registration length and its effect on search engine rankings, but (un)surprisingly both of these responses are fairly ambiguous. He isn't specifically saying that a domain's age doesn't have an effect on search engine rankings, just that it doesn't matter all that much when you look at the big picture.

If we were to take Cutts' statements for what they are, then we can infer that a three month old domain won't have any significant or noticeable competitive handicap when compared to a one or even two-year-old domain. A number of people have come out of the woodwork to argue against this point, and we've even begun to see a number of registration companies and domain squatters who are more than happy to use a domain name's age as a selling point.

But for many of the people who have shown good returns on established domains, their sites are often tied to high-quality, well-written content, as well as established and strong in-bound links. Regardless of whether or not age plays a large role in Google's algorithm, it's very rare for a brand new domain to have all of these things associated with it at launch. It takes planning, follow-thru, and more importantly time, to pull all of these things together. So it should come as no surprise that a site that has been actively updated and maintained for a year or two would hold an advantage over a newly christened site; there just wasn't as much time or effort put into the new site.

None of the factors that go into SEO exist in a vacuum, and a good portion of optimizing a site well often involves seeing the forest for the trees. While many people within the industry can argue the merits of holding on to established domains, the focus should never be specifically centered on one aspect. Now that we have an official word on this matter, one would hope that the subject could be dropped in favor of techniques that speak more to the substantive long-term and short-term needs of a site.

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Bing Gains Ground - Sorry Yahoo

Google has held the lion's share of search volume for years now and it continues to grow. July numbers from StatCounter put the volume in the range of 77%. Yahoo follows with 11% and Bing is up a percent to 9.4%.

It would appear that Microsoft's huge advertising blitz (and a much improved product) have given them an upward growth curve. They're up 1.4% at the expense of Yahoo, which is down a percent.

The share of search dollars spent is also shifting up for Google, according to J.P. Morgan stats. Google captured about 72% of search dollars in the 2nd quarter of 2009. That's up almost 2% compared to the same time in 2008 - and the change is almost entirely at Yahoo's expense.

Mobile Search

The most surprising numbers come in the area of mobile search where Yahoo is strong at 34% of the the search market in the U.S. Google holds about 63% of the market, according to ComScore data.

Display Advertising

Where does Yahoo still outperform the others? Display advertising.

Yahoo controls 13% of the display ad views on content-network sites. Microsoft and Google lag behind at 5.5% and 1.3% respectively.

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Nick Passes Google Analytics Individual Qualification (GAIQ)

We are proud to announce that every member of our Minneapolis SEO team holds the Google Analytics Individual Qualification (GAIQ). Nick Davis joins the ranks of Ken Kralick and Dan Epley among the holders of this prominent certification.

Google Analytics is the tool of choice for many beginning web analytics users but most quickly hit a glass ceiling of functionality without proper training. We strongly believe that the true power of Google Analytics can rival many of the expensive web analytics tools on the market if you have the know-how to unlock Segmentation, Filters, and Event tracking.

GAIQ Certification

The Google Analytics IQ certification is proof that an individual holds a proficiency in the Google Analytics advanced tool set. It provides solid assurance to a client that the the "analytics pro" actually holds training and experience in the tool.

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Ken Passes Google Analytics Individual Qualification (GAIQ)

We are proud to announce another certification to our SEO team! Ken Kralick has joined Dan Epley's rank among the rank and file with a Google Analytics Individual Qualification (GAIQ).

Google Analytics is intended to be a great tool for a new user but there are advanced functions buried inside the software. This advanced functionality in Segmentation, Filters, and Event tracking give the free analytics tool a power to rival the expensive web analytics tools on the market.

GAIQ Certification

The Google Analytics IQ certification is proof that an individual holds a proficiency in the Google Analytics advanced tool set. It provides solid assurance to a client that the the "analytics pro" actually holds training and experience in the tool.

Experience and Training make the difference

Wouldn't you like to know how Pay Per Click (PPC) visitors are interacting with your website? Do you think the PPC visitors do the same thing on your website as the organic search visitors? What about repeat visitors? Can you filter out internal company traffic? From all your branch offices?

All of this is simple to track in Google Analytics but you need the training and experience to make it work. The Google Analytics Individual Qualification (GAIQ) assures clients that we have that knowledge.

Many Certifications

Our SEO team holds certifications across the many facets of our services. We believe that industry certifications are important and they help us stand up in the crowd of competition. If nothing else, it proves that we are willing to put our money where our mouth is, pass the industry tests and keep the certifications current.

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New Google Chrome Beta is Faster

Our main complaint with the existing Google Chrome browser was the occasional (and unexplainable) lag during start up and while browsing. We found it to be enough of an irritation that everyone in the office returned to FireFox or Internet Explorer.

The new beta release may change those choices:

According to Google engineers, the latest "beta release shows over 30% improvement on both the V8 and SunSpider benchmarks over our current stable channel release."

It's hard to scoff at a measurable gain of 30%.

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Microhoo! - The Microsoft/Yahoo! Search Partnership

Microsoft(Bing) and Yahoo! announced a search partnership to begin in early 2010. You can read more at CNN Money. This partnership will put Bing search results from between 25-30% of total market share. Yahoo will still be responsible for attracting premium advertisers, no word yet direct effect this will have on PPC advertisers.

The search partnership has great timing as Bing continues to spend its way to popularity. This should lead to another swing of talk about the, now more interesting, Bing vs. Google competition. Although Google is still king, and will be for the foreseeable future, this is the first real competitor (as far as search share goes) they've seen this decade.

With Bing now a substantial piece of search results, will PPC costs in Google begin to become cheaper as advertisers shift budgets around? Or will advertisers even bother shifting budgets any more than they already have? Will the relatively low PPC costs of Yahoo! and Bing begin to cost more?

Plenty of questions around this merger, should make for an interesting 2010 for SEM.

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Analytics Certifications

As marketing budgets become more scrutinized there is an increased need to stretch every dollar for optimum performance. Stretching that dollar is a topic by itself, but in order to find out how far that dollar goes we need to have proper analytics in place. Whether that solution is Omniture, or Google, First Scribe is able to cover both avenues.

Dan Epley recently completed the Omniture Certified Professional: SiteCatalyst and Google Analytics Individual Qualification certifications ensuring that whichever package is chosen we're prepared.

Omniture is the industry-leading product that provides web sites with one place to measure, analyze, and optimize data from all online initiatives across multiple channels.

Google Analytics is a web analytics solution that gives you insights into your website traffic and marketing effectiveness. With Google Analytics, you're more prepared to write better-targeted ads, strengthen your marketing initiatives and create higher converting websites.

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Craig Davis is a Google Adwords Qualified Individual

Craig Davis of First Scribe Inc. has been using Google's Pay Per Click advertising service, Google Adwords, to varying degrees for roughly 4 years. In order to further his knowledge of the Adwords system, he recently studied for, and handily succeeded in passing, the Google Advertising Professional Exam to become a Google Adwords Qualified Individual.

The Google Adwords certification exam is an exhaustive test covering all aspects of the Adwords system. Topics include account creation, billing, administration and optimization. The intent is to ensure marketing professionals have a complete understanding of the Google Adwords platform. With this knowledge a Google Advertising Pro can create and administer high-performance Adwords campaigns.

Craig is a valuable member of the First Scribe Search Engine Marketing team. In his tenure he has managed many of our most prominent SEM accounts. We are proud to have another team member among the ranks of the Adwords Qualified Individuals.

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Nick Davis a Google Adwords Qualified Individual

Nick Davis of First Scribe Inc. has been using Google's Pay Per Click advertising service, Google Adwords, for roughly 2 years. As part of his ongoing development at First Scribe, he recently passed the Google Advertising Professional Exam to become a Google Adwords Qualified Individual.

This exam is a comprehensive test covering all aspects of the Adwords system from account creation and administration through to successful campaign management and optimization. The training and exam also cover the use of Google Adwords to measure Conversion and Return on Investment from Pay Per Click advertising.

Nick has done well to take the training, internalize the techniques, and then handily pass the certification exam. Nick is a valuable member of the First Scribe Internet Marketing team and we are proud to have another team member among the ranks of the Adwords Qualified Individuals.

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Most Popular Google Searches -- Part 2

In January we posted a reference to Google's Zeitgeist - a listing of the previous year's most popular Google searches.

This posting received a lot of search traffic so we decided it was time to add another tidbit.

Back By Popular Demand - Part 2!

It appears that Google has the kinks worked out of their new Google Hot Trends tool. This tool shows you the top 100 most searched terms in the Google search engine. You can even change the date to look at specific days - back to May 15, 2007.

Your Mileage May Vary

I don't know how useful this information is to the general public. I honestly doubt some of the keywords that it displays, such as this beauty ranked #65 on May15, 2007 -

"what clinton aide once felt compelled to explain that “i talked to the white house” meant he talked to some people and not to the building".

We look at the content for trends but I find it very hard to believe that phrase was among the top 100 for the day.

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Does Yahoo Prefer Yahoo Cart Sites?

Does Yahoo prefer shopping carts in the Yahoo store environment?

We've heard this issue in quite a few circles for 2 specific arguments:

· The Yahoo engine prefers the Yahoo cart.

· A Yahoo cart won’t work in Google SEO.

While both of these points may have an amount of truth to them, neither of these arguments appear to us to be *true enough* for concern. That is to say, we aren’t concerned with the Yahoo search engine, per se. And we have Yahoo carts that perform nicely in Google.

Google is the engine of choice

Google holds the Lion's share of market value and that trend grows every year. For our clients’ sites, across product vertical, Average revenue per visitor is higher for visits from Google vs. Yahoo.

We will work through the Yahoo cart as if it’s just another website. However, we migrate people off the Yahoo cart at every opportunity. The cart is difficult to use; it is a quantifiable hindrance to Google SEO; and the backend admin area is difficult.

Does Yahoo Prefer Yahoo Cart Sites?

Not necessarily. The Cart seems to have nothing to do with this question. The answer boils down to how well the site is optimized in general. Here is a Yahoo cart site that we are watching. Their site ranks better in Google than it does in Yahoo:

	Google	Yahoo	Change
Name	1	1	0
	2	2	0
Keyword 1	5	Not in first 30.	26
Keyword 2	10	Not in first 30.	21
	14	Not in first 30.	17
Keyword 3	18	2	(16)
	23		7
Keyword 4	1	Not in first 30.	30
	2	Not in first 30.	29
Keyword 5	4	Not in first 30.	26
Keyword 6	Not in first 30.	21	(9)
Primary Keyword	1	14	13
Keyword 7	23	11	(12)
Keyword 8	12	8	(4)
	13		17
Keyword 9	11	4	(7)
Keyword 10	6	3	(3)
	15		15
Keyword 11	2	3	1
Keyword 12	6	2	(4)
			147

Summary:

This client is concerned about moving from the Yahoo cart to an eCommerce Platform but they are worried that their revenue will suffer. Yahoo is their number 2 source of revenue and they don't want to lose that share.

We don’t in any way doubt that a large portion of their business is derived from Yahoo visitors. The Yahoo demographic matches nicely with people who would go out and buy their product line.

What is the real question?

The real question is different than they think…

It would be really nice to know if revenue per visitor is higher from Yahoo versus Google. If the average is the same, then open up Google traffic and forget about Yahoo.

Yahoo traffic and revenue might well suffer with a push in Google. But the net gain should be a significant increase in revenue.

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Google Crawling Past HTML Forms

Regular readers of our blog will probably attest to the idea that we are big proponents of the Google search engine. Let's face it, we abide by Google's suggested rules of engagements and our efforts result in quality listings for our clients.

It is rare that we speak negatively of the Google "system" outside of rising Pay Per Click costs and a general lack of competition.

We have a new gripe.

Google Is Crawling Past HTML Forms

A recent post to the Google Webmaster Central Blog tells all about how Google is programming their spider to explore content behind HTML forms. The main reason for this work is to "discover new web pages and URLs that we otherwise couldn't find and index..."

They go on to speak about adhering to good Internet citizenry practices such as following noindex, nofollow, and robots.txt directives. They obviously won't get past a login form but they will quickly bypass a GET form pointing to database results.

This is an SEO nightmare.

Optimized Your Post-Form Pages Much?

If you've done your homework, your database site has a navigational flow to the deep content that you want indexed. Your .php and .asp form results are undoubtedly pure user functionality with little care to metatags and headers.

The forms are just a way for your visitors to get right to the goods, right?

Well, now your non-optimized, form-result pages with non-specific metatags (if they exist) are available to the Googlebot.

Don't build pages for Google!

How many times have you heard that statement? Don't build content for Google. Don't optimize content for Google. Yeah, right.

By definition their search engine looks for, and appropriately ranks, relevant content. The only way that content gets relevant is if someone makes it relevant. They're about to climb through some forms and find a wealth of unoptimized, irrelevant trash.

In their own words, "This experiment is part of Google's broader effort to increase its coverage of the web."

Unfortunately this effort will uncover some real garbage. I have a feeling most of that garbage is titled "Search Results".

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Another Search Engine Gives Up

What is it about the "Winter Blues" that causes search engines to give up the race with Google?

Yahoo Gives Up

January, 2006 - Yahoo concedes 2nd place:

“We don’t think it’s reasonable to assume we’re going to gain a lot of share from Google,” Chief Financial Officer Susan Decker said in an interview. “It’s not our goal to be No. 1 in Internet search. We would be very happy to maintain our market share.” (Story)

As it turns out they lost significant market share in 2006 and 2007. Now they're fending off takeover attempts by MSN and others.

Ask.com Gives Up

March, 2008 - Ask.com Abandons Chase

We were excited to see Ask.com abandon the old "Ask Jeeves" look and feel in 2007. They shifted their aim to become a quality all-purpose search engine with relevant results. Their efforts were noticeable in the search engine rankings and we shifted efforts to their engine.

That is no longer the case. Yesterday they announced they have shifted gears. The new target is on "finding answers to basic questions about recipes, hobbies, children's homework, entertainment and health." (CNN.com Story)

We are very disappointed with this turn of events.

Disappointment

Google is a good search engine and we rely on their relevant results. Unfortunately they have a monopoly within the search industry and it has (and will) stifle innovation through competition.

Cost per click rates continue to sky-rocket as competition falls to the way-side.

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Most Popular Google Searches

Each year we Internet Marketing types take a break after New Year's to blog about some of our findings from the previous year. A "2007 post-game show" as it were.

No single organization provides us with more Post-game fodder than Google and Google's 2007 Zeitgeist is no exception. What better way to decipher the past year than through the keywords entered into the largest search tool in history?

Our favorite tidbits from 2007:

1. Top "How To" questions - "What is Love" search volume eclipsed "How to Kiss".
   
   
2. "How to Levitate" makes the list! If Google can define love then it can teach you to levitate also...
   
   
3. Viral marketing works - Transformers is a top keyword for 2007. Producers created stunning visuals, enticing commercials and a viral marketing tactic for their target audience. They created a web interface where visitors could submit a web form and servers would deliver a customized message to a cell phone, directly from Optimus Prime. The interface has been off their site for over a month and people are still searching for the form.
   
   
4. Kids are in charge - Hannah Montana search volume makes the Rolling Stones tour look like it is - over...
   
   
5. The iPhone - The iPhone is everywhere.
   

Happy New Year from all of us at First Scribe!

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Google PageRank Algorithm Change

It appears that Google has updated their algorithm behind the PageRank (PR) bar in the Google Toolbar.

This would appear to be the second time they have worked on the PR algorithm in the last 2 years. The previous update did little other than dropping PR across the board. This change is targeted and has some marketing folks in a tail-spin.

Bad Links

According to Matt Cutts, a Google insider, the algorithm change is targeting "bad links". Google repeatedly says that you should not rely on traded and purchased links to boost your PageRank. They say that the best links are one way and freely given.

I'm here to tell you that idea works really well for Google but it rarely happens in reality...

How should you react?

If you are actively buying or trading links via an affiliate program you need to reconsider and quick. Google is highly sophisticated and they can tell if links to and from your site are mixed in with links to gambling, porn, cartographers, etc.

Do you sell Adsense content-network ads on your site? It's possible you will see a PR drop for links outside of your industry...

How Will First Scribe React?

We won't. We don't sell or trade links. We are listed in some small business directories and I can't see that as a negative impact on our site.

Our PR has fluctuated between a 5/10 and a 6/10 over the last 4 weeks. I'm seeing similar fluctuations on our competitions' sites so I'm not alarmed.

Interestingly enough - our organic search engine rankings increased as our PR moved. Some competitors are no longer on the first page...

Is it permanent?

Yes and No.

The change happened some time in the Sept. or Oct. and they will undoubtedly tweak it again this quarter. Google often makes algorithm changes that over-reach the target and then they tweak it back.

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Paris Hilton teaches us SEO

Paris Hilton made the 2007 Guinness Book of World Records as the world's "Most Overrated Celebrity" (Showbiz Tonight). This is certainly a dubious award but what does Ms. Hilton have to do with the Internet Marketing world?

Granted, she has an obvious impact on corporate productivity due to extended water cooler conversations regarding the latest Hilton Headlines but is that all she is?

Honest Boss, I'm working!

Surprisingly, Hilton has much to teach us about the Internet in regards to the search algorithm and SERP standings.

How so? Well, we would argue that the best way to learn about search engines is to start with a high-level look at a situation with the following variables:

• "Accidental SEO" competition - a lot of similar content without obvious SEO involvement
• Big PageRank - We consider 7/10 to be a good starting point
• A non-saleable item - The lower the profit possibility the better
• Some certainty of new pages

Enter Paris Hilton

Hilton meets all of our needs.

• News pages almost always rely on a replication of the Editor's headline when writing page title, description and lead content in the story. Therefore the content almost never adheres to common SEO practices.
• There are many news and gossip websites with PageRanks of 7/10 and beyond.
• The news industry is in search of heavy readership but there is no direct profit off each page.
• Hilton is a wealth of information from public record (everyone sees the same arrest report at the same time). She is a constant character in the news of late so we can count with some certainty on the news agencies to pour out news stories about her on a daily basis.

The news industry becomes an accidental petri dish of sorts for us to ponder - and an entertaining one at that.

"So Paris, How do you rank?"

• By volume
  Search volume for "paris hilton" is respectable at 55,590/day in Overture - Digital Point Solutions. Not bad compared to the bar-setting "porn" at 126,342/day. Compare Hilton's search volume to "iraq war" at 1,780/day and we have the pulse of America but that's for another post.
  
• By SERP
  Today a Google search of "paris hilton" gives the #1 placement to Wikipedia - a site well known for fast-loading pages and new, relevant content. Interestingly enough, we found this page was updated with news of Hilton's release no more than 12 hours after her release.
  
• New Content
  Hilton was released from prison this morning which means that there are bound to be new stories to that effect for us to find. A Google search for "paris hilton release" brings up quite a few copies of the same Associated Press story on June 23, 2007. The top listing is from hollywood.com - a 7/10 site with a big text link front and center on the home page that points to the new content.

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Changes in Google caching?

We are noticing a significant difference in the amount of time it takes Google to cache and subsequently rank a new page.

Two months ago, 3 to 6 weeks was a fair estimate to cache status with a PageRank of 0/10 in Google. A quality page rank would arrive somewhere on order of 3 months later.

Now we are noticing a cache time of 6 to 10 weeks with a grey PageRank bar and quality rank on order of 4 months later. This is calculated off of existing pages with an exiting Page Rank of 5/10, and a quality text link pointing to relevant content.

Could it be that Google is sending people to the Sandbox for a longer period?

The only good advice is to consistently add quality content to your website. MSN seems to pick it up first and Google will appreciate it later.

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Grey PageRank Bar for Supplimental Results

We are noticing a lot of grey PageRank bars on random websites these days.

A grey PageRank bar used to mean that your website was outright ignored by Google. A good-quality website with few links would receive a 0/10 rank and a site full of spam would receive a grey bar.

There is another reason to receive a grey PageRank bar these days - Supplemental Results.

It appears that Google is now displaying a grey PageRank bar on website supplemental results. (Example from CNN.com: http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9603/n_korea/)

Supplemental Results

Supplemental results are pages on your website that the Google algorithm deems as less important than your main content. The pages still seem to count in your total page count, but for whatever reason they don't appear to support your main topic so Google decreases their importance.

Supplemental pages are:

• Old,
• Short on content,
• Deeply buried in the architecture,
• Spammy,
• Rarely viewed, etc.

You can find out how many supplemental page listings you have by opening Google and typing site:http://www.YourURLHere. com . Page through to the deeper listings but you will almost certainly have a few supplemental pages.

Supplemental pages generally do not appear in Search Engine Ranking Pages (SERPs) unless the term is extremely specific to the page.

Is this a problem?

That depends. If your home page and/or your domain shows a grey PageRank bar you have a serious problem. We have only found this a few times in the last 2 years and each time the websites were complete spam.

If a small percentage of your pages are deemed supplemental then there's no real issue. Constantly update your site with fresh content and supplemental results will fall to the background.

We often hear "Google loves Blogs!"

The truth is that Google loves new content and hates spam. Create good content on your site and your site will outperform your competition.

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Did First Scribe save .travel?

A prospective client approached us in August to help with some Google ranking issues. Apparently their website was indexed by Google to roughly 800 pages and then promptly plummeted to about 15 pages. Needless to say, they weren't ranking on any search terms and they were at their whits end as to a solution.

My initial thought is that they were spamming, duplicate content, fighting with a new algorithm, or just plain new.

Then I realized something I hadn't before. They had a one of the new .travel domain names. With a little research I found that all .travel sites were dealing with the same situation.

A search in Google for "site:.travel" returned 113,000 pages. When I clicked on the "cached" link next to any of the returns - each page had not been cached. As far as Google rankings were concerned, the pages didn't exist.

The same search for pages in Yahoo found zero pages.

No PageRank

On further inspection of their home page I found that the page would load fine but it didn't have a cache and no page rank. Not just zero page rank, but a grey bar. I haven't seen a grey bar in 2 or 3 years.

Note: A 0/10 PageRank in Google generally means that your website is of little importance to them. For the PageRank bar to be gray generally means that Google is not even indexing the home page of the site.

My advice to these folks was to buy a .com domain and forget about the .travel domain.

All .travel sites blocked?

As far as I could tell, none of the .travel sites had a page rank. Grey bar for all - no exceptions. None of the sites had cached pages in Google or Yahoo.

The Canada.travel site: http://www.canada.travel had no page rank, no cache. The tourism board of Canada was blocked...

What to do?

After 2 weeks of intense investigation, I let the client know that he was out of luck and he had 2 courses of action:

1. Buy a .com domain and start over.
2. Contact Google directly and ask them to fix the problem.

Big Choices

The client obviously had some clout in the industry (and a great deal of budget invested in the new domain name) because they opted for #2. Turns out they are on speaking terms with Ronald N. Andruff, President & CEO of Tralliance Corp.

Tralliance Corp. was the sole purveyor of .travel domains and is a real company. (I.e. They don't appear to be a fly-by-night organization.)

Mr. Andruff emailed Vinton G. Cerf at Google directly. Mr. Cerf is Vice President & Chief Internet Evangelist of Google. From my perspective, he is the top of the food chain and by all accounts a really nice man.
http://www.google.com/corporate/execs.html#vint


It couldn't be Google's problem - Please go away.

At this point I was very politely assured that I was mistaken.

Of course, I wasn't mistaken so we continued the pressure.

After another round of assurance that we were quite correct, Google conceded that the .travel was not being cached and engineering looked into the problem and subsequently fixed the problem.

Yahoo has yet to recognize .travel.

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Flash in Google

Rumors have floated around the web design world for some time regarding Google indexing text from within Flash .swf files.

For years web designers have repeatedly told clients that Flash looks fantastic but it isn't worth a lick in search engines because Google is unable to read the text. Well, now everything has changed.

What we have here is a run of the mill html page with a simple Flash show full of junk text. One keyword stands out above the rest "**keyword deleted**". It's a junk term with zero competition on the Internet.

One would assume that a single html page with this text string would quickly rank on the term simply because it would be the only page on the Internet containing that string. Historically speaking of HTML pages, that was the case. Historically speaking of Flash pages, no matter how hard you wished for it - Google couldn't read Flash so it would never rank.

Google Reads Flash

We posted the page as we would have posted any other. There is absolutely nothing special about this .swf file. Roughly 2 weeks after posting this page to our website Google cached the page; cached the Flash show; and ranked it on the term "**keyword deleted**".

We have our proof -- Google can index text within Flash.

The next step is to test to see if Google can index links from within Flash. We have a page cooking at the moment to test links. Go to our test page (above) and you will see the link to test that item.

Conclusion

We don't think it's time to run out and start building every site out of Flash. Certainly there are many wonderful uses for Flash and in some cases Flash sites are the way to go. More than 75% of all the websites we build have some element of Flash in the design. Obviously we find Flash to be a very important design element.

Feel free to look around the First Scribe site and look for Flash elements. I think you will find many more Flash elements on this site than meets the eye.

But, due to the cost overhead and the *many* remaining issues of search engine optimization of Flash, we will continue to build websites in HTML.

Remember - "Ugly websites work!"

More often than not the most effective website is the ugly one. Graphics and Flash continue to hinder the search engine optimization process. Look at Google, EBay, and CNN - each of them have a very functional look to them and they are the dominant leaders in their markets.

There may be a magnificent way to use Flash to make you look amazing and stand above your competition - but the whole thing is useless if it alienates search engines and visitors.

Our tests will continue...

Ken Kralick
Director of Search Engine Marketing

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