vineri, 16 noiembrie 2012

Prediction: Anchor Text is Dying...And Will Be Replaced by Co-citation - Whiteboard Friday

Prediction: Anchor Text is Dying...And Will Be Replaced by Co-citation - Whiteboard Friday


Prediction: Anchor Text is Dying...And Will Be Replaced by Co-citation - Whiteboard Friday

Posted: 15 Nov 2012 06:54 PM PST

Posted by randfish

Imagine this: you're checking your rankings, and you see a page ranking number 6! Awesome! But wait…you never optimized for that keyword. How did you end up there? Hmmm…
 
The answer, dear Moz friends, is likely co-citation.
 
This week's Whiteboard Friday focuses on just that. Rand discusses co-citation and its impact on the future of SEO and brand association. 
 
What do you think? How do you approach co-citation and branding when the keywords are no longer the only game in town? Leave your thoughts and questions in the comments below!
 


Video Transcription

"Howdy, SEOmoz fans, and welcome to a second beardless edition of Whiteboard Friday. I apologize. The beard should be back by next Whiteboard Friday, but this time we're gong to go clean shaven, which it was for Halloween and Movember. I hope we'll get some good donations for that.

I want to talk today about a prediction that I've got around not the complete death of anchor text, but that anchor text is actually diminishing as a signal and being replaced by something else, something Google has gotten very clever about. I think Bing is using it as well. That is co-citation, so co-citation of terms and phrases along with a brand or a link, and I'll show you what I mean.

First off, some examples that you can check out for yourself. One of very favorite things to do is to go find relatively competitive keyword phrases and find sites and brands that are ranking without appearing to target the keyword, meaning that keyword isn't in the title tag. It's barely even on the page. It doesn't seem to be something that they're going after. They're not getting much anchor text for it.

How do they rank well against folks who are doing all of these classic SEO best practices? Well, here are a few examples.

For the query "cell phone ratings," coming in at number four is a web page on ConsumerReports.com without the words "cell phone" or the word "ratings." Actually, I do think they have the word "rating," and they might have the word "phone." But it's in the text. It's not even in the title. Really remarkable that they're ranking so well for such a competitive query. I'll talk about why in a sec.

Number two, "manufacturing directory." Again, another very competitive phrase, and ThomasNet is ranking number three without mentioning any of these terms, without seeming to try and target that phrase at all.

Number three, "backlink analysis," where Open Site Explorer, SEOmoz's own tool ranks number two, and yet not in the title. It's not anywhere on the page. Neither of these words are anywhere on the page. In the snippet, Google is actually using some text from another article that they found that mentions backlink analysis.

So it's just fascinating to see these sorts of rankings, and you kind of have to question like, "Boy, there's a ton of people with a lot of good anchor text, with a ton of linking root domains who are all trying to go after that phrase. They put it in the title tag. How does Google know? How does Google know to associate these terms with these websites if the classic signals that we think about as SEOs aren't there?"

The answer, in my opinion, is co-citations. Let me show what I'm talking about.

You can see a lot of articles on the web that mention cell phone ratings and reviews and mention Consumer Reports. They don't necessarily link to this page. In fact, very few of them link to this page. But many of them will do exactly this. If you look at a text snippet on the page, it'll say, "Cell phones as rated by Consumer Reports." This doesn't even link. This is not a live link. It's not even pointing to their website or to that specific web page. But Google is noticing the association. They see the words "cell phone." They see the word "rated," and they see "Consumer Reports." They put two and two together and say, "You know what? It seems like lots of people on the Internet seems to think that Consumer Reports and cell phone ratings go together."

Same thing happening here. Directory of Manufacturers from ThomasNet, it's not even linking to the manufacturing directory page. It's linking just to the home page of the website. But it's mentioning ThomasNet, and it says, "Directory of Manufacturers." So the words are in there, and Google is kind of going, "Oh, yeah, I see this association happening a lot. It's not directly in the anchor text, but you know what? I'm getting smarter."

Google is getting a lot smarter about this. A ton of articles that mention backlink analysis, how to look at backlinks, talk about Open Site Explorer. Some of them link to it. Some of them don't. But because Open Site Explorer is very commonly cited in addition to the keyword phrase "backlink analysis," you're seeing OSE do really well for that query term.

This, in my opinion, is one of the kind of future looking elements of how we're going to do SEO, brand association, having people write about us and do PR about our brands, associating those terms together so that very frequently when you see an authoritative, high quality source mention a keyword phrase, talk about a keyword phrase, they're mentioning your brand. They're linking to your site. They don't even necessarily have to link to exactly your page. This type of SEO is something that's not very practiced today, but it certainly should be on a lot of people's minds for the future.

I would urge you, anytime you see something ranking that doesn't have the classic SEO targeting types of things, the anchor text and on-page text and the title tag, you take a deep look and try and figure out whether co-citation is what's causing it to rank higher.

All right everyone. Look forward to seeing you again next week for another edition of Whiteboard Friday. Take care."

Video transcription by Speechpad.com


Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!

Rebuilding New York City

The White House Your Daily Snapshot for
Friday, November 16, 2012
 
Rebuilding New York City

Yesterday, President Obama traveled to Staten Island to promise residents his support as they begin the long process of rebuilding their devastated community just two weeks after Hurricane Sandy tore its path of destruction through the New York City borough.

Speaking to local residents, first responders, and elected officials, the President promised that he would return to the region again and again, until the rebuilding is complete.

Check out a photo gallery of the President's trip to Staten Island.

President Barack Obama meets privately with Damien and Glenda Moore at a FEMA Disaster Recovery Center tent in Staten Island, N.Y., Nov. 15, 2012. The Moore’s two small children, Brandon and Connor, died after being swept away during Hurricane Sandy. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

President Barack Obama meets privately with Damien and Glenda Moore at a FEMA Disaster Recovery Center tent in Staten Island, N.Y., Nov. 15, 2012. The Moore’s two small children, Brandon and Connor, died after being swept away during Hurricane Sandy. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

West Wing Week: 11/16/12 or "That's Who We Are"

This week, the President invited fourteen middle-class Americans to stand with him as he spoke on next steps for our continued economic recovery, marked Veteran's Day with service members, veterans, and their families at Arlington National Cemetery, held a news conference in the East Room, and traveled to New York to continue to work on recovery efforts from Hurricane Sandy.

Watch this edition of West Wing Week.

West Wing Week

In Case You Missed It

Here are some of the top stories from the White House blog:

President Obama: There's Only One Way to Solve These Challenges - Together
On Wednesday, President Obama held a news conference to answer questions about his plans for the next four years. He made one thing clear: his job is to help American families and small businesses get ahead in the wake of the recession.

White House Celebrates Diwali
On Tuesday afternoon, for the fourth year, the White House celebrated Diwali, a holiday known as the "festival of lights" observed annually by Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, and some Buddhist throughout India and across the world.

So Who Were Those 14 People Standing Behind the President?
Last Friday, President Obama laid out his strategy for moving our country forward and reducing our deficit in a balanced way. The President was joined by Vice President Joe Biden – and 14 others stood behind him at the podium.

Today's Schedule

All times are Eastern Standard Time (EST).

10:15 AM: The President hosts the bipartisan, bicameral leadership of Congress at the White House to discuss a balanced approach to reduce the deficit and strengthen our economy; the Vice President also attends

2:00 PM: The President and the Vice President meet with leaders of civic organizations and other outside groups

Get Updates


Stay Connected


This email was sent to e0nstar1.blog@gmail.com
Manage Subscriptions for e0nstar1.blog@gmail.com
Sign Up for Updates from the White House

Unsubscribe | Privacy Policy

Please do not reply to this email. Contact the White House

The White House • 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW • Washington, DC 20500 • 202-456-1111
 

Seth's Blog : "This is the best I can do"

 

"This is the best I can do"

vs. "It's not good enough."

Both are symptoms of a huge problem that doesn't even have a name.

Entire industries lull themselves into believing that what they make and how they make it is good enough--until someone comes along and turns the market on its head by proving them wrong.

At the same time, countless projects go unlaunched, improvements hidden, thoughts unstated--because the person behind the idea is hiding behind the false understanding that their work isn't good enough yet.

Which problem do you have?



More Recent Articles

[You're getting this note because you subscribed to Seth Godin's blog.]

Don't want to get this email anymore? Click the link below to unsubscribe.




Your requested content delivery powered by FeedBlitz, LLC, 9 Thoreau Way, Sudbury, MA 01776, USA. +1.978.776.9498

 

AdSense Newsletter - November 2012

bubbles
November 2012 Publisher ID ca-pub-1492172262972996

Dear publisher,

Mobile will continue to be one of the big trends in 2013, with more and more users accessing websites from their mobile devices. With this in mind, optimizing your site and ads for mobile will become increasingly important. Not only should your site be optimized for mobile, but your ads should too. In our Tip of the Month we'll share some best practices around mobile ads, which formats to use, and where to place them. You'll also find information about:
  • Optimizing, from the perspective of other publishers
  • Get more out of your performance reports
  • Verifying your Google+ page
  • Creating high quality websites
Kind regards,

Sophie
The Google AdSense team


Was this newsletter useful? Share your feedback with us.

Tip of the Month

Optimize your mobile performance with AdSense

It's now easier than ever to monetize your mobile site as we offer high-end mobile ad code directly in your account. As a best practice, we recommend using the 320x50 mobile header or the 300x250 medium rectangle. Have a look at the graphic below to get an idea of how these ad formats can be placed visibly within your mobile site's layout:


Create mobile ad code

If you don't have a mobile-optimized website yet, the first step is to create one. Check out howtogomo.com to learn more about going mobile and start building your mobile site with our free tool.

If you're interested in hearing more about creating a mobile strategy, watch our Hangout recording on YouTube.


Updates

Get more out of your performance reports

We've recently made some usability and visual enhancements to your AdSense performance reports to help you interpret the data in your account. You'll be able to select from different graph types for a number of your reports, and also add an "Events" overlay to the standard timeline graph, which will help you understand how changes you've made have affected performance.

For additional insights, we recommend linking your AdSense account with a new or existing Analytics account with our improved linking process. We've also created an easy-to-use dashboard to show you relevant information at a glance, so you can get started with your AdSense data in Analytics immediately.



Verify your +page to help gain visibility

Do you manage a Google+ page for your website? Be sure to add the Google+ badge to your site's pages and then once you've gained a significant following, request verification. Verified +pages that are popular and engaging may appear on the right side of relevant Google.com search results, for users that are logged in. Please note that to be eligible, the +page needs to be active with regularly-updated content and have built a significant following. For more information, visit the AdSense blog.


Success Stories

Publishers share their optimization tips

We recently hosted a Hangout with AdSense publishers who discussed testing colors for their ads. It's a simple change, but one that could impact your revenue. Listen to their story, try this tip for yourself and follow our English AdSense +page to hear more optimization suggestions.



Program Policies

Top tips for creating high quality sites

The goal of the Google Display Network is to provide valuable content for our users and advertisers. Previously, we've shared some tips with you on creating high quality sites. Building on this, we've now shared more information about which types of sites and pages are best suited for monetization.




More about AdSense:

Inside AdSense Blog

AdSense Google+ Page

AdSense Forum

AdSense on YouTube


© 2012 Google Inc. 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043.

Email Preferences: We sent you this email because you have indicated that you are willing to receive occasional AdSense newsletters. If you do not wish to receive such emails in the future, you can opt out by clicking here.

joi, 15 noiembrie 2012

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis


Good News: EU Budget Talks Collapse, France Rejects Compromise; Still Time to Snatch Defeat From Jaws of Victory

Posted: 15 Nov 2012 08:42 AM PST

I have a bit of good news today. The efforts of European Council president Herman Van Rompuy to mollify the UK and other budget hawks have created such a stir that France rejects EU budget compromise.
Jean-Marc Ayrault, the French prime minister, objected to deep cuts to agriculture spending included in the proposal, but also expressed displeasure with reductions in the development money, known as cohesion funds, that benefit poorer regions.

The biggest object of displeasure appeared to be Mr Van Rompuy's move to trim €25bn from the common agricultural policy – traditionally France's biggest priority – compared with a proposal from the European Commission, the EU's executive arm. Those cuts include a €12bn reduction in direct subsidies to farmers.

Some analysts argue the cull was even more dramatic because agriculture was starting from a low base – historically speaking – in the commission proposal.

Agriculture is not France's only concern. Cuts to the cohesion budget look set to fall disproportionately on its own regions, which tend to be bastions of support for François Hollande, the socialist president.

Paris may also have been stung by Mr Van Rompuy's decision to endorse the UK rebate, the burden of which falls disproportionately on French and Italian taxpayers. Under the proposal, the rebate would be modified so that the UK and Germany – currently exempted – would have to pay a share of the British rebate.

Bernard Cazeneuve, France's Europe minister, said on Wednesday that France was against the continuation of budget rebates for countries such as the UK, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden. "We don't want these rebates to continue because they represent an anti-European way of thinking," he said.
Good News

Talk is now so cantankerous that EU budget talks collapsed completely.

This is not only good news, it's excellent news. Half the EU budget is dedicated to a preposterous system of crop supports as noted in my post Common Agricultural Idiocy.

The sooner the CAP blows sky high, the better off citizens in Europe will be. Bear in mind the fallback position of the EU is an automatic budget increase of 2% if no agreement is reached.

Should an automatic increase happen, UK prime minister David Cameron may be forced into an up-or-down vote on UK membership in the EU. As it sits now, British citizens would reject the EU, as it should.

Self-Serving Brussels Nannycrats

The Telegraph explains ...
David Davis, a former shadow Home Secretary, condemned the "self-serving, inflation-busting bonus for Brussels" that would force Britain to pay an extra £1.3 billion next year in annual EU contributions, on top of the existing £11 billion.

Writing in the Daily Mail, he warned: "If the EU Commission gets its way, British taxpayers will soon be handing over £22,000 to Brussels every minute. It is time for EU institutions to experience the austerity they happily recommend to member states.

"It's certainly not hard to find savings, given that the EU's 2012 budget is £105 billion – four times what our government will spend on defence this year."

If no deal is signed by the end of next year, the EU budget will rise automatically by two per cent.
Still Time to Snatch Defeat From Jaws of Victory

The bad news is the EU still has some time to work this mess out, and Cameron may not put the EU to a vote if a compromise is reached.

In the meantime, just remember, the more bickering the better.

Anything that cuts the power and the budget of the nannycrats in Brussels is a good thing. The sooner this mess blows sky high the better.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com


Hostess to Liquidate if Bakers' Strike Continues Through Thursday; End of Twinkies Hours Away?

Posted: 15 Nov 2012 07:33 AM PST

It's do or die for 18,000 Hostess workers including 5,000 in the bakers' union.

Hostess, the maker of Twinkies, Ding-Dongs, Ho-Ho's, and Wonder Bread has given the union a firm order to accept wage cuts, else the company will liquidate.

Only fools would voluntarily vote for liquidation, but with the clock ticking down to mere hours to come to agreement, it appears the fools will win the day.

Please consider Hostess to liquidate if bakers' strike continues through Thursday.
Hostess Brands said Wednesday that it will go into liquidation unless bakers striking in protest against a new contract imposed in bankruptcy court return to work by the end of the day Thursday.

"We simply do not have the financial resources to survive an ongoing national strike," Hostess CEO Greg Rayburn said in a statement.

The liquidation would result in Hostess' nearly 18,000 workers losing their jobs. The bakers' union represents around 5,000.

The union did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday, but has called the concessions demanded in the new contract "outrageous."

"Our members are on strike because they have had enough," bakers' union president Frank Hurt said in a statement Tuesday. "They are not willing to take draconian wage and benefit cuts on top of the significant concessions they made in 2004 and give up their pension so that the Wall Street vulture capitalists in control of this company can walk away with millions of dollars."
End of Twinkies?

The bakers' union would rather have no job than reduced wages. Lovely. Good luck finding another job in this environment.

I have little sympathy for those who voluntarily walk away from their jobs in these trying times.

However, this is probably not the end of Twinkies, Ding-Dongs, or Ho-Ho's.

Not that anyone needs to be eating such non-nutritional junk food, but those names and recipes will likely be sold and produced elsewhere, probably at a lower cost to consumers, especially if the buyer does not have to deal with the bakers' union.

The union will likely have to deal with the Pension Benefit  Guarantee Corporation (US Taxpayers) and I expect massive haircuts in their plan (as well as screams from the union when it happens).

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com


Spain's Unpleasant Choice: Accept Lower Wages and Still Higher Unemployment, Leave the Euro and Default

Posted: 14 Nov 2012 11:32 PM PST

On the near 100% probability that Germany will not voluntarily give money to Spain, nor will Germany voluntarily modify its trade policies, the choices facing Spain are quite bleak.

Michael Pettis, writing for Carnegie Europe describes Spain's unpleasant choices in Spain Will be Forced to Choose.
In the great debate over the economy we sometimes forget the simple arithmetic of economic rebalancing. This arithmetic, like it or not, severely limits the options open to Spain.

t is easy and popular to blame the greed of the Spanish and the stupidity of the government for the mess in which Spain has found itself, but the policies Germany put into place in the late 1990s guaranteed that Germany, a country that had run massive trade deficits in the 1990s, would run equally massive trade surpluses in the subsequent decade.

Because once they joined the euro the rest of Europe had no control over the value of their currencies and the level of their interest rates. It was inevitable that European countries that had joined the euro with a higher-than-average level of inflation would be forced to respond to German trade surpluses either by forcing up unemployment or by running the large trade deficits that corresponded to Germany's trade surplus. No other choice was possible.

These deficits, as a matter of economic necessity, had to be financed with loans from Germany, leaving Spain with an enormous debt burden. Just as Spain could not run a trade deficit without borrowing from abroad, Spain can only repay its debt if it runs a trade surplus. What is more, since rich Spaniards are taking enormous amounts of money out of the country in order to protect themselves from the debt crisis they know is coming, the Spanish trade surplus must be large enough to accommodate both flight capital and debt repayments.

In practice there are only three ways Spain can achieve a sufficiently large trade surplus. The first way requires that Berlin reverse those policies that forced a German trade surplus at the expense of its European neighbors. Berlin must cut taxes and increase spending so much that Germany runs a trade deficit large enough to allow Spain to run the opposite surplus, which it must do if it hopes to repay the debt.

If Germany does not move quickly to reverse its trade surplus, Spain only has two other ways of creating a trade surplus in spite of German recalcitrance. One way requires that Spanish wages are forced down by many years of high unemployment. This will allow Spain to run a sufficiently large trade surplus.

Spain's second option is to leave the euro and devalue. This will immediately force down prices and wages relative to Germany.

Neither option will be easy, but it is important that we realize that if Germany doesn't adjust, Madrid has no choice but to pick one or the other. Both options will cause debt to soar in real terms, and will probably force Spanish businesses, and even the government into default. But in both cases Spain will begin running large trade surpluses.

As much as leaders in Madrid, Brussels, and Berlin hate to admit it, these are the only three options open to Spain. Any policy proposed by policymakers that is not consistent with one of these three ways will be impossible to achieve.

Simple Math

The only good options from Spain's point of view are for Germany (or Germany and France) to bail out Spain with free money (not a loan) or for Germany to go on a massive sustained spending spree (no doubt accompanied by higher inflation), such that Germany's trade surplus turns into a deficit.

However, those are not options Spain can choose. Those are options that only Germany can choose. The odds Germany voluntarily selects those options are roughly zero percent.

Spain gets to decide between these two choices

  1. Lower Wages Coupled With Still Higher Unemployment
  2. Leave the Euro and Default

For now, Spain has selected choice number one. How long can it last?

Yesterday I wrote Looking Ahead, Spain Worse Than Greece; Only One Realistic Solution.

The realistic solution of course is to "leave the euro and simultaneously undertake structural reforms" but in spite of 25.8% unemployment, Spain still sees things differently (for now).

Brussels Blinks

The nannycrats in Brussels are starting to get worried because following massive protests in Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Belgium, the nannycrats decided Spain will not need further austerity measures in 2013.

For details please see Anti-Austerity Protests Sweep Europe, Sparking Violence; Brussels Blinks, No Further Austerity for Spain; Economic Burnt Toast

However, a one year suspension in austerity is not going to do a thing for Spain in the long run.

Greece has missed budget target after target (see Greece Allegedly Gets Time, Not Money; Mish Says Time Is Money) and Spain is following smack down the same path.

Eventually Spanish citizens will have had enough and will force a change. The only question is how much pain Spanish citizens can take before that happens.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com

"Wine Country" Economic Conference Hosted By Mish
Click on Image to Learn More




Damn Cool Pics

Damn Cool Pics


Viral Photobomber Girl Kelsey Whyte

Posted: 15 Nov 2012 04:33 PM PST

Kelsey Whyte, a 19-year-old amateur photographer, has risen to what is probably temporary fame on Reddit for ruining people's pictures, with silly faces.

She first became known as "Photobomb Girl" after redditor TheHydroMule posted a link to a slideshow from a local pub.

As you can see in the pictures below, she stands in the back in every picture, lurking in the background and basically ruining the shot by creating rubber-like expressions.




























Tie DIY: Every Knot You Need to Know [Infographic]

Posted: 15 Nov 2012 04:17 PM PST

We've got you covered with every tie knot you'll ever need to know and thensome!

Click on Image to Enlarge.
Via huffingtonpost