Every once in a while, CTRL-U is my best friend. If you’re a search optimizer like me, then you know exactly what I mean.

Sometimes, the code surprises you. For example, sometimes that valid link passing juice, isn’t really a juice-passing link after all. Look below the surface, and you’ll find that it’s a tricky cloaking mechanism (largely via JavaScript) that hides your link from the hungry-hungry-bot.

Out of habit, I did it today. Yes, you know what I mean, I toggled CTRL-U. I didn’t mean to look at the code of Google’s SERPS, but it just so happened. What did I find? You would be appalled, fellow SEOptimizer Nazi: Google uses a gaggle (yes, a gaggle) of inline CSS (*waves index finger prodigiously while hissing*). Don’t believe me? See for yourself:

So, does this mean that inline CSS is bad, or that Google is just bad (at SEO, that is)?

Photo by Thomas Hawk

You may have heard that Yahoo just partnered up with Google. I definitely think this is a good thing - not only to improve Yahoo’s dismal performance vis a vis paid advertising, but also to improve our credibility as SEOs!

You may well know that the cost per click has been steadily rising as more and more marketers pay for their traffic. This won’t change any time soon. In fact, the Yahoo/Google partnership will only exacerbate already skyrocketing click costs.

The average CPC is expected to rise, and the rise isn’t expected to stop, according to Jupiter Research.

So what’s an SEO to do? Pounce on it. This is an opportunity to show your client (if you’re a freewheelin’ consultant) or your boss (if you’re an in-house guru) that search optimization is free traffic.

It’s not only free, but it’s also more qualified and gets the lion’s share of traffic. Search engine users are 6X more likely to click on the first few organic results than the paid results. The heatmap knows all!

Granted, paid search is still the easiest and most effective way to bring in revenue, but for some revenue streams, it just doesn’t work. Where a company can really shine is in the bread and butter listings. SEO may not be rocket science, but it will soon become the star hitter on the field.

So, as we reflect on the recent revelations just know, deep down in your heart that it feels good to be a gangsta… dayam, it feels good.

Looking at the graph and the inbounds can tell you what succeeds. It will never tell you what fails.

People often focus too much on the negative. You can’t focus on negatives, especially in the realm of search optimization because — chances are — those negatives will happen much more often than the positives.

This is no truer than it is with link building. In order to succeed in linkbuilding, you need to know your successes. These are your places that you can turn to later, whether with future projects, or with the same project.

Failures, on the other hand, are not going to help you. You’ll find that, whether you’d like to or not, the failures will quickly fade from your memory while your successes are where your learn the most.

Case in point: I had a recent project that involved building the traffic for a kid’s website. The content was fun, interesting, and one of those types of tasks that SEOs envision as another cake walk. Building the links, however, was tough and I can’t tell you how many manual link requests I sent out to schools and educators. All that mattered, though — in the end — was that one single .edu link (like it or not, EDU domains are by and large still GOLD).

And the result? Traffic spiked. I still don’t know the source of that fortuitous link. All I do know is that the failures faded into memory the moment I saw the inbounds climb. All that mattered in the end were the triple sevens.

This is the official blog of Chronicas Media, a full-service search engine optimization adviser. If you’re a business owner looking to go online — and get ranked well — you can find some valuable information here. As always, we’re happy to help with any consultation you may need. Simply fill out the form to the left and we’ll get back to you as soon as humanly possible.

We hope you enjoy the content. SEO may not be rocket science, but you’ll definitely need to keep up-to-date. We’ve been successful at increasing our clients’ natural search traffic by up to %500. See our testimonial page for our accolades.

To get started, just submit the form to the left, and we hope you continue following the entries at Sing Ping!

Sincerely,

Jonathan Haeber
Proprietor
Chronicas Media