The Three Major Search Engine Liaisons

If you've never met or seen any of the engineers of the major search engines, here are some pictures that can help you recognize these individuals at the next conference you go to. All of them have their own Blog where you can find out more about who they are and what they do.

Matt Cutts - Goolge (blog)

Jeremy Zawodny - Yahoo (blog)

Robert Scoble - Microsoft (blog)

This one's for Jeremy...

If you ever get a chance to read Jeremy's blog, you'll quickly find out that he's a SQL guru. Below is my Google algorithm Jeremy style:

SELECT results FROM google WHERE search_term='some term'
  AND results NOT IN (SELECT results FROM yahoo WHERE search_term='some term')
  AND results NOT IN (SELECT results FROM msn WHERE search_term='some term')
  ORDER BY make_us_the_most_money ASC

More Images from Webmaster World

This was classic! Someone at the show was selling these t-shirts for $30 each. Anyone with disposable income, of course, bought one. Including you know who...

Here's another great image from PubCon. This one was taken after Matt found out we were recording him.

Wrap Up

Be sure to listen to the Podcast for our complete wrap up of Webmaster World and PubCon.

Posted by sophtware at 09:33 AM | Permalink

TrueLocal

Started in 2000, TrueLocal.com is the premier search engine for local search on the Internet. Jake Baillie joined the TrueLocal team in 2004 and hasn't looked back since. Jake brings to the table a vast knowledge of "Social Engineering", which has help propel TrueLocal to the forefront of local search on the Internet.

With over 13 million listings in their database, Jake predicts they have about 35% coverage of all small local businesses in the US. That being said, only about 50% of all businesses actually have a web site.

TrueLocal is one of the only local search engines that actually crawl the web sites they list. This gives them the distinct advantage of displaying more structured content to the end-user, giving them a much better search experience. Couple that with their simple, Google-like interface, and you have a winning combination.

Sign Up Today!

If you're a local business with a web site, we highly suggest you sign up today with TrueLocal.com. They are not a PPC type search engine, so great listings start at only $1 USD a month. This also means you can never suffer click-fraud by your competitors! This is definitely a win-win situation.

Posted by sophtware at 09:03 AM | Permalink

Tuesday Session Wrap Up

The way Webmaster World is organized, you can never attend all of the sessions. This means you have to pick and choose your sessions wisely. The podcast discusses what we learned in each session. Here are the sessions Jerry and I attended.

• Local Search: Real World Opportunities (both)
  All about the local search. This is an expanding market with huge potential. Last year there was over 400 million local search queries. By 2010 this number is expected to grow to more than 13 billion. If you're not in the local search market, you should be.
• Affiliate Site Strategies & Optimization (both)
  Want to make money work for you? Sounds like a stock market pitch, but it's not. What we learned at this session will blow your mind! If you ever get a chance to hear Greg Niland of GoodROI speak about affiliate marketing, do it.
• Blogging, Podcasting & RSS Feeds (michael)
  I was a little disappointed with this session. The Vegas session was 100% better and is what inspired me to start a podcast. Daron Babin of WebmasterRadio made this session worth it.
• Organic Search Forum (jerry)
  Jerry will leave notes here...
• Super Session: Blink! Thin Slicing Search (both)
  This was a great session about the user experience while searching. This session was packed with information, so be sure to listen to the podcast to find out more.

Tuesday was a great day, and for the most part, every session was well worth the time. The two notable sessions being Affiliate Site Strategies and the Super Session.

For the cost of Webmaster World, this is by far the best conference for the money. The hotel and taxi ride will cost you more than the conference. And the PubCon on the last day is worth the price alone.

Posted by sophtware at 07:30 AM | Permalink

Black Hat SEO Uncovered!

We finally get in contact with a Black Hat SEO and spammer. You will laugh when you hear what we found out!

Web Master World

It's next week and we'll be there for the whole show. We have a bunch of questions to ask, but could always use more. Be sure to post your questions for us to ask the search engine engineers before Tuesday next week.

Posted by sophtware at 10:34 PM | Permalink

Google Page Rank

Jerry talks about the Google Page Rank algorithm update and whether we should be worried about it.

Windows Live Beta

We contemplate the affects that Windows Live beta will have on the web as a whole. Discussing the direction of web sites and what it might mean in the future of site deleopment and advertising.

Black Hat Spammers (Part 2, continued...)

Well, we attempt to get ahold of the SEO firm that has been spamming us with promotional emails. Last week we tracked down the right number and extension for the spammer, but were directed to their voicemail. We'll keep trying!

Web Master World

Jerry and I will be heading to Web Master World in less then two weeks. Please post or email any questions that you might want us to ask any of the Google, Yahoo, and MSN engineers. We will ask them on your behalf and mention you in the podcast.

We'll be podcasting every day from Web Master World, so be sure to tune in to get the latest scoop!

You can also email your questions for the engineers to questions@websitemanagementtools.com

Thanks for tuning in!

Posted by sophtware at 12:39 PM | Permalink

Black Hat Spammers Uncovered (Part 1)

Getting tired of all those spam mails from SEO companies promising the world? Well we are. Today we try and expose one of these "Black Hat" spammers and get to the bottom of it.

Yahoo! Java Spam

Yahoo! has a Java spam hiccup last night.

Posted by sophtware at 01:55 PM | Permalink

SEO Training

Jerry's in Vegas this week at an SEO workshop and is letting us in on what you can expect if you attend one. Jerry is attending the Search Engine Workshops by Robin Noble and John Alexander.

Google Loves Broken HTML?

This is crazy! Someone has done a "detailed" study (yeah right) showing that Google loves broken html in web sites. Their methods are not only flawed, but the data is totally outrageous! We set about setting the record straight.

The New "nofollow" Tag

Google and some other search engines are now looking for "nofollow" tags in HREF's on web sites. This gives the webmaster more control over what links are followed both internally and offsite. We talk about how this works, and how you can benefit from using it.

Posted by sophtware at 11:25 AM | Permalink