The Web Authority
Thursday, June 28
Back From Vacation
I'm B-a-a-ck! I have been on vacation with my family in Yellowstone National Park. In just a day or so, I will have available for free download a screen saver with beautiful photos of the country out there.
I long for the mountains. The country there is really beautiful and we actually even had snow there one day.
I am just now getting back in the saddle so look for the screen saver in the next day or so. ¶ 6/28/2007 01:09:00 PM 0 Comments
I long for the mountains. The country there is really beautiful and we actually even had snow there one day.
I am just now getting back in the saddle so look for the screen saver in the next day or so. ¶ 6/28/2007 01:09:00 PM 0 Comments
Monday, June 11
Talking Dogs
Do you need a laugh today? Here's a great one on talking dogs.
¶ 6/11/2007 08:33:00 PM 0 Comments
¶ 6/11/2007 08:33:00 PM 0 Comments
Check to See If Your Content Has Been Copied
In a previous post, I noted that Google is really cracking down on duplicate content. All site owners should work to clean up their site to make sure that duplicate pages like printer friendly versions of pages are blocked from spidering using the robots.txt file. This will prevent Google from dinging your site for duplicate content.
I did get a comment from a reader which pointed to a site where you can also check to see if someone has snatched your content or duplicated what you have done. Click my post title to visit CopyScape.com.
When I ran my own site through the tool, I found another site that had scraped several blog posts verbatim from my site and passed the content off as theirs. Hmm, that's a copyright violation. I have notified the sites! I do not mind if you mention my content or show one or two paragraphs, but you must link back to the full article on my site. To simply snatch my content and say it is your intellectual property is wrong.
This is what the Google duplicate content algorithm change is all about! Identifying the legitimate owner and blocking from the index other sites that show this content. In some cases Google is identifying the rightful owner by the post date and by authority. I believe in the next year or even months to come, that we will even see a digital authority head tag tied to domains that Google will pick up to verify the site owner.
In the meantime, watch your site for duplicate content, check to see who has scraped your content, and if you have scraped my content please remove it or link back to my site and give me credit with a link.
I did get a comment from a reader which pointed to a site where you can also check to see if someone has snatched your content or duplicated what you have done. Click my post title to visit CopyScape.com.
When I ran my own site through the tool, I found another site that had scraped several blog posts verbatim from my site and passed the content off as theirs. Hmm, that's a copyright violation. I have notified the sites! I do not mind if you mention my content or show one or two paragraphs, but you must link back to the full article on my site. To simply snatch my content and say it is your intellectual property is wrong.
This is what the Google duplicate content algorithm change is all about! Identifying the legitimate owner and blocking from the index other sites that show this content. In some cases Google is identifying the rightful owner by the post date and by authority. I believe in the next year or even months to come, that we will even see a digital authority head tag tied to domains that Google will pick up to verify the site owner.
In the meantime, watch your site for duplicate content, check to see who has scraped your content, and if you have scraped my content please remove it or link back to my site and give me credit with a link.
Labels: Google
¶ 6/11/2007 07:20:00 AM 0 Comments
Friday, June 8
Webcams 101
You'll want to read our article about how you can use a webcam too and just how easy it is to set up. Published in our recent newsletter, we give you the low down on how to use video messaging, using a webcam with Acrobat Connect, and how to use video calling in Windows Live Messenger.
It's easy reading and I know that you'll be thinking of how you can use a webcam too once you read just how easy it is to implement its use. ¶ 6/08/2007 11:37:00 AM 0 Comments
It's easy reading and I know that you'll be thinking of how you can use a webcam too once you read just how easy it is to implement its use. ¶ 6/08/2007 11:37:00 AM 0 Comments
Wednesday, June 6
Yahoo Devalues Publisher Content Clicks
I have a love hate relationship with the content networks on the various pay per click vehicles. I love content for helping to establish a new brand or give company identity. But I hate to pay a lot for clicks in content because they typically do not convert at a high rate.
So it is good news for me that Yahoo Sponsored Search has decided to change the way that it prices clicks in content. Now Yahoo will assign a value to a website for content clicks based on conversion rates. This may actually end up giving content a good name, well eventually.
What Yahoo has done has assigned a cost per click value to content on a site by site basis. This is bad news for Yahoo Publishers, but good news for advertisers. Why pay the same amount per click in content for JoeBlow.com versus WebMD.com?
Over time this may change the way that I personally feel about enabling content in a program, but for now, I consider it good news, but I am not ready to turn content on again just yet.
So it is good news for me that Yahoo Sponsored Search has decided to change the way that it prices clicks in content. Now Yahoo will assign a value to a website for content clicks based on conversion rates. This may actually end up giving content a good name, well eventually.
What Yahoo has done has assigned a cost per click value to content on a site by site basis. This is bad news for Yahoo Publishers, but good news for advertisers. Why pay the same amount per click in content for JoeBlow.com versus WebMD.com?
Over time this may change the way that I personally feel about enabling content in a program, but for now, I consider it good news, but I am not ready to turn content on again just yet.
Labels: Yahoo Sponsored Search
¶ 6/06/2007 11:27:00 AM 0 Comments
Tuesday, June 5
Google Releases New Webmaster Guidelines
Click our post title to see a clickable list of the new items that Google has release today in its Webmaster Guidelines section.
Of note it the mention of WebPosition Gold. Using this product now violates Google's terms of service. Google has also really spelled out details for duplicate content, affiliates sites, printer friendly page versions, loading keywords in link title tags and image alt tags, and many other important issues. If you are in the business, you really need to take a few seconds and make sure that you are up-to-date.
One thing that I would like to point out that I am seeing that clearly Google will be looking for is the use of false anchor tags in text. The use of this technique may get your site banned from Google as it really falls into the category of hidden text. In several cases on sites that I webmaster that have been optimized by other firms this is a technique that is used. The anchor goes no where, but allow keyword stuffing in the source code. Another trick that I have seen that is sure to give you problems is to include in html comments bogus links to websites that the domain contains your keywords, and I don't mean one link or two, I mean like 50 links in one commented section.
Be careful, make sure that your site is being webmastered by a reputable firm to assure that this tricks that Google has clearly identified and is targeting for dropping from their index is not being used on your website.
Of note it the mention of WebPosition Gold. Using this product now violates Google's terms of service. Google has also really spelled out details for duplicate content, affiliates sites, printer friendly page versions, loading keywords in link title tags and image alt tags, and many other important issues. If you are in the business, you really need to take a few seconds and make sure that you are up-to-date.
One thing that I would like to point out that I am seeing that clearly Google will be looking for is the use of false anchor tags in text. The use of this technique may get your site banned from Google as it really falls into the category of hidden text. In several cases on sites that I webmaster that have been optimized by other firms this is a technique that is used. The anchor goes no where, but allow keyword stuffing in the source code. Another trick that I have seen that is sure to give you problems is to include in html comments bogus links to websites that the domain contains your keywords, and I don't mean one link or two, I mean like 50 links in one commented section.
Be careful, make sure that your site is being webmastered by a reputable firm to assure that this tricks that Google has clearly identified and is targeting for dropping from their index is not being used on your website.
Labels: Google
¶ 6/05/2007 03:48:00 PM 0 Comments
Saturday, June 2
Widget World WOW
Take a peak at some of the things that I have added to my blog today at Blog-World Watch.
I've added a sun clock, a cat that follows your mouse, and a blidget of my blog in the side bar. These are all from WidgetBox.com.
If you have not visited this site, I have to tell you that you really must. It is so very cool and so very easy to add things to your blog. If you are using Blogger Blogspot then you can add the items to your layout very easily. If you are FTP blogging like this blog Web-World Watch, then you can add them to posts as you can not add them to the side bar or page template. You can even make a blidget, see my side bar on Blog-World Watch, with your own blog.
Oh I also forgot another thing. Take a look at the feed slide show that I did to while you are there. You can add three feeds and then have them show the posts in random rotation.WidgetBox is a very cool site. I do not know how they do what they do, but I will certainly be looking closer. :0)
I've added a sun clock, a cat that follows your mouse, and a blidget of my blog in the side bar. These are all from WidgetBox.com.
If you have not visited this site, I have to tell you that you really must. It is so very cool and so very easy to add things to your blog. If you are using Blogger Blogspot then you can add the items to your layout very easily. If you are FTP blogging like this blog Web-World Watch, then you can add them to posts as you can not add them to the side bar or page template. You can even make a blidget, see my side bar on Blog-World Watch, with your own blog.
Oh I also forgot another thing. Take a look at the feed slide show that I did to while you are there. You can add three feeds and then have them show the posts in random rotation.WidgetBox is a very cool site. I do not know how they do what they do, but I will certainly be looking closer. :0)
Labels: Widgets
¶ 6/02/2007 09:45:00 AM 0 Comments
Friday, June 1
