Best of Blogs: August 2007 Archives

The popularity of online video is surging, but video and search engine optimization aren't easy to mix. SEO specialist George Ajazi explains how to optimize video for natural search.

Speaking of surges, from Silicon Alley Insider, statistics that confirm the surging popularity of online advertising. While traditional media spending continues to shrink, online market share increased 7% in one year--astounding.

We've written about blackhat SEO and whitehat SEO recently, always taking the position that blackhat is to be avoided like the plague. But Mark Jackson takes an objectivel position and explains when marketers should wear the white hat, gray hat, and even the black hat.

Thomas McMahon reports from SES 2007 on the latest thinking on Web analytics. Web analytics, already a mysterious art, promises to become even more complex with the need for tools to track social media and other online activities.

Along those lines, read Susan Esparza's The Impact of Social Media on Search Rankings for a better understanding of how our complex online world is becoming more complex.

"Conversion rate" is a deceptively complicated term in search marketing. Kevin Gold explains the nuances of conversion rates in his detailed and informative post.

Some folks love to use frames in Web site design. Pandia explains why frames and SEO don't mix.

In many quarters, Google is under fire for invading our privacy. The issue is complicated for consumers, because there's a trade-off between protecting our personal information and effective searching. In his thoughtful post Google, Privacy and You, Stuart Brown offers a much needed balanced view.

Everybody's talking about conversational marketing. Search marketers need to pay attention to how it evolves, because conversations may someday become more effective than interruption marketing techniques and even certain forms of paid search. The big question, posed by Nic Brisbourne, is this--will conversational marketing scale? Like the rest of us, he doesn't have the answer, but kudos for asking the right question.

But then again ... is scalability the right question? Tony Hung makes the case that when you scale conversational marketing, it's no longer conversation.

Here's the glossary of essential SEO jargon from SEOmoz that we mentioned in yesterday's post about how search engines work. Packed with entries, this glossary is one you'll want to keep handy.

How do Google, Yahoo and Microsoft compare for paid search marketing performance? Read this report card from Search Engine Land and find out!

"Advertising Age" interviews Danny Sullivan on local search. See the future, now.

Outstanding tips from Richard Burckhardt on SEO. He takes fairly complicated techniques and translates them into plain English.

More on local search. Search Engine Land reports statistics that confirm the rapid growth of local search and its importance in a fully integrated marketing plan.