joi, 5 aprilie 2012

What's Better - On-page SEO or Link-building?

Posted: 04 Apr 2012 11:40 AM PDT

Hammering screws Every week, without fail, I hear someone ask where they should put their SEO budget – in on-page tactics or in link-building. Unfortunately, there are plenty of SEO companies and consultants lining up to give them the answer – and that answer just happens (“coincidentally”) to be whatever the company/consultant is good at. When you’re an expert with a hammer, you start to think you can nail anyone (wait, that’s not right).

Here’s the honest answer that no one wants to hear: “It depends”. No one wants to hear it because they’re back where they started – having no idea what to do next. Instead of leaving you stranded or trying to sell you a hammer for your box of screws, I’m going to walk you through 4 cases and explain how I’d allocate your budgets for each one.

What Is On-page SEO?

To add to the confusion, “on-page” can mean a lot of things to a lot of people. Here, I’m taking a very broad view – it could mean keyword research, writing good TITLE tags, internal linking and crawl architecture, or even content creation. For the purposes of this post, on-page is anything you directly control in the code or content of your site.

Case #1: The Authority

70% On-page, 30% Link-building

The Authority is an established site with a solid, trusted link profile and usually a good base of content. In many cases, it’s a site that’s evolved “organically”, which is a fancy word for “without a plan”. The Authority could be suffering from any or all of the following:

Keyword research is 5 years out of date
Keywords are cannibalized across many pages
Internal links have grown like weeds
Site architecture doesn’t reflect business goals
Page TITLEs overlap or are duplicated
Old but valuable (i.e. linked-to) content is 404’ing

In many cases, no one notices, because The Authority’s strong link profile and solid content keep it ranking well. The problem is that you’re sitting on a gold mine of untapped potential. Of course, The Authority should keep building solid links, but a shift (even for a few months) to really planning and focusing on on-page issues, from keyword research on up, could produce huge dividends.

Case #2: The Perfectionist

30% On-page, 70% Link-building

The Perfectionist often comes out in new webmasters. They’ve read 500 SEO blogs and are following all the “rules” as best they can, but they’ve become so obsessed with building the “perfect” site that they’ve hit the point of rapidly diminishing returns. The Perfectionist wants to know how to squeeze 0.01% more SEO value out of an already good URL by moving one keyword.

It’s time for The Perfectionist to remember the 80/20 rule – there comes a point where your on-page is good enough, at least for now. You have to get Google to your site to put that on-page magic to work, and that means building links. It’s important to develop content (which is why I’ve left on-page at 30%), but put almost every other on-page tactic to the side temporarily and spend a solid 6 months developing and implementing a link-building campaign

Case #3: The Hot Mess

90% On-page, 10% Link-building

The Hot Mess is a Google engineer’s fantasy (or possibly nightmare). She’s broken every single rule of on-page SEO, which worked fine for a while, but then came “May Day” and “Panda”, and now Google is even talking about penalizing her for optimizing too much. The Hot Mess has let something spin out of control, including:

Blocked crawl paths and bad redirects
Massive URL-based duplication
Excessive internal search, categories, and tags
Aggressive ad-to-content ratio
Extremely “thin” content
Nonsensical site architecture and internal linking
Keyword stuffing that would embarrass 1998

In some cases, this could be “over-optimization” and an attempt to manipulate the search engines, but in other cases the Hot Mess is just that – a mess. Whatever the cause, put down everything and start fixing the problems now. Chasing new links without fixing the mess is like having your carpets cleaned while your house is burning down.

Case #4: The Bad Boy

10% On-page, 90% Link-building

Finally, there’s the Bad Boy – he’s broken every rule in the Google link-building playbook, and they’ve finally noticed. This could be a large-scale devaluation or a Capital-P Penalty, including:

Paid links
Link farms, networks and exchanges
Excessive low-value links
Aggressive anchor-text targeting

If you’ve been bad enough, you could be talking a serious ranking penalty or even de-indexation. At that point, all the on-page tweaks in the world won’t help you (I left 10% just to keep the site up and running). You have to fix the problem and address the problem links. Bare minimum, you have to stop doing what got you into trouble and show a pattern of positive link-building. You may even have to file for reconsideration. The fix can be tricky, and depends a lot on the situation, but until you fix it, the Bad Boy isn’t going anywhere.

But What About Social?

Before I get a ton of comments, I purposely left social factors out of this post. I think the influence of social is growing and it definitely deserve your attention (and budget), but I don’t want to confuse an already complicated issue. Also, at this point, there are no major social “penalties” (small-p or Capital-P), so it’s hard to have an SEO crisis related to social – with the exception of an ORM problem. Still, social should certainly be a part of any healthy mix in 2012.

Is There a Perfect Mix?

I'm adding this after the fact - a few people asked me in the comments about the 50/50 scenario. Of course, the four scenarios in the post are just examples – based on common problems I've seen – and there are many other valid permutations. I specifically avoided the 50/50 mix for one reason, though - it implies that there's one "perfect" mix that you can sustain throughout the life-cycle of a website. The optimal mix is dynamic, and you should never leave it on automatic pilot.

When you first build a new site, you're going to need to invest in your site structure, keyword research, and on-page aspects. That mix may be 100% or 90% on-page for a couple of months. When that structure's in place and you launch, you'll still need to build content, but you'll also want to get your link-building in gear. For a site that's naturally based on new content (like a blog or news site), on-page may still be 70-80% of the mix (since I'm counting content as "on-page"). For a directory or resource site that has a critical mass of content, you may go 30% on-page, building out the long-tail and 70% link-building for a while. The mix will always be changing, as your site evolves and your business needs change.

One Size Never Fits All

I'll try to keep the point short and sweet - when it comes to the right mix, there is no one-sized-fits-all solution. On-page SEO and link-building are both important, but how important each one is really depends on your current strengths and weaknesses. Long-term, everyone should pursue a mix of solid on-page structure, unique content, an authoritative link profile, and substantive social presence. Diversity is the best way to future-proof your SEO - if the algo changes or you hit a snag on one pillar, at least there will still be enough left standing to keep your roof up.

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Startup Marketing: How to Earn Customers Without Paying for Them

Posted: 04 Apr 2012 03:17 AM PDT

Posted by randfish

Last week, on the very kind invitation of Dmitri Grabov, I gave a presentation in London to the Hacker News monthly meetup group. The event was sponsored and hosted by some friends at Forward, and attended by startup folks from all around the greater London area. Like my presentation in Silicon Valley, the focus was on marketing for startups.

Dmitri & Forward worked together to get the event filmed and posted the video online and thus, I felt it would be great to share here. A couple caveats before watching:

There's not a lot of advanced, tactically focused content. This talk is geared to startup marketers and founders and probably better for mid-level managers and consulting clients than for "in-the-trenches" SEOs and marketers (who already know all this stuff).
If you've already seen my presentation from the Silicon Valley HN meetup, this has quite a bit of overlap (go to ~30minutes in to see the unique material).
I'm sharing this version, despite the crossover with some previous work (something I usually don't do) because I think this may be the best iteration of this particular subject I've done to date, and one of the more efficient (the formal presentation is just under 45 minutes).
Warning - I do use a bit of bad language. Sorry about that! Sometimes I get excited on stage. :-)

My goal is to help more folks in the startup world become familiar with the practices of inbound marketing - content, SEO, social media, blogs, etc. These are powerful channels, but they often don't get the respect they deserve in these spheres (which both frustrates and surprises me).

Rand Fishkin - Inbound Marketing for Startups: How to Earn Customers Without Paying from HN London on Vimeo.

Hopefully, if you find the video enjoyable and useful, you can spread it to those who need a push to invest in or believe in the great practices inbound marketers undertake.

p.s. I've been on the road for the last two weeks, speaking at events in Madrid, Munich, London, Boston and now San Francisco, but return to Seattle Friday and will hopefully be better about consistent posting and whiteboard Friday appearances thereafter.

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Your Daily Snapshot for
Thursday, April 5, 2012

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In 2009, 1,470 millionaires paid $0 in federal income tax. Meanwhile, millions of middle class families paid their fair share in taxes—funding things like education, our military, and health care for seniors.

That's why President Obama proposed the Buffett Rule, so that no household making more than $1 million each year pays a smaller share of their income in taxes than a middle class family pays.

Find out more about the Buffett Rule:

Seth's Blog : Organized bravery

Organized bravery

The purpose of the modern organization is to make it easy and natural and expected for people to take risks. To lean out of the boat. To be human.

Alas, most organizations do the opposite. They institutionalize organized cowardice. They give their people cover, a place to hide, a chance to say, "that's not my job."

Our organizations are filled with people not only eager to dehumanize those that they serve, but apparently, instructed to do so. In the name of shareholder value or team play or not rocking the boat...

During times of change, the only organizations that thrive are those that are eager to interact and change as well. And that only happens when individuals take brave steps forward.

Giving your team cover for their cowardice is foolish. Give them a platform for bravery instead.

• Email to a friend •

miercuri, 4 aprilie 2012

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

Sovereign Bond Yields Sharply Higher in Spain, Italy, Portugal
Ceridian Fuel Index Up 0.3 Percent in March, Down 2.2 Percent From Year Ago
Eurozone Composite PMI® Signals Recession Says Markit; France in Renewed Decline, German Growth Weakens, Italy and Spain Contract Further
Spanish Economic Drama: Nearly 57% of Budget Devoted to Pensions, Unemployment Benefits, and Interest; Unemployment Rate Hits 23.6%; Spain Warns of Soaring Debt

Sovereign Bond Yields Sharply Higher in Spain, Italy, Portugal

Posted: 04 Apr 2012 12:43 PM PDT

Curve Watcher's Anonymous has an eye on European sovereign bond yields. Here are a few charts to consider.

Spain 10-Year Yield

Italy 10-Year Yield

Portugal 10-Year Yield

Charts courtesy of Bloomberg.

In the absence of another huge LTRO program from the ECB, and perhaps even with another LTRO program, yields in Spain, Portugal and Italy should head North. The LTRO is not going to trump long-term fundamentals which are downright horrible.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List

Ceridian Fuel Index Up 0.3 Percent in March, Down 2.2 Percent From Year Ago

Posted: 04 Apr 2012 09:52 AM PDT

The UCLA Ceridian Pulse of Commerce Index based on real-time truck fuel usage rose slightly in March.

The Ceridian-UCLA Pulse of Commerce Index® (PCI®), issued today by the UCLA Anderson School of Management and Ceridian Corporation rose 0.3 percent in March following the 0.7 percent increase in February and the 1.7 percent decrease in January. The first quarter PCI is below the fourth quarter of last year by 4.9 percent at an annualized rate.

Sampling of Graphs From the Report

click on any chart for sharper image

I would like to see a comparison of the current three months vs. the same three months a year ago, excluding seasonal adjustments. Workday adjustments are reasonable but should be negligible over a three month period.

Such a comparison is how I show overall petroleum and gasoline usage. Please see Another Plunge in 3-Month Rolling Average of Petroleum and Gasoline Usage for details.

I will have an update through March out soon.

GDP vs. PCI

Year-Over-Year Growth of PCI

PCI Compared with Real Retail Sales

What accounts for these divergences?

Government spending
Online sales
Rebound in auto sales and high-end merchandise
Extreme weakness in housing
Renewed plunge in Savings Rate

Personal Savings Rate

Encouraged by the Fed, Consumers are once again spending too much.

The picture is not sustainable. The US economy will not disconnect from the rest of the world regardless of what most mainstream media reports.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List

Eurozone Composite PMI® Signals Recession Says Markit; France in Renewed Decline, German Growth Weakens, Italy and Spain Contract Further

Posted: 04 Apr 2012 08:32 AM PDT

In what should have been expected, but somehow wasn't, Eurozone weakness is across the board except for Ireland bucking the trend for now.

Markit says Eurozone Composite PMI® Signals New Recession in Eurozone

Key Points for March

Final Eurozone Composite Output Index: 49.1 (Flash 48.7, February 49.3)

Final Eurozone Services Business Activity Index: 49.2 (Flash 48.7, February 48.8)

France sees renewed decline, German growth

Latest PMI data provided further evidence of a mild contraction of the Eurozone private sector economy during March. The latest decline also meant that output fell over the first quarter as a whole, raising the likelihood that the economy has fallen back into technical recession.

Composite PMI Output Index by Nation

High oil prices led to a further marked increase in average input costs in March, with the impact felt at both manufacturers and service providers. Input cost inflation was the fastest for nine months, but remained below the near-record high reached one year ago. Input price inflation accelerated in Germany, Spain and Ireland, but eased in France and Italy. Italy nonetheless still saw the steepest overall increase.

Inflows of new orders fell for the eighth month running, dropping at the fastest pace so far this year. New business fell across the big-four nations, with particularly steep falls seen in Spain and Italy.

Weak demand also held down output prices, with March data signalling little change over the month.

Comment:
Chris Williamson, Chief Economist at Markit said:

"A slight easing in the rate of decline of the Eurozone service sector was insufficient to offset the first decline in manufacturing output for three months, causing the overall economy to contract again in March.

"With the exception of a marginal expansion seen in January, the economy has been in continual decline since last September. Although the average rate of decline seen over the first quarter eased compared with the final three months of last year, the survey data nevertheless indicate that the region has slipped back into a technical recession.

"The downturn is currently only very mild, however, with gross domestic product probably falling by just 0.2% in the first quarter. Furthermore, with business confidence in the service sector running at a far higher level than late last year, the recession may also be brief."

I have been critical of Market analysis for months and this is the worst yet.

First they said Germany would prevent a recession, then Germany would decouple, now they suggest this is only a "technical" recession and the "the recession may be mild and brief".

The European recession will be neither mild nor brief. Spain, Portugal, and Greece are in economic depressions with no end in sight. Spain and Italy (the 3rd and 4th largest eurozone markets) are poised for steeper slides. Germany will not be immune to this as I have stated for months on end.

German manufacturing contracted in March and services sector will soon follow. For some reason, Markit economists cannot figure this out.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List

Spanish Economic Drama: Nearly 57% of Budget Devoted to Pensions, Unemployment Benefits, and Interest; Unemployment Rate Hits 23.6%; Spain Warns of Soaring Debt

Posted: 03 Apr 2012 11:40 PM PDT

Inquiring minds keep poking around at problems in Spain and everywhere one looks problems are far greater than government officials would like you to believe.

Please consider this Google Translation from the Guru'sBlog Spanish Economic Drama, Over Half Federal Budget Devoted to Pensions, Unemployment and Interest

Today the Minister of Finance and Public Administration, Critobal Montoro, has submitted to Congress the 2012 State Budget , and I am frightened by the huge numbers that are involved in pensions, unemployment and interest.

37.1% of total state budget will be allocated to pension payments, 9.2 % for unemployment benefits , while another 10.5% will go to interest payments (28.848 million euros, equivalent to 2.7% of GDP.

In all, these three items account for 56.8% of total State Budget 2012.

Spain Warns of Soaring Debt

The AP reports Spain Warns of Soaring Debt as Unemployment Rises

Spain said Tuesday its national debt will spiral sharply higher this year as data showed unemployment hit a record high in March, complicating efforts to stabilise the country's strained finances.

Budget Minister Cristobal Montoro said borrowings of 186.1 billion euros ($248 billion) this year will take the debt-to-GDP ratio to 79.8 percent from 68.5 percent in 2011, well above the EU 60 percent limit.

"Spain is a critical situation. That is what we're trying to address," he told a news conference after delivering the conservative government's cost-cutting budget for 2012 to parliament.

Adding to the strain on public finances, the number of people out of work rose for the eighth straight month in March as Spain headed back to recession with the economy expected to shrink 1.7 percent this year after expanding 0.7 percent in 2011.

The number of workers registered as without work climbed 0.82 percent from February to 4.75 million, the highest figure since the current statistics series began in 1996, the labour ministry said.

The 2012 budget -- approved by the cabinet on Friday -- includes 27 billion euros in tax increases and spending cuts aimed at slashing the annual public deficit to 5.3 percent of output this year from 8.5 percent last year.

It closes tax loopholes and rebates for large companies and freezes wages of public sector employees but spares jobless benefits and pensions amid growing public anger at the dire economic situation.

Spanish unemployment is up for the 8th consecutive month and may soon top 25%. Moreover, revenues will drop substantially.

There is no way Spain can meet its deficit targets.

In response, Brussels will soon be demanding cuts in pension benefits. More violence is right around the corner.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List

joi, 5 aprilie 2012

What's Better - On-page SEO or Link-building?

What's Better - On-page SEO or Link-building?

What Is On-page SEO?

Case #1: The Authority

70% On-page, 30% Link-building

Case #2: The Perfectionist

30% On-page, 70% Link-building

Case #3: The Hot Mess

90% On-page, 10% Link-building

Case #4: The Bad Boy

10% On-page, 90% Link-building

But What About Social?

Is There a Perfect Mix?