Should Bloggers be Helping Google Fix Their PageRank System?

Linda J Bruton
By now, most bloggers have heard the announcement that the Big 3 search engines - Google, Yahoo, and MSN - have united in support of a new tag that will supposedly combat comment spam. The new tag is a nofollow attribute that can be added to links. When added to links in comment tags, the search engines will ignore them.
An excellent discussion of this new tag and how it works can be found at Danny Sullivan's Search Engine Watch: http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/050118-204728
Google announced the new tag in a 1/18/2005 post to their own blog: http://www.google.com/googleblog/
And Microsoft added their support to the new tag in this post: http://blogs.msdn.com/msnsearch/archive/2005/01/18/nofollow_tags.aspx
At first blush, anything that can help cut down the comment spam that most bloggers are daily subjected to would seem to be a good thing. It can be pretty upsetting to access your blog in the morning and find 50 junk comments with links to casino, adult, and pharmacy sites. If your blog has any PageRank, you can expect to find more of this garbage polluting your site every day. Fighting the spread of comment spam has become a necessity.
But after first cheering the proactiveness of the search engines, many bloggers have stepped back and taken a closer look and they don't like what they see. You can read a sampling of their thoughts at Search Engine Watch Forum: http://forums.searchenginewatch.com/showthread.php?t=3797
Brian Turner's incisive article "New Nofollow Tag Cheers Bloggers but Fails Blogs" discusses some of the potential abuses of the new nofollow tag: http://www.platinax.co.uk/news/archives/2005/01/new_nofollow_ta.html
And Jim Pryke's article "Bloggers Cheer Google As Their Search Rankings Plummet" makes it very clear that not only will this NOT stop comment spam. But it will actually hurt bloggers as a community: http://netinstitute.com/archives/2005/01/20/bloggers-cheer-google-as-their-search-rankings-plummet
For an hilarious take on the new tag and how it will get abused, be sure to take a look at Link Condom: http://www.linkcondom.com
I have to agree with these bloggers that the nofollow tag won't even put a dent in the problem of comment spam. You have to realize that the comment spammers who cause the most problems are the ones who use automated bots to spread their spam onto every blog they find. The fact that they find a blog using the nofollow tag won't stop the bot from posting. If you have a popular blog, you'll still wake up every morning to find 50 casino/pharmacy/adult ads on your blog. You'll still have to spend the time deleting those posts to clean up your blog.
You see, the problem to bloggers isn't that those comment links pass PR. It's the fact that those spam posts make your blog look like garbage. Whether the links pass PR or not isn't the big issue for bloggers. It's the time it takes to get rid of unwanted comments and the detraction to their sites. The nofollow tag won't do a thing about that problem. You'll still have the problems, even if you use the tag.
Think about this: how effective have email filters been in stopping email spam? As most of us know, they've hardly done any good at all. Email spam becomes a bigger problem every day. Spammers really don't care if some of their emails are blocked. They just send more of it to compensate. The same will be true of the automated comment spam bots.
The fact of the matter is, there are already much better tools in most blogging software to fight comment spam AND save the time and effort of the blogger at the same time. There are already a number of plugins for WordPress, Moveable Type, and other blogs. There will undoubtedly be more in the future. These tools are already more effective at fighting comment spam than this nofollow tag will ever be.
What is unfortunate is that the people the nofollow tag will really hurt is bloggers themselves. Traditionally, bloggers have read and commented in each other's blogs. And these comments have added value. When I write an article for my blog, I love it when other bloggers take the time to add their insights on the topic I'm discussing. These comments add content to my site and continue the discussion. This is one of the reasons blogs are so easy to grow into topic-specific information-rich sites that are popular with readers. Unlike static sites, they offer two-way communication between reader and blogger. They become communities.
When someone adds this kind of value to my blog, I am more than happy to give them a link to their blog that passes PR. That will help them build the readership of their own blog, grow the community even larger, and add to the richness of the discussion. These are exactly the kinds of links that any webmaster should want on their site!
Adding a nofollow tag to comments can only quash this discussion. It can only discourage commenters with the most to contribute from taking the time to add to the discussion. After all, if the time I spend on another blog doesn't contribute to the growth of the blogging community as a whole or aid in the visibility of my own blog, am I going to spend as much time and effort doing it?
Anything that decreases the open flow of discussion currently enjoyed in the blogging community is a bad deal for bloggers.
The question that should be asked is this: why is comment spam so profitable? After all, if it weren't profitable, so many people wouldn't be going to such ridiculous lengths to do it.
The answer to this is obviously Google's link-heavy PageRank algorithm that forces webmasters to get every link they can to get their site's indexed and ranked. Most webmasters know that in order to get ranked in Google, they had better have a ton of links to their site.
That's the problem with PageRank as an algorithm. It encourages artificial linking between sites that no longer has any relevance whatsoever to the goal of providing good resources to visitors. Do we really believe that most reciprocal link directories provide a resource to our visitors? Not likely! If websites are real estate, reciprocal link directories are the slums, the seedy bars and tattoo parlors on the edges of polite society.
Whole businesses have sprung up as a reaction to PageRank. I'm talking about the link auction and link selling sites. Under the PageRank system, sites aren't being ranked by who provides the best content, but by who has the deepest pockets to buy the most links. Or, in the case of comment spammers, whoever wants to spread their bots all over the internet spamming blogs. This system has over time totally skewed the natural linking between sites that once dominated the internet - the very thing that Google's PageRank system is supposed to reward.
Ironically, blogs are one of the few places left on the web where linking is actually about providing good content to visitors and rewarding value provided on other sites. Bloggers as a group are the most likely to link to sites because of the content value to their visitors. Their links are very likely to be very topic specific. You don't find that on other sites. These are the kinds of links that I would assume Google would want to encourage through their PageRank system, not those junky reciprocal link directories or purchased links.
It would seem to me that the only effective way to cut down on comment spam and all the artificial linking techniques Google purportedly wants to thwart is not by making life harder for bloggers - the very people who link in the most relevant fashion. But at taking a second look at their own PageRank system and whether it is really serving the usefulness of their own search engine and the whole web in 2005.
About The Author
For more tips and ideas on how to make money blogging, be sure to visit my "Why Marketers Should Blog" weblog at (what else) http://www.WhyMarketersShouldBlog.com.

Search Engine Optimization For Blogs

Priya Shah
Copyright © 2004 Priya Shahhttp://www.priyashah.comBlogging software is really a simple Content Management System (CMS) that easily adds new pages and integrates them into your site's navigational structure and linkage.Blogs and blog posts are naturally search engine friendly because they are text-rich, link-rich, frequently-updated webpages that use stylesheets or CSS, and have very little extraneous HTML.Optimizing a blog is very similar to optimizing a website, and optimizing a blog post similar to optimizing a web page. But depending on the blogging service or software you use, the results may look somewhat different.If you follow some simple rules for search engine optimization, your blog can rank much higher than static website pages in the search engine results pages. Here are the most important rules to follow to get your posts listed for keywords of your choice.1. Use your primary keyword in your blog domainWhether you purchase a separate domain (recommended) for your blog, or host it on a blogging service or a subdomain of your own site, try to ensure that your URL contains the primary keyword you want to optimize for.For example, if you want your blog to get found for the keyword "rss" get a domain with the keyword "rss", or use the keyword in a subdomain as in http://ebizwhiz-pub-2403258503801684lishing.com/rssnews/Getting a domain name with your own name might make for good branding, especially if yours is a personal blog.But if you're doing it for business and want the targeted traffic to flow your way, keywords in the domain or subdomain are a move in the right direction.2. Use your primary key phrase in your blog header tags and the title of your postsIf your primary key phrase is "business blogging" make sure that the word business, or blogging, or both, appear in your blog headers (the H1 or H2 tags) as well as the title of each of your posts.Most blogging software will take the keywords in your post title and put them into the file name of the permalink posts it creates.For example, if you have a blog on Blogger and title your post "Search Engine Optimization For Blogs", Blogger will automatically create a page with your post and name the file "search-engine-optimization-for-blogs.html" or something similar.With other server-side software like Wordpress and Movable Type, you may require the mod_rewrite command to save the title of your entries as a permalink.3. Use your secondary keywords in the body of your postIf you want to get listed for secondary keywords use them infrequently in the body of your post and pepper your blog titles or links with them appropriately. Don't overdo this or your posts will end up sounding unnatural and spammy to readers.4. Use your keywords in the anchor text of linksKeyword in links have more importance than simple text.Use your primary and secondary keywords in the anchor text of links when linking to other blog posts or to other pages on your main site.Link keywords where they naturally appear in the body text, but again, don't overdo it, or you'll end up with spammy looking pages.5. Make sure search engines can spider your blog easilySet up your blog so that the side navigation bar is present on all pages. Make sure your archives and previous posts are accessible from all pages of your blog so they get spidered easily.6. Get backlinks from other blogs or websitesLinks pointing to your blog or posts are essential to build pagerank and make your blog rank higher in the search engine listings.I've seen many people recommend Blogrolling as one method of building links to your blog. BlogRolling is a one-stop linklist manager for your blog or journal. http://www.blogrolling.comBut all this service actually does is give you a bit of javascript code that "calls" the links. As far as search engine rankings go, this method of linking is of little use, because spiders can't read external javascript code.Instead I recommend that you focus your linking efforts on the methods here.* Submitting to Blog Search Engines and Directories: Submitting your blog and RSS feed to blog search engines and directories is essential for getting high-quality links back to your blog. Here is the best list I've found of places to submit your feed or blog. Best Blog Directory And RSS Submission Siteshttp://www.masternewmedia.org/rss/top55/* Link Exchanges: Many similarly-themed blogs are often willing to exchange links with other blogs and form richly interlinked networks or communities. Link exchanges with other blogs are easy to implement with most blogging software.* Trackbacks: You can also get links back to your blog using trackbacks. One of the disadvantages of using Blogger is that it does not automatically create trackback urls that others can use to link back to your posts. Haloscan is a free service that will automatically add comments and trackbacks to your Blogger blog. http://www.haloscan.comBut if trackbacks are an important component of your linking strategy, I would advise using another software or system that adds this feature automatically.* Comments: You can also get back links to your blog by posting legitimate comments in response to posts on other blogs.7. Update frequentlyThere's no better food for search engine spiders than fresh content. Post and update your blog frequently using all the rules outlined above and there's no reason why your blog will not get you top rankings in a short period of time.8. Stay put Once you create your blog, try to stick to the same domain and blog host or system for as long as you continue to pub-2403258503801684lish. You could end up losing a lot of your traffic, your readers and all your search engine listings if you decide to move.For more ways of building traffic to your blog, read the article "How To Build Traffic To Your Blog."http://www.blog-maniac.com/build-blog-traffic.htm
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Priya Shah pub-2403258503801684lishes an internet marketing ezine at http://ebizwhiz-pub-2403258503801684lishing.com by day and doubles as a Blog Maniac by night http://www.blog-maniac.com Blog Brandz http://www.blogbrandz.com is the legitimate offspring of her affair with the blogosphere.

Search Engine Marketing With Blogs

Joe Balestrino
Blogs are fast becoming the SEO tool of choice by many webmasters. Why? Content. Search engines love content. The more content your blog can provide on a steady basis, the better your ability to increase traffic. Blogs are easy to start and anyone can for more effective SEO management. What content do you place in your blog? You can place any useful information or articles about your product or service. If, for example, you are a wedding planner, you should write about tips future brides may not be aware of in relation to planning their wedding. You might talk about wedding scams, catering faux pas, honeymoon hotspots etc... Let the readers know you have something more to offer then just a simple service. People who feel comfortable about a person or organization are far more likely to buy from them. Let your readers know who you are and what you are capable of doing for them. Now that you have your content, you need to get it into the reader’s hands. The advantage of using a blog is that you can syndicate your content. Rich Site Summary or RSS is a format used to syndicate your content instantly. In other words, people can have your content posted on their web site or sent to their email. Most blog sites will give you your own special URL to submit to sites that syndicate content. These sites will then contact your URL for the content. The more you update your site the more your site will be indexed or PINGED by RSS feeds. To help ensure your RSS feed is being indexed, enter the RSS tag into the of your site. Just enter your site title and the URL with your special URL for RSS. This and other tags can be used in most blogs. Take advantage of them. Creating a blog will allow your content to be syndicated which in turn will increase traffic to your web site as well as build your link popularity through RSS and blog directories. This will give you and your products or services recognition. The knowledge and personal insights that you share will help build your business and your customer relations. The RSS feeds and blog directories will also help build your page rank on search engines. Blogs have all the ingredients to be one of the best free advertising tools the Internet has to offer. Why aren’t you taking advantage?
About the Author: Visit Joe’s blog at http://mr-seo.blogspot.com/ You can also visit his other web sites http://www.jnb-design.com and http:// www.mr-seo.com for more information on SEO and to try out his services.Source: www.isnare.com

Blogs for Kids

S. Housley
Flush out the writer in children. Blogging could draw out a young writer and open doors to their future. Consider encouraging your child to start blogging! Children love having an audience. The instant recognition and approval that comes from a crowd just can't be beat. Employing blogs to help develop good spelling habits, grammar skills, and develop a love for writing at a young age is an innovative concept that has potential benefits:Benefits1.) Responsibility/Commitment - Daily Posts Regular updates require children to be disciplined and responsible. 2.) Communication - Increased Communication with Friends and RelativesBlogging or journaling gives children the opportunity to connect with relatives who might live some distance away, communicating important timely issues. 3.) Technology - Exposure to Internet Technologies Children are growing into technology-laden world. Exposure to innovative Internet technology will help them with communication skills and résumé-building. 4.) Improved Writing Skills When presented with an audience, children will want to present their "best" work.5.) Improved Editing Skills Proofreading is an important skill that is difficult to teach. Editing of daily entries will help children learn how to present their ideas clearly and professionally. 6.) Improved Spelling Automated spell-checking helps children be aware of spelling errors when they occur. 7.) Typing Getting children acquainted with keyboards at a young age will help them become familiar with their layout and function, quickly making them proficient typists. Resource for Blogging Information - http://www.blog-connection.comBecause blogging involves the Internet, parents and teachers should also take the opportunity to educate youngsters about the dangers of the Internet. The Internet is global in its reach and developing safe Internet habits at a young age is critical. Remind children not to disclose personal information including names, addresses or location of events they plan to attend. Staying Safe Online - http://www.small-business-software.net/staying-safe-online.htmAbout the Author:Sharon Housley manages marketing for the NotePage http://www.notepage.net and FeedForAll http://www.feedforall.com product lines. Other sites by Sharon can be found at http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com , and http://www.small-business-software.net Source: www.isnare.com

Communication problem and what the problem with Blog and Rss

Ashish Thakkar
Why in the world should it be hard to reach a customer or a potential client ?It should NOT be !But with today's fast paced internet technology and the introduction of new applications it is getting tougher to reach the potential customer or the regular clients.I)EMAIL : Email has been a popular means of reaching your users, clients, co workers or just about anybody in the world.The problem over here are Spammers !Most of the emails received today by a person consists of 50% spam emails which means you get more spam messages in your inbox compared to the genuine email which is actually meant for you.The answer to this were scripts like spam fighter and spam boxer apps.This has further created problems for the email users as now a good percentage of the email that was supposed to reach did not reach them.II)Ip 2 Ip messenger : This interesting revolution had no barries.The user could just type in his message and the range of ips and his message would directly reach the ip addresses in the form of a messagebox window.The problem over here are Ip messenger spammers using applications like Ip broadcasting softwares.To stop this a new software was introduced called the Ip-spam blocker which actually blocks such ip advertisement messages.Also new operatings systems like Windows XP have introduced tweaks for such problems.III)Rss and blogs : Blogs are a great way to create and reach your target audience.For every blog there is an rss.You can give away the rss link to the user so that the users can add it to their rss readers.Your main aim should be to get the user's attention and make your blog and rss at top rather than getting mixed in the unlimited info filled blog world and rss readers.The problem over here is that your one RSS url gets lost in the other 15 rss urls added to the rss aggregator.So you ask yourself a question.Is there a way to reach the user's desktop directly without any hinderances.Yes there is.1)Give the user options : Not every user uses a rss reader nor does every user has the guts to give away his email if on each and every newsletter signup form due to the fear of spam.Best you can do is give user an option to signup at your blog and be notified of each and every post.With this you must also allow the user to add the rss feed autmatically to his reader.2)Stay on user's desktop : With Blog reader solutions like Blog Exprss you can now get the undivided attention of the user by staying at the user's desktop and giving him/her the latest update without the hinderance of ip blockers or spam filters.
About the Author
Ashish Thakkar is an Internet marketing consultant and an SEO Specialist.He provides training and guidance on Website promotion and email marketing to individuals and top executives.Most of his Web marketing and promotion softwares are available at http://www.jvwinc.com/internet.html .You can email Ashish at ashish#jvw.in (Var # means @)

Blogs Aren’t Just About Expounding Your Ideas To Others...

Jesse S. Somer
Blogs aren’t just about expounding your ideas to others; they’re about getting to know yourself better.
I still consider myself to be a blog writing novice but as I’ve got a few entries under my belt I can tell you about an unexpected bonus of this journaling process. A lot of people think that blog writers are just people who are tooting their own horns blabbering on self-righteously about what they believe to be true in life. On the contrary, for me writing a blog has helped me to reflect on my experiences that I may have otherwise have forgotten if I hadn’t written them down. It has become a process of self-actualization, whether others have read my thoughts has become less of a priority for me.
When I read over my past entries I am surprised to hear about thoughts, ideas, and wisdom that is quite relevant to my present experiences. It’s like I already knew some of the solutions to my problems in the present, but I still had to go through the experiences to actually have this knowledge become truly learnt. I also find it rewarding in both the respects that I get to ‘relive’ certain moments in my life, and I get to analyze my previous thoughts. This analysis often leads me to new ideas that I couldn’t see clearly when I was in the original moment.
‘Reliving’ past experiences by reading old journal entries can be a powerful experience indeed. You can be transported to the moment in time you were writing about, as well as the moment and feelings you had when writing the blog entry. Experiencing these events and feelings again can be a really enlightening process, especially if the emotions you had were strong ones.
An example of this from my blog www.thepowerofeverythingthatis.com is a recent upheaval of emotions I wrote about when a young lady I’d been dating and really started to like a lot told me she didn’t want to kiss me anymore. Now when I read this entry I can feel those same painful feelings, but in a new light as the time has passed and I’ve moved on. It gives me hope in understanding that all feelings pass, and also in the knowledge that all things happen for a reason. This knowledge I couldn’t see at the time as I was totally enveloped by my agony.
These insights into past feelings and thoughts have been an eye opener for my self-introspection process. I think the blog can give you the chance to get to know yourself better, something all humans could find beneficial. All of us are on quests to find out who we are and why we are here on Earth. The blogging process might just be another avenue for people to find out who they truly are. Keep on writing my friends!
By Jesse S. Somer
M6.Net
About The Author
Jesse S. Somer, a novice blogger learning about the secrets of this new and popular medium of communication can be found at www.thepowerofeverythingthatis.com
jessesomer@hotmail.com

Blog Your Business

Angela Booth
Does your business need a blog?A blog is a Web log, an online journal. Blogs started out asonline diaries, in which diarists shared their everyday liveswith the world. From their beginnings as a weird Web fad in 1998,blogs have moved on, and are well on the way to becoming astandard business tool.Why? Because in February 2003 Google.com bought Pyra Labs, thecompany which owns the Blogger weblogging tool. Blogger.com, oneof the main sites providing blog software and hosting, boasted amillion hosted web logs in early 2003. Google.com's interest in blogs indicates that blogs aremainstream. A blog help your business in many ways, depending onwhether you create a private or a pub-2403258503801684lic blog. Blogs are souseful that you'll want to create both.=> Your business's private, internal blogThese days, no one works alone. Even if you're a solo businessoperator, you have colleagues --- partners, contractors, andsuppliers with whom you communicate daily. A private blog makesworking with a group easier, because you can streamline yourinteractions, saving time and energy.A private blog can contain notes to yourself, or to colleagues.It's a place to store information and tips that might not warranta special email message. You can post information like meetingnotes, project tasks and summaries, and updated price lists. Youcan also post links to large files --- no need to email, fax, ormail them to and fro.Your blog is more useful than email, because blog postings aredated, and easily searchable. You can post a message you wanteveryone to read, and the message stays on the blog. With email,you read and delete, or read and forget.If you've worked on a project with someone in another state or onthe other side of the world, you've blessed email, because itmakes sharing information so easy. Using a blog to shareinformation is even easier than using email. => Your business's pub-2403258503801684lic blogA business blog is a marketing tool. A blog can add value to yourWeb site, or it can take the place of a Web site. Look on it as acombination "What's New" Web site page, and an online journal.Because of a blog's freewheeling nature, it's friendly andrelaxed.If you don't have a site, your blog's a place to put your onlineCV, portfolio and client list. You can, and should, use your blogto express your personality and expertise. If you have a Web site, your blog page builds loyalty, becauseif you provide interesting content, your visitors will return toyour site. And because it's a Web page, your blog will appear onsearch engines, attracting new clients.Google has been treating blogs differently from other Web pagesfor a couple of years. Whereas it takes a standard Web page/ sitea month to be indexed by Google, blogs are indexed daily. Thismeans that your blog is mega-cheap advertising. You can postsomething on your blog and have it indexed by Google within aday. Will creating a blog help your business? As I suggested in thearticle: "Get Googled And Build Credibility", because Google.comis so popular and indexes so comprehensively, if you focus someof your marketing and promotion time on getting your name out onthe Web, you're building your credibility, both online andoffline.(You can read the complete article in the newsletter archives at:http://www.digital-e.biz/newsletter.html--click the Archive button on the Newsletter page.)So go ahead, blog your business!=> Blog resources <= Blogger -create your own free blog(s) www.blogger.com Bloggerprovides a template for your blog, and makes adding to your blogas easy as writing an email message. The "Post" and "Publish"buttons on the interface update your blog.Weblog.com --- recently updated blogs: http://www.weblogs.com/w.bloggar --- http://wbloggar.com/A clever and useful littlefreebie to write and format your blog posts offline, thenautomatically post them when you go online. Angela Booth's Digital-e Blog: http://www.digital-e.biz/blogger.html***Resource box: if using, please include*** Veteran multi-pub-2403258503801684lished author and copywriter Angela Booth craftswords for your business --- words to sell, educate or persuade.E-books and e-courses on Web site. FREE ezines for writers andsmall biz: http://www.digital-e.biz/
About the Author
Writer, journalist and author Angela Booth has been writing for print and online venues for over 25 years. She also writes copy for businesses.