Cutting-Edge SEO Insights

Over-optimisation of targeted anchor text has been given a lot of importance by SEO experts, in a bid to avoid getting slapped by Google’s penguin update. We saw the effects of the penguin update on many websites that have unnatural anchor text distribution and, as anyone would expect, this should have been applied to the ‘payday loans’ niche but, surprisingly, this is still not the case. Any rational SEO would think anchor text distribution is crucial in a competitive and controversial [...]

There are many SEO tactics that could negatively influence a sites' ranking. The tactics presented in this article are 7 of the most important ones, that I consider you should avoid, as to the 2012 events (Penguin/Panda/other Google updates). They are both onsite and offsite tactics. (Note: LQ = Low Quality) 1. Directories (LQ) This is one of those "Post Penguin" tactics to avoid. Of course there are still, great human-edited directories that will give you quality links (even if paid). bo [...]

There is a lot of talk about Google’s continued algorithm changes, particularly Google Panda and Google Penguin. Most of the talk seems focused on what not to do or what strategies to employ to avoid being affected by these algorithm changes, but there are still plenty of people who don’t quite get how or why they are losing their rankings or what to do about it if they are. Today, we would like to rundown the past, present, and future of how Panda and Penguin affect your website and your bu [...]

This last month was all about Google Penguin. Because of that, I thought on asking some of the brightest minds in the SEO industry, to share their opinions on what "Penguin" is and how it affected link building and SEO. It is important to know that none of the interviewees knew who are the other participants to the interview. This makes the interview unique, by sharing the individual opinions regarding the Google "Penguin" update, of each of the link builders. This is an in-depth interview [...]

Notice : As we are approaching our commercial launch in November (the exact date is not disclosed yet), we are starting to "leak" features and info about the cognitiveSEO product. Yesterday Matt Cutts has confirmed that Google is indexing Ajax / Javascript. Today we are announcing that cognitiveSEO is doing the same thing ... but from an SEO point of view. What are the "Link Previews" ? In the past 12 months we have been working on a unique and powerful feature, called "Link Previews" (t [...]

Disclaimer: this is the author's personal opinion and is not the opinion or policy of cognitiveSEO or of the little green men that have been following us all day. Our weekly link building technique column has been dormant for a while as I was link building by guest posts on other SEO blogs myself. You might have noticed or read these postings already. Maybe I will collect them at the bottom in the comment section for those that haven't yet. This week I'd like to write about a technique [...]

* Earlier this week one of my favorite link building blogs, SEER Interactive, has published a post on why Google +1 votes are not a good ranking signal. The post by Wil Reynolds recapitulates 10 years of history of ranking factors in search to make its point. It all sounds very convincing unless that it is not true. The old school SEO thinking does not apply here in the case of Google +1 which rather has to do with social media than search. I'm far from a Google fanboy but the +1 votes, e [...]

This is our third infographic from our "cognitiveSEO Infographic Series". If you are doing SEO, you clearly know the following concepts : Black Hat SEOGrey Hat SEOWhite Hat SEO The infographic below will give you a short overview on each of the concepts above. It will answer the questions below and more: What Hat do I Really Wear ? What Hat should I Wear ? What Risks am I exposed to using Black Hat / Grey Hat or White Hat SEO techniques?What tactics are involved in Black Hat / Gre [...]

* "Content is king" is one of the widest spread Internet memes. Whether you agree or not you will see the phrase referenced all over the place. For several years Google was one of the most ardent supporters of the "content is king" philosophy. Why does Google want you to "create great content" and lots of it? In order to explain why I wanted to track the first mention of "content is king" just to find out that Bill Gates declared in January of 1996. Also Sumner Redstone of Viacom said it [...]

* SEO has been pronounced dead ever since inception, in recent years the number of people claiming that SEO is dead for one or another reason has grown significantly though. One explanation for this trend is that publishers want to gain attention by badmouthing a whole industry, especially as it works really well with SEO practicioners and their enemies. Both cried foul each and every time like some dog which barks once you cross a line entering its territory. The second major explanation [...]