Thomas M. Schmitz takes a look at the possible outcome to the 2008 presidential race based on both Senators John McCain's and Barack Obama's search engine rankings. "Obviously this is not scientific and just for fun," he writes, "but there are some search engine optimization lessons to be learned here." Putting the SEO strategy on the table, Schmitz notes several important points taken from the Web site of each candidate. For example, Obama has unique title tags on every page; McCain has identical title tags throughout much of his Web site. McCain's site has no HTML outlines; Obama's …

Search engines are looking for a new type of signal. Keywords in prominent places, tags on pages, good linking data, and anchor text were the search workhorses of yesteryear, according to Mike Grehan. "But now there are so many different signals," he writes. "Social media bookmarking, tagging, and ratings send out half-decent signals. Number of plays and distribution of a video send out sharp signals. But the biggest signals come from the toolbar and end-user data." Grehan believes the toolbar can help build the tools that you need to track end users "from the click on the search result …

This post details a basic approach for SEO and SEM optimization by providing definitions, such as the differences between organic and paid search. Jeffery Smith also serves up tips and trick, such as choosing the correct content management system; tracking and analytics; and explains the importance of your site attracting others, or being popular, which means keeping the quality of content high, so you get many websites linking to yours. Smith tells us that carefully choosing a CMS can be as critical as choosing your keyword terms. Many of the CMSs were developed prior to clearly outlining search engine …

How many times have you tried to read through a PDF posted on a Web site only to reach the end of the document without discovering the word you were searching for? Google now searches through scanned PDF documents, such as research reports or chapters in books, posted to your website, which is good to consider when putting together SEO strategies. Previously, Googlebot didn't scan PDF documents, neither image or text-based converted to PDFs by scanning files in programs such as Adobe Acrobat. When a printed document is converted to PDF through a scanner, the only way to …

Scammers have been using SEO to infect unsuspecting searchers' computers with malware, according to the news portal securitypark.net. Here's how the scheme works: using tools like Google Trends, scammers identify the most popular search terms, which they then insert into fake Web sites. When users visit those sites, they are directed to video players where they are told they must download a "codec" to watch the clip. Instead, they're unwittingly downloading infecting malware, including "fake anti-virus software which promises to clean non existent viruses from the computer in return for their credit card details." "Using search engine optimization …

Test the effectiveness of your keywords by using a technique JP Schoeffel calls "split-testing." In his most recent blog, he refers to an older post from Oct. 17 where he steps you through instructions on spit-testing your website. He writes that it's important to take "advantage of this type of tool" to help "refine keywords or wrap keywords effectively." You can use the technique not only for Web sites, but to optimize PPC keyword campaigns, too. In this post, JP suggests using the PPC Ad Wrapper tool to double check the effectiveness of your keywords, which helps you …