aimClear Search Marketing Blog

Speaking to a pair of packed sessions at sold-out SMX Advanced in Seattle, I took time to look out into the audience and measure attendees’ eyes. After all…you savvy wordsmiths, demographic research artists, technicians, agencies, account reps’, geeks, evangelists, administrators, parent-workers, presidents, marketing directors, CMOs, brothers and sisters are totally my people …right in the wheelhouse baby. Bring it!

Looking around the gorgeous auditorium and inspired by the stunning Pacific ocean backdrop, I noted your attitudes, attire, mannerisms and powerful group-aura. Honestly, ya’ll are the most beautiful people in the world, a rainbow of eclectic professional diversity and intellectual prowess. Joy! Read the rest of this entry »

Do those old H1 tags still work? Actually word’s out, they don’t really count much anymore for SEO. Does quantity, power or diversity of inbound links take the hill for search engines ranking pages algorithmically for keywords? Actually, correlation data indicates that link diversity is a factor which has become more important.

SEO Ranking Factors in 2009 at SMX Advanced 2009 was a classic shredding session, originally blossomed from a session pitch submitted about “attainable SEO”. The esteemed panel was comprised of Rand Fishkin (SEOmoz), Laura Lippay (Yahoo), and  Marty Weintraub (aimClear). Danny Sullivan, Executive Editor of SearchEngineLand moderated. Read on for a  summary of which state-of-the art SEO ranking factors still work… and which page, site and keyword attributes are dead by the side of the road. Read the rest of this entry »

Let’s get this out of the way: Matt Cutts is the head of Google’s web spam team. He is perceived as a rock star in the industry and everywhere he goes he is a followed by a giddy horde of search marketers. SEO trends and techniques live and die by the words of the affable Mr. Cutts.

Yet there remains a healthy degree of skepticism and about Google’s advice. At the end of the day, the various teams at Google are doing what’s best for Google’s search users, which is not always best for an SEO’s clients.

Continuing the SMX Advanced tradition, Matt was kind enough to sit down with Danny Sullivan once more to take on audience questions in a You & A with Matt Cutts. Read the rest of this entry »

SEO’s cut their teeth in the keyword research process. The first few months of an SEO’s development is often spent in the “saltmines” researching and testing nearly endless variations of words and phrases in Keyword Discovery, Wordtracker and Google’s keyword tool. Are users searching for “trash cans” or “trash bins”? Read the rest of this entry »

photo credit: ArtBrom

Greetings from the Bay Auditorium, Bell Harbor International Conference Center Seattle Washington. There’s an amazing array of search geniuses and enough charismatic personalities for Vegas. The harbor air smells industrial and natural beauty overwhelming, it’s 7:30 AM and sold-out SMX Advanced 2009 is firing up! Read the rest of this entry »