VIDEO - Official Google Paid Links Warning In Place Since July
Today I was reading Loren Baker's blog post about how just this week Google made it official on their Webmaster Help Center that buying or selling links can harm a site's ranking in search results.Well guess what? That warning wasn't made this week. That warning has been official since July this year, LONG before the infamous PageRank slap down. View my video to see the proof.UPDATE: After studying the before/after pages a little more closely, I've found the exact wording on the Paid Links page that has been updated by Google at some point after 9 July 2007:Wording as archived on 9 July 2007:"Buying links in order to improve a site's ranking is in violation of Google's webmaster guidelines and can negatively impact a site's ranking in search results."Wording as at 24 November 2007:"Buying or selling links that pass PageRank is in violation of Google's webmaster guidelines and can negatively impact a site's ranking in search results."I've highlighted the additions in bold. Note also that the wording "in order to improve a site's ranking" has been removed in the later page version.Need more than advice? Take a Search Engine Marketing course onlineSubscribe via: Yahoo Feeds | Feedburner | Technorati | Bloglines

VIDEO Q And A: Is Our Site Being Penalized By Google?
Dear Kalena...The problems we are having are mainly with Google. We have 1,000 indexed pages showing in the 'site:' command from Google search. We have already done many things to get our rankings up but we appear to be penalized. Customers can not find our indexed pages by title OR content. We suspect sabotage by another company. We have sent emails and faxes to Google and asked them to investigate. They ignore us. We're out of options.DarrenKalena's Answer:Dear DarrenClick here to see my video answerNeed more than advice? Take a Search Engine Marketing course onlineSubscribe via: Yahoo Feeds | Feedburner | Technorati | Bloglines

AdWords Keywords Analysis Glitch Appears To Be Global
Judging by the comments I received on my post Broken: AdWords Keyword Analysis Tool, it looks like the AdWords technical glitch is not limited to Australia.An AdWords advertiser in Ireland and another in China reported that they are having the same issues as we are. The Keywords Analysis tool still shows the same results for all keywords. I'm really surprised this hasn't been reported on the official AdWords blog yet. Maybe they're waiting for more complaints.I was not happy with the initial reply I got from AdWords support, so I wrote them another email:Hi [name removed]Thanks for responding to my enquiry. However this technical glitch is costing me money as I can't accurately tweak my keyword bids if I can't check the keyword quality information and I can't check if my ads are showing for my current bids.I'm not very happy about this. Is there an ETA on getting this fixed?RegardsKalenaGoogle responded with this:Hello Kalena,Thank you for your reply. I'm sorry you're having difficulty. Pleaseknow that the Quality Score column displays your keyword's Quality Score to help you monitor your keyword relevance. This column is a customizable column visible via the 'Keywords' tab of your Ad Group Details page. It's disabled by default for new accounts and can be enabled at any time. Keywords can have one of the following three Quality Score states: -Great: The keyword is very relevant and may have a high clickthrough rate (CTR), relevant ad text, and a unique, relevant landing page. The minimum cost-per-click (CPC) bid for this keyword may be low. If you'd like to lower your costs further, you can optimize this keyword's ad group by using more targeted ad text or improving your landing page content. Otherwise, this keyword is very relevant and effective for your ad campaign.-OK: The keyword may not be as relevant as it could be. It may have a mid-range minimum CPC bid, and while the keyword may not be very costly or extremely general, we still recommend optimization for the ad group. Optimization can lower your overall costs, draw more clicks to your ads, and result in a better return on your investment (ROI). To optimize, try using more targeted ad text and keywords or improving your landing page content.-Poor: The keyword isn't very relevant to users, and as a result may have a very high minimum CPC bid. We recommend that you remove this keyword and replace it with a more specific keyword. If you'd like to keep advertising with this keyword, you can optimize instead. To do this, try lowering the minimum CPC bid, writing a more targeted, relevant ad, or improving your landing page content. To see your keywords' Quality Scores within your account statistics: -Sign in to your AdWords account at https://adwords.google.com. -Select the campaign, then select the ad group for which you'd like to see keyword Quality Scores. -Click Customize columns at the top of Keywords tab in the ad group table.-Select Show Quality Score from the drop-down menu. -Click Done when you're finished.Additionally, you can create a report for minimum bids through your Reports tab. To learn how to run a report, please visit our Help Center at https://adwords.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=66213&topic=11441Also, please know that our engineers are currently working to solve the problem and hope to reach a resolution shortly.If you have additional questions, please visit AdWords Support at https://adwords.google.com.au/support, where you'll find the answers to many of our frequently asked questions. We look forward to providing you with the most effective advertising available. Sincerely, [name removed]The Google Australia & NZ AdWords Team Er, thanks but I didn't really need a lesson on how to use the Keyword Analysis tool. Telling me how it works or how to implement it doesn't help me if it's broken. Duh. And creating a minimum bids report doesn't help one iota if I'm trying to determine my keyword status so I can tweak my bids.The only sentence in that whole email that helps me is the one I've highlighted in bold. Engineers are working on the problem. Great. That makes me feel so much better. NOT! Think I'll go spend some more money at Yahoo and Microsoft AdCenter.Need more than advice? Take a Search Engine Marketing course onlineSubscribe via: Yahoo Feeds | Feedburner | Technorati | Bloglines

Experimenting With Video
You might have noticed that I've been experimenting with video formats lately. I'm about to introduce regular video blogging to answer FAQs on this blog and I've been mucking around with different products and formats to get a feel for it.Unfortunately, Blogger doesn't let you upload Flash movies directly so I'm using RealMedia format until I can switch to WordPress and use Camtasia Studio 5 the way it should be used, to produce .swf files. As a small preview of things to come, I'll be posting a screen capture video of the AdWords Keyword Quality Tool glitch in action.Stay tuned for more vids!Need more than advice? Take a Search Engine Marketing course onlineSubscribe via: Yahoo Feeds | Feedburner | Technorati | Bloglines

Search Industry Job Of The Week - SEO Manager
Job Title: Search Engine Optimization ManagerJob Reference #: UnknownPosition Type: full timeName of employer: EdSoupLocation: Salt Lake City, UtahDate Posted: 12 November, 2007Position description:We’re looking for an amazingly qualified search engine optimization (SEO) professional. Target salary is $60,000 or more, depending on experience, plus incentive-based bonuses. This full-time position is located in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah and includes a comprehensive benefits package.Responsible for development, implementation, and management of SEO activities for EdSoup.com and other independent business units according to industry best-practices. Relies on experience and judgment to plan and accomplish goals.Minimum 2-year experience required; 3+ years preferred. In-depth knowledge of the search engine space and SEO practices is required, including:SEO analysis and tacticsSocial media optimizationLink buildingCopy writingWeb analyticsWhile each of the following are not required, a qualified individual may possess a working knowledge of:Pay per click advertisingDisplay advertisingInteractive advertisingAffiliate marketingEmail marketingThis position will also be responsible for management of an established affiliate channel. Please include salary history with resume. Apply online at www.edsoup.com/careers.Salary range: $60,000 USDClosing date: UnknownMore info from: [http://www.edsoup.com/careers.php?cid=15]Contact: Apply online at [http://www.edsoup.com/careers.php?cid=15]For more search industry job vacancies visit the: Search Engine College Jobs BoardSubscribe via: Yahoo Feeds Feedburner Technorati Bloglines

VIDEO - AdWords Glitch In Action
In two posts earlier this week, I talked about the glitch some AdWords advertisers are currently experiencing with the Keyword Analysis Tool. Below is a short screen recording I made of the glitch so you can see what I'm talking about: Need more than advice? Take a Search Engine Marketing course onlineSubscribe via: Yahoo Feeds | Feedburner | Technorati | Bloglines

Freshbooks Free Trial Expires In 24 Hours!
Just a heads up that the free 3 month trial of Freshbooks published in our Search Engine College Industry Discounts area expires at midnight tonight, November 30, 2007.To grab the free trial, simply sign up and enter this discount code: sec2007 In case you're unfamiliar with the product, Freshbooks is an online estimating, invoicing, project management and time tracking service that gives your business a professional image, no matter how small.Your clients can login anytime to review their account balance, lodge a support ticket or upload a document for your review. Your staff can prepare invoices, share files, enter hours in their time-sheets, bill based on those hours, access client information, prepare and review client reports and access the support ticket area.Freshbooks offers plug-ins for a wide range of third-party tools such as BaseCamp, PayPal and 2Checkout and the whole system is customized in your choice of colors and branded with your own logo.Sign up for the free 3 month trial by midnight tonight and remember to enter the discount code: sec2007Subscribe via: Yahoo Feeds | Feedburner | Technorati | Bloglines

Pick Up A Search Marketing Standard Mag Subscription For Just $4.95
If you're a regular reader of this blog, you're probably already aware of Search Marketing Standard magazine. If you're not, SMS is the first quarterly print publication devoted completely to the world of search marketing. It covers topics such as pay per click advertising, search engine optimization, web analytics, click fraud, local and contextual search. Each issue features articles and advice from leading experts in the field, interviews with the who’s-who of the industry, reviews of the most popular tools and services, latest news and trends and much more.Yearly subscription to the magazine is usually a very reasonable $15 for 4 issues for US-based readers and $20 for international subscribers (including shipping). BUT... the magazine publishers and I have negotiated an extra special deal for readers of this blog. If you hurry, you can score an annual subscription for just $4.95 in the U.S. or $6.60 if outside the U.S. - that's a massive 67 percent discount!On top of that, Search Marketing Standard publishers are taking this a step further and will donate $1 for every subscriber that signs up through this blog to the Toys for Tots Foundation.To claim your discount and do your bit for some needy kids, subscribe via this link and enter coupon code HOLIDAY67. But hurry! The coupon expires on December 10. In case you were wondering, I don't make any money from this deal - it's not an affiliate link, merely a tracking URL.Subscribe via: Yahoo Feeds | Feedburner | Technorati | Bloglines

Q And A: Does Social Media Marketing Have A Place Within The Media Agency?
Dear Kalena...Just found your website today (I think from Sphinn), so I thought I'd see if you can indeed answer my big question, so here it is. Does social media marketing (SMM) have a place within the Media Agency?As the online marketing industry continues to focus on Social media, with Social Networks getting all the buzz, should traditional media agencies venture into this field? Although I continually see a need for SEO firms to embrace SMM, and forecasts for Social Networks to reach massive spends, I struggle to see how the traditional media agency (which typically manages PPC/Display/Affiliate budgets for clients) fits into social media.Are there areas where media agencies can benefit & monetize the market? if so, what kind of services do you see them providing and how?ThanksMatthewKalena's Answer:Dear MatthewI should start by saying that I have never worked for a dedicated media agency. I've worked for a large Internet agency that managed media spends for clients along the lines you discuss, but not for some years. So I'm not familiar with current service trends in such agencies.However, I would think that social media marketing will play a big role in the service offerings of both traditional advertising and media agencies over the next year or two. For starters, blogging as a phenomenon is being take up at an unprecedented rate globally, with podcasting and video-blogging gaining momentum. The ability to quickly create and monetize blogs as well as advertise on other people's blogs has created new advertising channels that are laser-focused on niche markets. Being able to pick and choose channels where qualified leads hang out is a media agency's dream scenario! These new channels greatly expand the limited PPC channels that agency clients have been stuck with for the past 8 years or so.Apart from the blogs themselves, there are the large social media networks such as Digg, Sphinn, Facebook, YouTube MySpace etc. Smart agencies and media firms are already taking advantage of these networks by running viral marketing campaigns and competitions designed to promote their client's brand or product via online word-of-mouth. Word travels fast in cyberspace but bad press travels faster so online reputation management should go hand-in-hand with any social media campaigns.The book I'm reading at the moment Do It Wrong Quickly by Mike Moran would make excellent reading for media agency staff trying to get a handle on social media and how to leverage it.Need more than advice? Take a Search Engine Marketing course onlineSubscribe via: Yahoo Feeds | Feedburner | Technorati | Bloglines

Q And A: Can I Bug You With My Personal Problems?
Dear Kalena...i like this boy at school but he is older than me (i'm 15) and sometimes he drives me home in his car. I dont wanna tell my friends because im worried that my parents will find out and tell his parents and i wont get to see him anymore. i really like him!!!!!!!! im worried coz my schoolwork is not so good coz spending all time with him and skipping homework and now my teachers are going to tell my parents. what should i do?BeckyKalena's Answer:Dear BeckyThere's something you must do immediately. It's very important. Scroll up to the top of this page and read what it says directly under "Ask Kalena".That's right. It says:"Your daily SEARCH ENGINE advice column"Got it? Now take out a notebook and write out 200 times: "I MUST NOT EMAIL KALENA WITH MY PETTY PERSONAL PROBLEMS. SHE ONLY GIVES ADVICE" ABOUT SEARCH ENGINES"Ok, I feel better now.Subscribe via: Yahoo Feeds | Feedburner | Technorati | Bloglines