Infolific » SEO

Digital Asset Impressions: A New SEO Reporting Metric

Marios Alexandrou — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 17:07:38 +0000

The other day I was talking to one of my teammates, Tim Spektor, about the complications inherent in SEO reporting now that SEO includes optimization of assets beyond a single owned website (commonly referred to as Digital Asset Optimization or DAO). All of these assets are basically opportunities to impress [...]

SEO Hits Rock Bottom

Marios Alexandrou — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 20:59:13 +0000

Umm... search engine optimization being advertised on the side of an SUV? Oh and look! They optimize for Ask. Get a number 1 ranking and both Ask users will visit your site. Eeesh. Photo snapped by MG

Tracking Domain Consolidation with Google Webmaster Tools

Marios Alexandrou — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 08:03:55 +0000

With almost every SEO recommendation I provide my clients, I'm asked how long it will take before Google detects the change. The most honest answer is "it depends" which, unfortunately, is also the most unsatisfying answer. Recently, I got involved in a project to consolidate domains that was spurred by [...]

The 5 W's (and 1 H) of Competitive SEO Analysis

Marios Alexandrou — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 08:01:40 +0000

Years ago, you could move ahead with SEO in a vacuum with little to no concern about what other sites were doing. With limited competition, you were very likely to succeed regardless of what you targeted. Those days are over and it's now prudent to include competitive analysis into every [...]

Pharmaceutical Companies Are Years Behind With SEO

Marios Alexandrou — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 07:59:10 +0000

If there's one industry that has a mismatch between its potential to perform in organic search and its actual performance, I'd argue that it is the pharmaceutical space. In this context I'm talking about the legitimate players that have significant budgets for product development and marketing. And while many in [...]

SEO Projection Modeling

Marios Alexandrou — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 14:57:03 +0000

It's a testament to SEO becoming mainstream that more and more marketing folks are asking, and often demanding, that the results of an SEO effort be projected beforehand similar to how other marketing activities are handled. And it's a testament to the immaturity of the SEO space that such projections [...]

Google Panda 2.5 Strikes. What to Do?

Marios Alexandrou — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 22:40:45 +0000

So Google released another version of its Panda algorithm this week. I thought about including a picture of a panda in this post, but such images have just about achieve cliche status now so forget it. For those keeping track this is version 2.5. It's been about 7 months now [...]

Does Yahoo Really Review Directory Submissions?

Marios Alexandrou — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 13:23:25 +0000

The Yahoo Directory is often pointed to as one of the few quality directories from an SEO perspective. The reasoning is that because Yahoo actually reviews each submission and that they might reject a submission, the $300 or so fee isn't really a paid link and therefore doesn't violate Google's [...]

Long Meta Descriptions Test: lkdsxcvaqeqoiu and lkjiqweuwvjfgj

Marios Alexandrou — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 14:07:42 +0000

It's been a while since I've looked at something as basic as meta descriptions. But with search engines constantly changing I think it's good to look back on what you think you know to confirm it's true. So today I'm looking at long meta descriptions. Particularly, I want to answer [...]

Answering SEO Client Questions Using Normal People-Speak

Marios Alexandrou — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 08:06:05 +0000

Clients ask a lot of crazy things when it comes to SEO. Well, maybe not so crazy considering they don't live and breathe SEO like some of us. To help handle these questions, I've come up with a bunch of metaphors that eliminate the SEO-speak that very often doesn't click [...]

The Paradox of SEO Pricing

Marios Alexandrou — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 17:05:20 +0000

SEO business is good. There's no doubt about that at least where I'm sitting. And just a few weeks into 2011 my team is inundated with RFPs and SOWs that promise many good things for the rest of the year. The downside is that a lot of people are looking [...]

Deconstructing An SEO Job Posting

Marios Alexandrou — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 19:43:17 +0000

SEO jobs abound. However, I thought I'd take a thorough look at a description I came across and "read between the lines" to help out those who might not know how to deconstruct a job posting. I'll alternate with snippets from the posting and my commentary on those snippets. Job [...]

Use 301 or 302 Redirects For a New Domain?

Marios Alexandrou — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 21:47:01 +0000

When changing page names on an existing site the typical advice is to setup a 301 permanent redirect from the old page to the new page. The idea behind this technique is to ensure that search engines update their databases accordingly. Ideally, the search engines will also pass on any [...]

Getting The Most From Your SEO Agency

Marios Alexandrou — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 08:59:47 +0000

A lot of SEO clients aren't getting the most out of their SEO engagements. Not because the SEO agency is doing anything to be deceptive or being uncooperative in any way, but simply because the SEO client hasn't put much thought or effort into what they should be doing. In [...]

Half of the Money Spent on SEO is Wasted

Marios Alexandrou — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 00:54:28 +0000

Offline advertisers have a saying that half of the money they spend on advertising is wasted -- they just don't know which half. Solving that sort of problem is what search engine marketers (both paid and organic) have been able to do with the proper implementation of web analytics. The [...]

5 Excuses SEOs Love to Use

Marios Alexandrou — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 00:53:58 +0000

SEOs, especially those providing consulting services, are often confronted with situations that they need to explain. They are, after all, supposed to be experts in the way search engines work and knowing why something has happened is why they get the big bucks, right? For those that have put their [...]

The SEO Lie Factor

Marios Alexandrou — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 09:49:58 +0000

One of my current projects has the goal of creating a series of charts and graphs that would allow my SEO team to intelligently show progress of client projects. Sure we could, just like everyone else, show rankings and traffic, but I'm looking for creative ways to combine data to [...]

SEO and SEM Team Structures

Marios Alexandrou — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 10:17:45 +0000

In large companies where there are typically multiple people handling search engine optimization and marketing efforts for multiple sites, there may be an inclination to decentralize the efforts. The theory is that decentralizing allows the people closest to a particular site to make decisions based on their knowledge which should [...]

New Features for the Internal Link Building WordPress Plugin

Marios Alexandrou — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 07:00:59 +0000

I'm a fan of the Internal Link Building plugin that Gabriel Goldenberg released a while back. A little work with Excel combined with the plugin's import feature can turn hundreds of keywords into links in one fell swoop. That's my kind of SEO! After using the plugin on multiple sites [...]

First Link Priority with Images

Marios Alexandrou — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 20:17:36 +0000

It's SEO experiment time. This one is inspired by a recent webinar from the SEO Braintrust folks and, of course, something I saw on a client's site. In the webinar, Leslie Rhode reminded me of discussions way back when regarding first link priority. The topic isn't new as many before [...]

5 Traits of Efficient SEO

Marios Alexandrou — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 18:36:35 +0000

Despite recent proclamations that the recession has hit bottom and we're now in recovery mode, the reality is that we should always be looking for ways to improve our efficiency. This is especially true in SEO, where a number of traps too often cause marketers to stumble into wasting time, [...]

Would a Domain By Any Other Name Be As Sweet?

Marios Alexandrou — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 09:27:38 +0000

When I first launched this site I picked a domain that closely matched the company I was working at without being so close as to infringe on trademarks and such. My goal back then was to help my employer launch a blog to complement their corporate site. Mistake #1. Unfortunately [...]

SES Toronto 2009 Presentation Recap

Marios Alexandrou — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 19:39:58 +0000

I was fortunate enough to present at Search Engine Strategies Toronto 2009 earlier this week. Sure I've done presentations and training sessions with prospects and clients, but those are entirely a different vibe. SES presentations are non-stop with Q&A only after all of the panelists have spoken. There are few [...]

Link Building Goes Mainstream

Marios Alexandrou — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 06:37:32 +0000

I came across an article on CNN yesterday about link building. As with many SEO-related articles on mainstream news sites, it didn't go beyond what I've already read. But I do enjoy reading these articles as a measure of what is considered mainstream. The gist of the article is that [...]

An Agency SEO's Perspective on Nofollow

Marios Alexandrou — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 18:39:28 +0000

Alright I'm giving in. I can't help but write a piece about the recent announcement from Matt Cutts regarding how nofollow links are treated by Google. There's been a lot of coverage on this so I'll skip rehashing it and instead provide some perspective from the side of the agency [...]