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Google is a Big Bully

Image taken by me on March 5, 2007.

Image via Wikipedia

There is currently a discussion on MyVirtualPowerForum about Google being evil. This was my first response to the discussion.

While I do not consider Google “evil” (I reserve that label for the really bad things in life), I do think that they are the big bully on the block.

For all the reasons given here and more, Google has decided that it is the search engine “God”, and whatever it decides goes.

Well, this only works if your SEO person only optimizes your website for Google. I have never followed this method because it puts you at the mercy of them. There are many techniques (especially now with social marketing) around the monolith of Google.

What I find funny is when Google spokespeople openly lie (IMHO), and all these SEO discussion forums obediently fall in line with the supposed policy. An example was the pronouncement from on high (Matt Cutts) that Google does not consider “.gov” or “.edu” sites to be authoritative. What pure nonsense!

Another stupid comment from them was that they no longer use inbound links from directories. Yeah, right.

Google’s biggest, and ongoing lie (IMHO) is their use of PageRank. The supposed PR that you see people claiming that their site ranks for is useless. First of all, the term PageRank, is named for Larry Page, not after a web page. Secondly, the PR you can see on the Google Toolbar is not what Google is using. What Google is using is a trade secret.

And finally, PR is not important in the bigger picture. What is important is where your site ranks in the organic results on any search engine, and where it appears for the keywords that you want it to appear for.

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Biggest SEO Mistakes – Part 1

Time Breakdown of modern Web Design

Image by mringlein via Flickr

I gave a talk recently to my SEO Meetup about the 10 biggest SEO Mistakes. I discovered that there are way more than just 10, so I grouped them into three basic sections: Web Design; Title and Meta Tags; and Linking.

Of course the absolute BIGGEST mistake is not to do SEO at all, but I presume that you already know that.

Web Design

DON’T

Put a splash or doorway page on the website. This is a page with no text that a user has to click on to enter the actual website. We have all seen this, there is a big graphic, or a Flash movie, and a small “Skip Intro” button at the bottom somewhere. Why upset your users when they come in to the website? Remember, you only have 7 seconds to grab their attention.

Use frames on the site. An example is a website that is cut into boxes where the text scrolls down but the design stays put. This includes I-Frames. Fortunately, most designers no longer fool with frames, but i-Frames are just as bad. Try printing out a web page that has frames and you will get two blank pages and one of text. Which one will the search engine see? The blank ones.

Have a Flash movie on the first page. Most search engines cannot see Flash, and will not index your website as a result. Even though Adobe supposedly gave Yahoo and Google information on Flash, the programs cannot see your images. However, you can embed the Flash video in a static HTML page. This allows the search engine to index the page and your users still can see the lovely movie.

Use graphics with text in them (i.e. like a page header with your tagline in it). Again, search engines cannot see graphics and will miss the important data.

Have a lot of flashing and blinking animations on your website. This is distracting to the user and “so last century”.

Please do not try fancy navigation buttons. These often lead to confusing both the users and the spiders. You want to have straightforward, easy to read / see navigation links throughout the website.

DO

Have at least a paragraph of text on the first (or home) page. This allows the search engines to properly classify the site and helps the users as well (7 second rule).

Have your contact information at the bottom of each page or in a visible location (such as a Contact Us page). This boosts credibility.

Use your most important key terms in the text of the pages, so that the search engines and your prospective clients can find you.

Make sure that the navigation of the website is clear and simple to use. If a user cannot navigate your site, they will leave.

Make sure that there are no broken links on the website. This means checking back every few months.

Part 2 will cover Linking.

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