‘What’s the difference between exploring and being lost?’ 

- Dan Eldon, Photographer/Journalist

Forget space. In many ways the web is the final frontier. Like the universe, the web is always expanding, and for us users there’s no way of ever depleting it of its rich and many resources. Since its inception, the web has been explored and mapped by countless programs and browsers, and as SEO consultants we’re no different. Like every web surfers we are explorers, but the difference is that we spend our whole lives immersed in a living breathing jungle of websites, rather than simply indulging in the odd foray.

For link building, this poses some problems. Like the Elephants who return time and time again, generation after generation to the same water hole, we can overuse and over visit the same stale directories and link opportunities. One day we find that the link juice has all dried up.

My point is that to find fresh, new and therefore powerful link building opportunities; we have to tread different paths through the web – we have to get lost. Instead of using the same old search terms or directory lists, let’s look at some search operator combinations which could help ensure you never find your way back to the same old sites again.

We have covered basic operators before, so check that blog out first for clarification regarding how any of these combinations work when separated. I should also reference this blog, which serves as a source for this post. I’ve taken the most useful ones to reproduce here.

1. Industry Hotspots (linkfromdomain:)

a. This combination in incredibly useful if you’re coming into a campaign from the cold. Say you’ve been given a client who specialises fish pedicures. Do you know anything about fish pedicures? Probably not, so you’re going to need a way of find out which sites are hubs for that industry, so that you can become a part of them as part of your internet marketing/link building campaign.

First Google your keywords and grab the URL of an authoritative competitor or two. Then head to Bing and slap in:

linfromdomain:fishpedicures.co.uk

This will return a list of sites to which that authoritative site links, and by repeating the process with multiple competitors, you can identify common outgoing link targets and therefore likely industry authorities.

b. You can reverse this too, allowing you to see which sites your industry’s authority links to. Use linkfromdomain:industryauthority.co.uk keywords –site: industryauthority.co.uk to achieve this (swapping industryauthority.co.uk for your industry authorities URL and keywords for the topic in question. This latter method can save you trawling through page after page of site explorer link lists.

c. The final application of this operator and its combinations could be useful, although the ethics of the technique are questionable and it’s probably not advised you employ it. The aim is to find domains which are up for grabs, yet which also have high quality links headed to them. First select an authoritative site, and then, in Bing, use the following search operator combination:

linkfromdomain:authoritativesite.com domain expired

This could return sites which have link authority headed their way, but which you can buy and 301 redirect to your own site. Also, swap domain expired with domain for sale for alternative results.

2. Changing URL links to keyword rich anchor text links.

This could be an easy win for a flagging campaign. This method allows you to find links which use your URL only. In some instances, the webmaster of said site could then be approached and kindly asked that the anchor text is used instead of the URL. Just a though, obviously. In Google, use:

intext:www.myurl.co.uk –site:www.myurl.co.uk

Note that the second part of the operator filters out internal links so remove this if you want to include them.

3. Sourcing links from quality domains only.

This trick is useful if you suspect that a competitor has one or two really powerful links which you don’t have. Perhaps there’s a governmental website listing approved contractors in your industry and you’re not a part of it – this combination will tell you.

In Yahoo search, use:

linkdomain:yourcompetitor.co.uk inurl:ac.uk OR inurl:.gov.uk OR inurl:.edu

This will return results listing pages with links to your competitor, but only from sites with those domain extensions (which are likely to be high authority sites). Remember, if your competitor has managed to get a link there, so can you.

The above are just some search operators which can help you navigate the web more usefully where SEO is concerned. There are quite a few more combinations out there and it may be worth covering the rest in a future blog, but for now please feel free to add your own in the comments below.

There have been reports of Bing increasing in popularity and usage, even gaining some ground on Google. Reportedly there has been a 21% increase in people using Bing Search for their results and this has happened over the last month. Funnily enough this is the same time frame that Google have introduced their new Algorithm and making changes constantly, with results fluctuating wildly over the last few weeks.
Is the increase in Bing`s traffic a true reflection of customer trend or is it an aftershock from the changes and “maintenance” being done on Google?

The main issue for a lot of people recently has been that Google simply hasn`t been reliable and although it`s all for a good cause and a positive step in the direction of fighting off spam sites turning up in results, it means for a period of time we are unable to really get accurate results. Fluctuations due to the new Google Algortihm being installed saw some of my clients fall in the listings which of course can incite panic but this is off-putting to say the least and as an SEO consultant your first reaction is to ensure your client`s site is at least still listing. Cue Bing.

The automatic reliance on Google results means that it`s a strange experience using another search engine but we shouldn`t forget alternatives, as these could be the future of SERPs and Bing has been gaining on Google over the last month. However, I fear this is purely a knee jerk reaction because of the results being skewered in Google. Another potential factor could be that the privacy issue is a step too far and that the address bar tool that gives suggestions after looking at what you are typing in and the instant search function, may be useful to some but a bit too Orwellian for others and so why not try another search engine, perhaps one named after a sound an elevator makes when reach your floor.

In January 2011, Google and Yahoo both had a reduction in market share and Bing more than likely picked up on this. Also, Bing is in a very strong position for the future as it currently powers Yahoo`s search results and in January both Bing and Yahoo had excellent success rates in search results (actual click-throughs from users to a website from the SERPS), with Google coming in third.

Google may be big but trends are starting to show that sometimes corporations can get so big that it has an adverse effect and with so many updates and changes constantly performed and added to Google, is it resulting in a micro-managing effect? Are people getting fed up with having to adjust so frequently when all they want are infrequent updates for the improvement of the whole? With the likes of Bing becoming more popular users will just switch if they don`t get what they want.

So has Microsoft pulled off a future proof deal with Yahoo? By powering their search functionality and running their own Search facility they are covering a huge proportion of the market share and could give Google a run for their substantial money.

We all know that currently Google is the king of the search engines and this has been the case for a few years now.
Working in SEO requires a lot of time spent using Google`s keyword tool, as well as its search engine and we have therefore become accustomed to little tricks and traits of Google. We like it, its familiar. Its the comfort factor, like going back to your favourite restaurant or using the same bubblebath…or so I`ve heard.
Well prepare yourselves, as it looks like the bubblebath could be changing. This is because as strong as Google is online, there is a competitor rising up over the fence and its got a sword. Yes, its Bing!

Bing is Microsoft`s competing search engine which has been available since early 2009 and the initial response to it was slow but it has gained momentum over the last 18 months and in the future it could become a genuine rival to Google. One of the key acquisitions for them was when they announced a deal with Yahoo!  in mid 2009 for its search engine to be replaced by Bing, giving them at the time a bump from 10% of US searches to somewhere in the region of 30%, as well as even more exposure. What does this have to do with SEO though? Well there is a potential for change in the SEO techniques we use currently on Google, if Bing become a real competitor in the future. Would we switch to Bing for our search data? The assumption is still that quality link building is a must and that Bing likes strong links as well as relevant page content, just like Google. The foundations laid down on Google for high ranking in SEO is believed to be essentially the same for Bing and good design is another key factor to rank well but as Microsoft`s beast evolves it could cause a change in how we work should we start using it.

There is one recent development that could have Google on the back foot though as Facebook have been in talks with Microsoft to offer Bing access to anonymous data. Effectively, Microsoft would know which web pages people appreciate by using the data from Facebook, giving a more tailored view of consumer habits. This in turn could be worked into Bing`s algorithm in the future and this would be a huge advantage over Google in providing more accurately related search results. Could we be using Bing more often if it is able to provide more relevant search results over Google?
This deal though would benefit them only if users first agreed to make that information public due to the privacy issues involved.
To Google this would seem like another attempt at an attack on them by the partnership of Facebook and Microsoft who could join forces yet again to try and chink the armour of the search engine giant. The first big collaboration between these two included  Facebook accepting a $240 million investment by Microsoft to have the Live Search powering Facebook and being integrated as their search facility. Live Search as we know has now become Bing.

There is no doubt the powerplay will continue between these two giants but the effects on the SEO community could be widespread as key elements of our business, including search engine use and search data, are impacted. The world of search engines has become a war and at the moment its everyone else versus Google.

Over at WPN they’re reporting that Facebook and Bing have joined forces to improve the ‘social relevance’ of the Bing search engine.

Bing is going to be taking data from Facebook to enhance the relevance of their results. The title of the article is actually ‘Links are Dead, Social is the New Pagerank’, slightly hyperbolic as Google‘s got far too much importance to hundreds of millions of websites for it’s link based algorithm to be made irrelevant in one swift move by Bing and Facebook.

Bing will be using data from friends, social networks, likes; this a completely different way to how Google determines relevance of websites.

I think it sounds like an interesting idea and could produce more appropriate results for some users with certain enquiries though I don’t think it can make much difference to the importance of Google to businesses. The results in Bing will be more personal, probably more personal than Google’s customised searches, so I can imagine it being beneficial to many people on an individual level.

I guess, though, this is another step in the right direction for Bing & Facebook. It’s an interesting idea and one that makes quite a lot of sense; providing results which have been considered through people’s social activity and what you are likely to be looking for rather than providing results by links (and other things) that can be manipulated, exploited.

The real test to see if this is a good idea is if Google follows suit and tries to implement a similar feature.

Facebook recently announced a few updates for their Platform: updated live stream plugin, liked articles appearing in search results, improvements to real-time updates, staying informed.

‘Staying informed’ isn’t that interesting, that’s them just trying to get people to read their blog.

The one that should be of interest to the SEO industry is the ‘Liked articles appearing in search results’. And this is the reason why “if your friend clicks “Like” on an article at a news site, the article will appear in your News Feed and can now also surface in the search type ahead.” that is from Namita Gupta, a product manager for Facebook Platform.
Now I’m no tech geek so I’m going to skip the Open Graph stuff.

Crummy over at WPN brought up a few points with regard to the implications of this new feature.

He mentions the size of Facebook’s audience, the ease for content to go viral, and how easy it to achieve a ‘like’ over a ‘link’. Though a problem they may face is that people don’t tend to think of Facebook as a place to search for content and this feature will only show to your friends so if your friends don’t know or care about ‘liking’ things you won’t be seeing any articles.

We’ve talked about Google having rivals in Bing and Yahoo but it always felt like they were outsiders, long shots who, if everything went right, could challenge Google. We’ve mentioned Facebook’s challenger credentials before but this seems to be something solid that may not (will not) knock Google off the top spot but it’s a large step in the right direction.

If searching for content catches on in Facebook then there will be a dramatic and sudden shift in the focus of SEO, potentially with a stronger focus on original/enthralling/interesting content.

But, before we all start running for the thesaurus, will this affect the carpet shops, the plumbers, the aerial installers? Are people going to be ‘liking’ aerial installation articles or searching for them on Facebook? Facebook is more of a hangout, a social club, whereas Google has a more business feel, though you can find pretty much anything on Google, it’s replaced the Yellow Pages, paper based advertising, it’s a modern form of advertising for businesses.

Let’s say Facebook SEO takes off and becomes incredibly popular, Google will still be the daddy, small and medium businesses need Google not Facebook.