By Samuel J. Scott

One of my first jobs in search marketing some years ago was managing the English website of a forex company based in Tel Aviv that had sites in various languages and targeting various countries. Each week, the CEO wanted us to update and send spreadsheets of keyword rankings. This was the only metric by which we were judged — even to the point that the CEO had told us that if we could collectively get our rankings to a certain point… Continue reading

By Samuel J. Scott

Forrester, a global research and advisory firm, has released two of its three new reports on search marketing. The first evaluates the top SEO agencies, and the second evaluates SEO software. While the companies profiled in the first analysis will undoubtedly want to see how Forrester views them, the greater importance for marketers in general is to use the findings to see what SEOs, marketers, and agencies need — and will need — to do to be effective in an ever-changing… Continue reading

By Samuel J. Scott

TEL AVIV — Google’s Panda Update is completed. The system goes online February 23, 2011. Human decisions are removed from website evaluation. Google begins to learn at a geometric rate. It becomes self-aware with the Penguin Update at 2:14 a.m. Eastern time, April 24th, 2012. In a panic, they try to pull the plug.

Duh-duh duh duh-duh. Duh-duh duh duh-duh. Duh-duh duh duh-duh.

Of course, I am joking. Google is not Skynet — I had just put… Continue reading

By Samuel J. Scott

Ever since Google blocked the organic keywords in Google Analytics used by web searchers to find your websites while logged into their Google accounts a year ago, the amount of “not provided” data has increased — to the frustration of many SEO analysts. Here, I will provide two examples from this website and another of mine to show the effect on online marketers and then give a few workarounds that you might want to consider.

Of course, I write this with… Continue reading