The Strongest Cloaking Yet – Cross Domain Canonical Tag
For years the most advanced forms of bot detection, ip delivery, javascript and flash obfuscation, etc. have been employed by blackhat search engine optimizers to accomplish cloaking. These techniques, when used successfully, would allow the webmaster to pull the wool over the eyes of bots and feed sales-heavy (or worse) content to end users. Google has fought valiantly to stop these techniques and, by and large, has removed all but the most sophisticated techniques. However, they have fallen on their own sword with the introduction of the new cross-domain canonical tag. The Canonical Tag The rel=canonical tag was a god-send for most webmasters. It allowed us to defeat duplicate content issues by placing a single line of code at the top of the HTML page,...
SEOMoz LinkScape API Functions Library
It is not every day that we get to release code around here, so I am especially pleased about this post. For those of you who don’t know, SEOMoz released their LinkScape Site Intelligence API which gives you programmatic access to their giant link information database. Some of the features are free (the mozRank API) and some are not. The following code library allows you to easily interact with the API. Main Functions: Function Description generateCredentials() uses the global variables of accessid and secret to generate a valid credential query string. apiStatus() accesses the Status API getTransformation() grabs the B and M values from the Status Call transformMozRank() converts Raw mozRank to Pretty mozRank calculateBitFlag() converts an array of...
Five Ways to use Google for Franchise Opportunity Research
Many online marketers fail to see how their skill sets can improve the success of entrepreneurs both on-line and off-line. In particular, search engine marketing gives us an ability to peak into the wishes of consumers across the world. Not only does this give us an idea of their online interests, but when considered in tandem with geographical data, it gives us the ability to predict more intelligently where particular businesses may or may not succeed. In this discussion, we are going to look at franchising research: that is, how one can use Google Adwords, Google Analytics and Keyword Discovery to identify the best locations to start a particular business. We will try to give examples from 2 vantage points – the entrepreneur trying to decide which...
In Defense of Paid Links, why Rand is Wrong
Rand Fishkin of SEOMoz fame recently released their corporate position on the issue of paid links. I rarely disagree with Rand on the common practices of search engine optimizers, but I must respectfully disagree with this position because it misrepresents the risk-reward ratio for the overwhelming majority of online business owners. I will try my best to both respond to his points and outline my own position regarding paid links. First, let’s be clear about a few things. Paid Links != Rented Links. There are a wide array of paid linking methods that are not rented, each with its own risk-reward ratio to consider. Cheap, automated paid directory linking may offer very low reward and high risk. Renting links may be somewhere in between. Paid Links != Text...
Weather Specific Backgrounds on Ubuntu with Apache, PHP, Cron and Weather.com
It has long been a goal of mine to create a system for my laptop which allows my background to mimic the weather where I live (Durham, NC). When it is raining outside, I want a background of rain. When it is sunny, the sun. So, here is a basic step-by-step guide I used to cobble this together. 1. Install Apache on Ubuntu. * JTirrell below makes a good point for those who don’t already need Apache: “Why install apache at all? php5-cli and just run the php file like a script.” Open up a terminal and type in the following, being sure to use your password after entering in the command. Afterwards, you should now be able to open up http://localhost/ in your browser. sudo apt-get install apache2 2. Install PHP Open up a terminal and type in the...
Simple PageRank User Script
This is a RePost after we lost some stories from our db. As an avid user of the Opera browser, one of my long time difficulties has been the lack of a Google Toolbar. Frankly, the only thing I am interested in on that toolbar is to see the TBPR (toolbar PR). So, without further adieu, here is a simple UserScript for seeing the PageRank. This will drop a little image in the upper left of each page you visit with the PageRank. When you mouse over the image, it disappears so you can get to any of the navigation that might be blocked by the image. // ==UserScript==<br /> // @name PR for Opera<br /> // @description Shows PageRank for Opera in Right Hand Corner. Disappears when you mouse over it.<br /> // ==/UserScript==<br />...
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