A Simple Solution to the Non WWW, WWW Question

One of the most shocking things a webmaster learns upon entering the world of SEO is that they need to choose between either the WWW version or non-WWW version of their URL. As annoying as it is, not doing so can create huge duplicate content and PageRank dispersion issues that hamper your rankings. However, what we rarely discuss is how to choose which of the two to use. The answer is fairly simple. Determine which version has the most inbound, external links across all its pages and then use that as the canonical version of your domain. If the sum of all the mozRank of links pointing to your http://domain.com/* version of your site is greater than the http://www.domain.com/* version, then you should choose the non-WWW. Well, here is a simple tool that does just...

Relevancy Modified MozRank: A Smarter Metric for Rank Analysis

We have been working for a while now on our own internal correlation study in partnership with Trident Marketing and Fuzzy Logix. In working on this project, time and time again it shocked me how crude our current ranking metrics are. We finally have good raw data from sources like SEOMoz and Majestic SEO but we have only begun to scratch the surface of how Google uses these types of data to organize and create search rankings. In the same way that SEOMoz identified a simple statistical modeling technique known as Latent Dirichlet Allocation as a likely candidate for how Google models topic relevancy, we have been looking for similar statistical techniques that Google is likely to use in turning raw link data into metrics more suitable for ranking pages. The...

Virante is Hiring

We have been hiring for quite a while now, but this position is special to me. We are looking to bring on an SEO second-in-command. If there is one thing Virante prides itself in, it is knowledge. We might not always make the right decision, but we make the best-knowable decision. And that is where our people come in. We are looking for an expert. Experience is a must, knowledge is a must, curiosity is a must, and passion for the craft is a must. We are looking for someone who is a little more focused on the on-site side as opposed to the off-site side (as that is where my strengths lie). If you are interested, please shoot us an email at hiringATvirante.com along with a resume and cover letter. We will be posting this more formally soon, but I wanted those of...

Join Us at the Raleigh SEO Networking Event

Hey folks, we are sponsoring the next upcoming Raleigh SEO event, this Thursday the 21st of July from 6:00PM until late. Free beer and great networking – learn more at RaleighSEO Event: Ding, Ding, Round 2 for Raleigh SEO Date: Thursday 21st July 2011 Time: 6pm until late Location: Isaac Hunter’s Oak City Tavern Sponsor: Virante, Inc

Updated PageRank Recovery

Hey folks, after it was reported to us that there were some issues with our free pagerank recovery tool, we decided to make a few upgrades for everyone. Now the tool will report both 404 and 302 URLs (and give you the status code so you can make a decision yourself as to which types you want to 301 redirect). We also now check the top 600 URLs according to the Linkscape API.

Auto Mounting SFTP / SSH in Ubuntu (SSHFS / FUSE / AUTOFS)

Sorry for the geek post, but I wanted to share this because it took me a while to get this right. In my first foray into eLance, I had a programmer / scripter convert a tutorial on using SSHFS, Fuse and AutoFS to auto-mount SFTP/SSH connections in Ubuntu into a single, easy to use Bash script. The individual who landed the contract was Finnbarr P. Murphy who did an incredible job (worked the first time, the right way, with great documentation). I would highly recommend him in the future if any of you are looking for Linux related work. Anyway, you can download his solution below. Download: AutoMount.sh.tar.gz

Round-Up: Distilled Link Development Seminar

Virante had the honor of being invited to speak at the Distilled Link Building Seminar in London and New Orleans over the past few weeks. Every presentation was fantastic and provided great insight into the state of SEO; trends that are emerging, tactics being used, relationship building, actionable steps to improve your site/rankings, and performing competitive research were just a few of the topics covered. This SEO conference was unlike many others in several ways, but the standout was every presenter’s willingness to share what is really happening in the space and things you can do that will work now. Most search marketing conferences discuss the same topics that are covered year after year, such as using title tags and meta descriptions or why blogging...