Danny Dover is a passionate online marketer, influential writer and obsessed life list completer. He is the author of the best selling book Search Engine Optimization Secrets and the founder of Intriguing Ideas LLC. Before starting his own company, Danny was the Senior SEO Manager at AT&T and the Lead SEO at Moz.
| Full Name | Danny Dover |
| Display Name | DannyDover |
| Job Title | Digital Marketing Consultant |
| Company | Intriguing Ideas LLC |
| Type of Work | Independent |
| Location | Seattle, WA |
| Favorite Thing About SEO | Being amazed every single day |
| Additional Contact Info | [email protected] |
| Favorite Topics | Business Practices, Content, Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO), Social Media, Technical SEO |
600,000 unique visitors flooded in to read the post and half of them were not happy with me. This post outlines the 11 most important marketing lessons I learned from accidentally enraging a good portion of the island of Singapore.
December 4, 2013 37 33
It is my honor and privilege today to introduce the brand new version of The Web Developer's SEO Cheat Sheet. This free and downloadable cheat sheet covers all of the important SEO code and best practices that are needed by online marketers and developers.
August 29, 2013 272 194
Prepare to stay out late, polish your dancing shoes and crank up the music. Today, I am very excited to announce that after almost two years, my book explaining everything I know about SEO is finally publicly available! And the crowd goes wild! ...
March 17, 2011 41 131
Today is my last day at SEOmoz. I have been here for about three and half years and it really has been one the most important experiences of my life. I met fascinating people, traveled the world, ...
January 3, 2011 47 107
Last week Rand Fishkin covered the new ways social media is impacting traditional SEO. While many SEOs had assumed this was happening already, this announcement marked the first time this new type of content endorsement (links within Facebook and Twitter) was actually confirmed as a ranking factor ...
December 8, 2010 36 106
As people in relationships spend time with each other they start to leverage each others natural strengths to efficiently store information about the world around them. "Honey, what is the name of my Aunt's employer?" "Babe, what do you call that thing that heats bread?" They rely on each other to store information that is mutually beneficial. Some believe this p...
November 3, 2010 22 43
In this week's Whiteboard Friday Rand Fishkin and Ben Hendrickson discuss LDA (Latent Dirichlet Allocation) and SEO (Search Engine Optimization). There has been a lot of discussion about the relationship between these two topics lately and this video answers many of the questions people in the community have been asking. It is comprehensive (25 minutes) and uses many easy to understand di...
September 9, 2010 23 101
In this week's Whiteboard Friday, Rand Fishkin explains how to turn boring product pages into conversion-worthy product selling machines. These tips are topical (with the holiday season coming up), useful and in most cases, reletively easy to implement. ...
August 26, 2010 55 63
In this week's Whiteboard Friday, Danny Dover tries to answer some of the hard questions in SEO. "If you are such a good SEO, why don't you rank number one for the keyword, SEO?" "How can you provide advice on SEO if you don't work for a search engine?" The answers to these two and some more doozies are below. ...
August 19, 2010 36 103
In this week's Whiteboard Friday I talk about pitching SEO to potential clients and employers. This post describes the common elements that unite the successful pitches I have witnessed and describes how you can use them to your advantage. Also, I shaved my beard and now look like a 12-year-old boy. (I don't recommend that as a pitch tactic.) ...
August 12, 2010 32 125
This week on Whiteboard Friday we pull a secret out of the SEO secrets vault. This handy strategy helps you take advantage of the specific types of results that Google chooses for people and company based searches and helps you dominate your brand search engine result page. ...
August 5, 2010 21 49
This week on Whiteboard Friday, Rand Fishkin describes the methods he recommends for outsourcing content creation. Content is extremely important for SEO and users alike so these best practices are important for those of us without the luxury of an in-house staff of copywriters. VIDEO ...
July 29, 2010 31 71
Use Google Chrome? Download the SEO Toolbar Extension from SEOmoz for Chrome! Get quick access to a SERP overlay, many On-Page SEO factors, plus Domain & Page Authority.
July 27, 2010 36 83
Guess who's back. Back again. Danny's back. Tell a friend. (My co-workers hate me ;-p) This week's Whiteboard Friday is about how to get an SEO job. In it, I divulge the secret of how I suckered my way into how I earned this job. I also do the worst impression of my life and finish with a shocking twist that I guarantee you won't see coming! ...
July 22, 2010 44 119
This week's Whiteboard Friday features the return of Rand (woo hoo!) and his self declared biggest SEO mistakes. We screw up a lot here at SEOmoz (hell, they hired me), so we feel it is only appropriate to take this opportunity to share what we have learned in an effort to prevent you from making our mistakes. SEO is complicated, the best we can do is practice, work hard and compare notes.
July 15, 2010 70 85
Want happier website visitors and higher rankings? This week's Whiteboard Friday is about how and why to speed up your website. It is more technical than previous videos so I tried to spice it up with an ode to one of my favorite canceled TV Shows, Pop-up Video. Can't stand the content? At least the added comment...
July 8, 2010 36 70
This weeks Whiteboard Friday is a little bit different than normal but a lot more awesome. I took the lead this week and am sharing 5 tips that beginners can use to get links from bloggers. This educational video is full to the brim with helpful tips, odd tangents and one very poor impression of a news anchor. ...
July 1, 2010 51 72
Today, I am proud to announce the new and improved Beginner's Guide to SEO. This free tutorial covers everything you need to know to get started improving your search engine rankings in the major search engines. Put simply, this is the resource I would have kicked a fool in order to get my hands on when I was f...
June 22, 2010 58 67
As recently as a month ago I was a victim of a state of mind I call Analytics Dismissal Disorder. This mindset is common after hearing about the importance of analytics, installing the tracking code and then getting overwhelmed by all of the graphs and scary numbers. When I suffered from analytics dismissal disorder (which my doctors called A.D.D. for short), I knew Google Analytics wa...
May 26, 2010 52 80
At SEOmoz, we have always striven to be at the forefront of understanding digital search. As web search has become an increasingly solved problem, some of our researchers have begun to switch their focus from Google to Facebook. Facebook is unique in that it is able to data mine social patterns between real life friends. This is increasingly critical data because as our lives become more busy, ...
March 31, 2010 37 76
Today I am proud to announce the launch of the second version of Open Site Explorer. Since SEOmoz has officially moved out of consulting, we are now able to put our full resources into building fantastic SEO so...
March 4, 2010 40 50
This post is part of an ongoing series where my co-workers and I are working to build a freely available resource center of up-to-date SEO best practices. As we write this content, we are submitting them for peer review so that everyone on the Internet can benefit from collective intelligence. You can read more about the ...
February 18, 2010 11 36
The basics of SEO problem identification can be done in about 15 minutes. When completing this audit I recommend you take notes based on the action items listed in each section. This will help you later when you do a deeper dive of the website.
February 11, 2010 97 91
This post is part of an ongoing series where my co-workers and I are working to build a resource center of up-to-date SEO best practices. As we write this content, we are submitting them for peer review so that everyone on the Internet can benefit from collective intelligence. You can read more about the ...
January 25, 2010 13 48
I believe that the hardest part of SEO is simply keeping up with the trends. Our industry moves extremely fast and as a result, my co-workers and I have spent countless hours searching through old blog posts, articles and e-mail threads while trying to find small tidbits of information. Each of us have separate lists of our favorite resources and up until now, we haven't had a convenient way to...
January 13, 2010 36 78
A couple of weeks ago I published a post titled "Tests Show PageRank Sculpting with Nofollow Still Works" where I argued that a test that I had run showed that nofollow was a legitimate means for sculpting PageRank. When I originally wrote and posted the blog entry, I full-heart...
January 12, 2010 37 56
As SEOmoz has matured as a company, our SEO team has shifted away from treating SEO purely as an art and more toward treating it as a science. There is certainly the necessity for both perspectives but I beleive we are now much more centered. As a result of this shift, we have been running more tests and analyzing more data. Before I get into the topic of our latest test resul...
December 28, 2009 58 126
Psst! Word on the street is that you are a big deal. Some say that working with you is even more fun than changing a co-workers primary Google language to Swahili1. Well now, it is time to put your reputation to the test!
November 19, 2009 14 39
He wakes up at 7:31 AM just like the day before. With ignorance as his shield, he ventures out into a world without privacy. The young man (a title given to him by his mother) sits submissively in his bed and idly scans e-mail on his phone. Another notice from his bank, a forwarded e-mail from his friend, 5 new e-mails from his co-workers, and an intimate message from a girl he met ...
November 3, 2009 40 69
This is the second post in a series of SEO Guides aimed at answering frequently asked SEO questions. (The first one was Properly move domains ) If you have an idea for another guide, please let me know if the comments below. Background: This is one element of a problem called internationalization. The internet evolved (or was intelligently designed for those no...
September 14, 2009 28 80
It is a typical Tuesday afternoon in suburbia California. Jenny, a sixteen year old girl is taking a sick day from school. With a runny nose, she sits idly on her bed surfing Facebook. At the same time, 2,000 miles away in Seattle, a twenty-two year old ambitious college drop-out named Kevin is on Twitter complaining about his sore throat. Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, a 40 year...
August 18, 2009 28 49
Moving domains makes a tremendous impact on search engine rankings and usually leads to a temporary loss in traffic. But Why? This is because the major search engines use metrics on both the domain level and the page level to determine rankings. When a webmaster decides to switch to a brand new domain, they are resetting their domain metrics to zero whether they know it or not. Luckily, there are steps one can take to minimize the affects of this.
August 6, 2009 53 111
Disclaimer: This post doesn’t include SEO advice or tactics. Instead it is a request for input on a book I am writing. If you are looking for actionable SEO content, please skip this post and read the other search related posts on our blog. About three months ago, I was fortunate enough to be contacted by Wiley Publishing and asked to write a book a...
August 3, 2009 34 112
Personal branding is the art of showcasing your experiences, accomplishments and perspectives. Like many of you, I knew the importance of this but had always put building a personal branding website on the back burner because I didn't think it was very important and because I felt uncomfortable talking about my accomplishments in such an obvious and self-serving fashion. Recently, my view co...
July 13, 2009 29 42
First and foremost, let me extend my best wishes to the family and friends of Michael Jackson. I can only imagine the pain of losing a close friend and then having to watch it play out on a global stage. He made an extraordinary impact on the world and although not perfect, he is a teacher even in death (as evidenced by this post). The following is a timeline of how the news of the ...
June 26, 2009 63 89
SEO is a tricky skill. It is based on computer science but requires a certain level of artistry. It is a mixture of working with an enormous amount of search engine operated machines and an even larger group of internet users. While I don’t believe the art can be taught, I do believe the science can. Below are the best practice methods we use as SEOmoz for our consulting work....
June 22, 2009 106 133
Learning SEO can be a daunting experience. To make this process a little easier, I have broken down my method for learning SEO into bite-sized chunks that can be completed in 30 minutes or less. I have also tried to create a mechanism to make it easier to get help and expand personal networks.
June 9, 2009 41 42
I can always pick out a fool when I hear someone claim they fully get the internet, whether it be a social media snake-oil salesman or a Twitter user with too many followers. The fact of the matter is that while it’s possible (and exciting) to understand one sub-sphere of the internet, there are simply too many spheres for one person to really understand all of them. I simply don’t think it is possible.
May 20, 2009 36 24
Today I am excited to announce our newest labs project. The Link Acquisition Assistant (or LAA! for short) takes information about your company, brand and competition and returns 121 link acquisition queries. The resulting queries link to rel...
April 20, 2009 30 57
Once every 100 years, a technology is developed that changes the way that people view their world. Today, I am fortunate enough to be able to introduce one such technology. Internet, please make way for Webfluence, the world's first and only search engine by SEOs for SEOs. ...
March 31, 2009 36 76
Starting a company is a lot like streaking. Coming up with the idea and brainstorming the execution is exciting but performing the action is difficult and rarely done well. I, like a lot of people, have had my mind hijacked by a new business idea that fools me into believing I came up with the next big thing. Unfortunately, most of these plans ended in complete failure. As soon as I started to make progress I would inevitably run into an unforeseen problem that would, like a bad streaking plan, leave me embarrassed and out of breath.
March 2, 2009 24 39
This post is a little different than what you might be used to. Instead of talking at you, I would like to talk with you. I would like to propose a blogging outline, not actually blog on the given subject (yet!). First, allow me to explain myself. I have been under-utilizing my blogging privileges the last three months and I would like to try to make this up to you. I have made the ...
February 18, 2009 25 39
To encourage webmasters to create sites and content in accessible ways, each of the major search engines have built support and guidance-focused services. Each provides varying levels of value to search marketers, but all of them are worthy of understanding. These tools provide data points and opportunities for exchanging information with the engines that are not provided anywhere else.
January 12, 2009 25 26
By keeping children and teenagers entertained back in the 1980s, Nintendo has claimed a spot in the heart of the present day internet generation. Nintendo's internet success is widely accepted yet largely undocumented. The tactics below reveal only the tip of the iceberg. ...
December 10, 2008 27 39
All of us at SEOmoz are proud to announce that in addition to doubling the size of the Linkscape index today, we are releasing our own SEO toolbar! The developers and PRO member beta testers have been hard at work prodding, poking and tweaking the toolbar to make sure it is fine tuned and ready for today.
December 8, 2008 16 42
On August 26th, 2008 Facebook, Inc. reached the milestone of 100,000,000 active users. Since then, its growth has continued to grow exponentially into emerging markets and additional countries. At the same time, the company has remained a relatively untapped oasis for internet marketers. I recently had the chance to meet Facebook engineers, Andew “Boz” Bosworth, creator...
October 30, 2008 30 40
This month marks the end of my first year at SEOmoz. I have spent literally hundreds of hours learning and trying to perfect my SEO and marketing skills. Although, I still have a ways to go to catch up with my expert co-workers, I have made a lot of progress. I credit this to the people I have relied on and the many tools that have helped me along the way. The following is a c...
October 15, 2008 30 42
Disclaimer: This post doesn’t include any information about SEO. If you are looking for SEO related content, please read the normal search related posts on this blog. UPDATE: I clarified below that it is the winners of the 4 rounds that won, not just people who chose the winning weapon.
September 24, 2008 24 50
Everyday a fiercely competitive battle takes place online over capturing the attention of millions of readers. As a result the blogosphere constantly changes shape and different players thrust forward as content kings for the day. Lately I have been trying to find out what forces control this volatile scene. I have been looking for recurring themes and hoping to find useful correlations. ...
August 19, 2008 61 56
Disclaimer: This post doesn’t include any information about SEO. If you are looking for SEO related content, please read the normal search related posts on this blog. The SEOmoz community has always been a fundamental driving force behind this company. All of you provide the motivation to keep us working and the guidance to keep us on the right track. When asked why I like my ...
August 15, 2008 21 47
The Foolproof Method for Great Blogging Don’t become an expert by acting like one - This might sound counter-intuitive, but it really does make sense. Many inexperienced bloggers try to make their work sound important and reputable even when it is not. This is an easy mistake to make because emulating the industry leaders is a logical path to success. Don’t be fooled. Real success comes from distinguishing oneself in a useful way, not by pretending to be something one is not.
July 31, 2008 25 32
It is greatly ironic that algorithms, the quintessential example of all that is not human, would be so fundamental to social media. Last week I wrote a post about how Google gathers user data. This week I continue by exposing how popular social media websites use algorithms to ut...
July 2, 2008 41 44
Google Inc. is first and foremost a data company. In the past, it competed on a level playing field by manipulating publicly available data better than its competition. By doing this, it had unprecedented success. Enter Web 2.0. Hard drives, processors, bandwidth and even workers are now all relatively inexpensive. This has caused the barriers to entry in the search field to drastic...
June 24, 2008 64 119
J. K. Rowling (She wrote a little book called Harry Potter) recently gave the commencement speech at Harvard University. She spoke about the power of failure and the incredible potential of imagination. It was a great speech that left me with one powerful lasting gem. She pointed out that humans are unique in their ability t...
June 9, 2008 29 50
(WARNING: This post doesn’t offer any SEO advice. If you are looking to learn something, feel free to skip this. Thanks!) After every conference it has become a tradition for a mozzer to write up some kind of recap. In the past, these have included comics, “overheard at...” and personal responses. This time I decided to do it a little bit differently. I spent a few...
June 6, 2008 14 25
Creating viral content for social media is always a gamble. Seemingly great pieces can unexpectedly flop while poorly written blog posts and strange images can go viral without any effort from the creator. In most ways, the success of viral marketing is out of the hands of the marketers. Yet, smart marketers, just like smart gamblers, know there are certain things they can do to help their chances...
June 3, 2008 28 31
You would think that if someone didn’t know what they were searching for, they would stop looking. Yet everyday, I talk to people who aimlessly spend their time and energy looking for some far away holy grail. As a SEO my quest for success is a little better defined. I want to work on websites that drive immense traffic, be at the top of competitive SERPs and most of all, I wa...
May 22, 2008 53 49
About two weeks ago Rand and Scott posted a Whiteboard Friday explaining how to get a SEO job. I think it is a great resource for SEO’s who already have a lot of experience, but what about those who don’t? How are the inexperienced supposed to get their first job at an internet technology company? The foll...
May 13, 2008 25 59
Update: New file includes many new additions from suggestions made in comments. In an effort to return to my roots, I spent the majority of the day compiling what I believe to be the mother of all technical SEO cheat sheets. The recommended viewing format of this cheat sheet is as a PDF rather than the traditional blog post (I found the blog posts inconvenient to print)...
April 30, 2008 429 330
For the last three months I have been hard at work learning SEO by optimizing a local small business website. The business is called Giggly Wiggly Preschool and is located in the Seattle suburb Issaquah, Washington. This Issaquah Preschool was the preschool I attended many years ago so I am happy I was given the chance to give bac...
April 22, 2008 309 208
Lately I have been reading about online behavioral analysis and have started to realize its potential for advertising. To better understand its power try this simple exercise. Open a new window, go to Google and search “malpractice”. Then right away search “lawyer”. Look at the ads on the right. You li...
April 21, 2008 17 40
If you are involved with internet marketing for more than five minutes you will inevitably hear someone preach about the power of Digg. It is funny how hard people work for their 15 minutes of fame. Yes, if you make it on the homepage your website will receive hundreds of thousands of views in a single day. Yes the links it provides will help your search rankings. And yes the ...
April 16, 2008 27 21
I really like YouTube. It is brilliantly easy to use, almost universally accessible and unparalleled in its ability to popularize creative and funny people. YouTube is single handedly responsible for causing an irreversible drop in world productivity while simultaneously bringing countless amounts of joy to average people. It...
April 14, 2008 37 35
For as long as I can remember, the best way for me to learn has been to do. I have gone through countless checklists while trying to understand search engine optimization. The following is a compilation of the most useful checklists I have completed in order to learn SEO. My intent is that this list can be used by people who are inexperienced in SEO but want to learn more. (As a bonus I included h...
April 9, 2008 167 111
Yesterday, I was arguing with my friend about the existence of one sight or sound that is universally funny. He argued that since different cultures find humor in different things, there couldn't possibly be one example of something that is funny to everyone. Unconvinced, I started searching for the holy grail of funny. Immediately, I went on YouTube and starting browsing my favorite videos. Event...
March 28, 2008 15 30
On March 04, 2008, the internet community saw the culmination of the world's most successful video marketing campaign. With 80 million views in 2 months, Clarus Bartel's homemade music video dethroned the Evolution of Dance as the most viewed video of al...
March 8, 2008 32 27
Two days ago our office updated our phone system to a more professional business setup. The new system brought additional phone extensions and 23 new phone numbers. While it was a bit of a headache having our phones and internet down while the phone company upgraded our account, it was nothing compared to our new problem. When our awesome receptionist ...
February 29, 2008 17 40
I like to think that I was born just in time to live through the first truly global revolution. I am a 20 year old student who has watched computers and the internet transform the world. Unlike my predecessors, I rarely watch live TV, never listen to the radio and haven't bought a CD in nearly a decade (last one was Offspring's ...
February 26, 2008 48 63
Note: The following post is based on conversations I have had with top Microsoft employees and college graduates being recruited by Facebook. The conclusions I have come up with are based on the information they gave me along with many hours of independent research. Although the following is speculative in nature, it is based on fact. ...
January 30, 2008 29 83
For those of you who don't know me yet, my name is Danny and I am SEOmoz's intern. I have spent the last several weeks reading and categorizing all the blog posts written over the years on this site. It has been quite the project and has let me really experience how this company and the SEO industry as a whole have evolved. I, like the other mozzers, am a stat junkie and kept notes on notable tren...
January 7, 2008 18 21
How Much Data Is Missing from Analytics? And Other Analytics Black Holes
Blog Post: May 28, 2018Wow Tom! What a wonderful and well thought out experiment. I just forwarded this to my clients. Thank you for all of your hard work on this! I'm grateful that we have analysts like you in the community!
One follow-up question: Did you group Internet Explorer and Edge together in the results above? I ask because I think it is probable that Internet Explorer would perform worse than Edge as IE is older and now obsolete software.
Announcing the Web Developer's SEO Cheat Sheet 3.0
Blog Post: May 18, 2015Wow, was that really 2008? Time flies. :-) I remember staying up all night working on the original version of this and posting it on the blog without telling anyone. I walked to work that day thinking maybe I shouldn't have done that. :-p
I LOVE the new version. Cyrus (and team!) well done on an extremely useful resource!
Gianluca, thank you for continuing to be a positive and extremely valuable resource for all of us. :-)
Cyrus, this looks amazing! It makes me really happy to see you take the torch and thrive :-) You and the team did an absolutely fantastic job on this resource.
You have been a huge asset to the Moz and I have really enjoyed seeing you take content to the next level. You da man! :-)
HTTP/2: A Fast, Secure Bedrock for the Future of SEO
Blog Post: December 11, 2014The EFF has a proposed solution for the cost and complexity of setting up SSL. If everything works the way they say, it should largely be a non-issue after Summer 2015. See https://letsencrypt.org
Thank You for 10 Incredible Years
Blog Post: October 06, 2014This brought a big smile to my face :-) Love you guys!
Help with (Not Provided): New Landing Pages Report in Moz Analytics
Blog Post: June 10, 2014For other people who might be confused... The opportunities tab referred to in the post refers to the opportunities tab in Search -> Keyword Rankings -> Opportunities (look on the far right, not in the side navigation). This is not the same thing as the more prominent Opportunities subsection in the Links section. :-)
That took me far longer than it should have to figure out :-) I get easily confused when I am excited about new features.
11 Marketing Survival Lessons Learned from Accidentally Enraging an Island City-State
Blog Post: December 04, 2013The reason varies by post. Most of my big posts are not controversial but still get some negativity because my association as a marketer.
> It's also interesting you say that there are more stories than the one told.
Yeah, that took me too long to learn :-) It is hard to be actionable with this point but it is extremeley important for morale :-)
> Why did the post suddenly become popular a few days later?
I was never able to pinpoint the exact cause but it the traffic came from Facebook. I have a theory that it came from a prominent tweet that then caused the sharing on Facebook but it is hard to be sure.
> Honesty and Controversy are great marketing tools but the context is even more important.
Excellent point. :-) I am certainly not advocating controversy as a marketing technique. As you pointed out, it is the context (and/or conversions), not just the amount of traffic driven that is the success indicator.
>Once again, it proves that its all about content (and its real value) and nothing else.
I feel that I am continuing to learn this every day. It is true, it just isn't easy. :-)
Hey Ben!
Glad you found some value in this incident :-p
It is important to note that I didn't intend for the post to go viral. It just happened naturally and the above steps are how I dealt with it. I don't recommend writing a controversial post for the sake of being controversial. Many people do that with success but for me it creates a brand image that I am not interested in. (Does the world really need another Perez Hilton?)
>Maybe aiming for 10% of Australia or Vietnam this time? ;-)
Doesn't the mainstream media do this everyday? #OhSnap
The Web Developer's SEO Cheat Sheet 2.2
Blog Post: August 29, 2013Awe, thanks Jesse :-) Best of luck on your journey and let me know if I can help!
#handshake <-- Pound Handshake (The hash tag used to be more commonly called the pound symbol before Twitter took over my favorite tic-tac-toe board shaped character.)
I actually think subdomain is more appropriate here. While the evidence is beginning to thin, it still looks like there are benefits to consolidating (or at least minimizing) related subdomains (from a domain authority perspective).
Also regarding subdomain vs. (sub)domain, it is a bit unclear but I side with 'subdomain' as specified in the DNS RFC paper: https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1034#section-3.1 (See 'Domain Concepts and Facilities')
Me too :p
Good catch! You are right.
Thanks Heather! I'll try to keep the yuckiness to a minimum. :-p
Keep an eye on that list, I am going to start giving away life list experiences to people who deserve them in the coming months.
I highly recommend it. Having a written list revolutionized the way I prioritize.
It's not ideal as it will affect sharing rates (longer URLs are harder to share in some mediums), and decreases relevancy from an information architecture perspective. No CMS is perfect but switching to wordpress might help you for other SEO reasons (super helpful plugins and optimized themes)
Happy to be back!
I ran into the exact same problem, thus the reason for creating this. (Almost out of necessity)
Thanks! Best of luck, let me know if you would like anything added to the sheet!
Curses! Foiled again!
"Fist bump" was indeed the phrase I was looking for! This whole "communicating with other people" thing is hard.
Seriously though, thanks Rand. It is good to be back :-)
Goodbye SEOmoz. Hello Moz!
Blog Post: May 29, 2013Awww :-D Bittersweet but very exciting! Congrats on all of your hard work. I am super excited to see what is to come!
Moz's $18 Million Venture Financing: Our Story, Metrics and Future
Blog Post: May 01, 2012:-D Congrats, this is super exciting! Well done everyone at the Moz! It has been a treat seeing the company grow to this point and I am anxiously awaiting to see what comes next :-)Â
(It hope it involves donuts, really big donuts)
You all rock and I am thrilled to see SEOmoz get something it very much deserves!
Agent SEO Reporting, Ma'am!
Blog Post: April 10, 2012lol, well I agree with you on the overboard part :-p
Very thorough and entertaining post on a normally dry and skipped over subject. Well played! (And quite helpful!) My biggest takeaway was the lunch meeting you suggested. I know that increasing one-on-one time makes a huge difference. Your suggestion of doing it over lunch makes a lot of sense. Might as well take the standard meeting and add food!
Thanks!
Huge, Amazing Changes at SEOmoz: A Documentary of My Success
Blog Post: March 31, 2012Loved this! This is my new favorite Moz April Fools day gag.
Aaron now that this is filmed, I highly recommend burning those shorts. Those have already contaminated too many Internet users.
The Web Developer's Interactive Cheatsheet for SEO and the Open Graph
Blog Post: March 10, 2012Meh, he's overrated :-)
This is way better than the original! :-) I love this.
Remembering a Dog Named Goodnewscowboy
Blog Post: August 16, 2011This is a huge loss for our community :-(
GNC made an incredible impact on me through his positivity, brains and level-headedness.
:-(
Sharing Everything I Learned As A Top-Tier SEO Consultant at SEOmoz
Blog Post: March 17, 2011Hey all,
I just created a list of people to notify when the e-book version of the book comes out.Feel free to add your name to this list:https://eepurl.com/c7QVU and I’ll e-mail you as soon as its available.
Thanks again everyone! :-)
I talked to my publisher and there will be e-versions of the book but the availability date is still unknown.
I put a lot of effort into that question and kept thinking about it as I wrote. I did cover the most important tools which will get outdated at some point (but they were necessary to explain to in order to explain bigger ideas) but most of the emphasis of the book is on the consulting process and the SEO mindset. They should last a whole lot longer.
Yes! It is available at most major book sellers. Barnes and Nobles, Borders, etc...
Sorry about that Mark! I don't know the answer to that right now but i have my publisher looking into your comment right this very second.
Hey sorry about that! Did you try this from the European version of the Wiley site or from a different site?
If that doesn't work, sensus, pointed out you can get the same deal from Amazon and Barnes and Noble right now. (This wasn't the case earlier today)
I have been working on that with my publisher. A Kindle version seems likely but no promises. :-)
lol, valid point. It wasn't like that when I drafted the post :-) I suppose now it is just easier to save money on the book.
7 Essential Google Intelligence Custom Alerts That Keep Me Sane
Blog Post: March 18, 2011These are great! Thanks for taking the time to share these. I added most of them to my account! Now I can sleep soundly :-)
How Do Tweets Influence Search Rankings? An Experiment for a Cause
Blog Post: December 08, 2010Hi Joe,
I don't work at SEOmoz anymore so I won't be continuing work on this project. I believe Rand is finishing it up but you can see the raw results here: https://www.dannydover.com/share/tweets-vs-links.html
Agreed! It is much harder to link than to tweet which is part of the point. Luckily, there have already been some traditional links added.
Good question about Facebook. When I run these search engine tests I prefer to only have two major variables. These tests are already messy and I try to keep them as simple as possible :-)
I don't have a twitter button set up but I am tracking this with backtweets.com. With regard to the non-social links, I can't track the links in real time but I can after we crawl them with Open Site Explorer and by seeing which sources send traffic via Google Analytics. Its not perfect but its the best we got :-)
Goodbye SEOmoz, Hello Adventure
Blog Post: January 03, 2011lol, yeah there are other things I am doing that are not on my list. I don't think of relationships as an achievement like I do with the other things on my list. They are a little deeper than simple items to check off :-)
A hint, try asking Aaron Wheeler. It is not him but he may or may not have more information :-p
He did it with brute force! :-) Kidding! Hope to work with you Casey sometime in the future.
:-) I think the weight loss had something to do with the stress from a certian associate... You are one hard person to try to top! Thanks for all of your help Dr Pete!
:-)
Thank you! I have really appreciated all of your contributions. (Comments, tweets, e-mails and the biggest contribution of all, taking care of Jen) You rock!
Local SEO Experiment - Google's Change Location
Blog Post: December 21, 2010Don't tell Dr. Pete but I impersonated Lindsay to ruin his experiment. It did require frequent trips to Florida but it was worth it in the end :-p
The SEOmoz Internal SEO Pre-Launch Checklist - Whiteboard Friday
Blog Post: December 16, 2010Interesting point. I can't find it stated online from Bing but I have heard Bing representatives confirm it.
So point taken, I do believe this is true but you are absolutely correct that I don't have proof to back it up.
Although technically you are correct regarding the directory vs file, the way the web has evolved, this is not a definitive rule anymore. My best advice is to just pick one version and stick with it.
I agree with what everyone else has said. :-)
My only other comment is I wouldn't spend the time inputting the keywords in Wordpress. If it auto-generating them it probably won't make a difference but if it is a manual process I would stop doing it going forward. Put those resources somewhere more important.
If you are targeting that phrase than Option 2 would be best. That said, there are subties involved. Check out: Title Tag Option 1 might improve your CTR and lead to more conversions.
The best thing to do is test and when that is not possible, follow the best practices.
Right now we are not doing it correctly :-p We should be 301 redirecting capitalized versions to lowercase versions but this is proving difficult from a development perspective.
Ideally, every unique page should only be accessible at one URL.
We are working towards this ideal on our own site :-)
That's the interesting thing about those elements. When you do them wrong, they become critical :-)
I agree that optimizing for page speed is important. While it technically is a ranking factor right now (at least in Google) I think the bigger benefit is for the users. From a single page perspective, like the above list, I would focus on something actionable like image optimization. (Correct file type and compression so that file sizes are small)
Yes SEOzoid is correct :-)
I think you are close. At SEOmoz we want are trying to add it ti every page on the site. So for a canonical version it will be pointing at itself but for all other version of the same page it will be pointing at the canonical version.
Take for example this page. RIght now the rel canonical poinits to itself but if you add tracking parameters to the URL, it will continue pointing at the canonical version. That is exactly the behavior we want.
Hi gfiorelli,
The wiki pages became the SEO Best practices you can now see linked to in the checklist above. They are difficult to find on the website now but we have a redesign of the Learn SEO page in the works that should fix this.
Regarding www vs non-www, as you mentioned this doesn't really come up when I am auditing a single page but I agree it is very important!
Agreed! Sitemaps are really important, I consider this a checklist for single pages only but a sitemap should not be ignored. Great addition as always
SEOmoz Pie Eating Contest Live at Noon Pacific Today!
Blog Post: December 10, 2010Consider this just the beginning!
Good job everyone! That was a lot of fun :-)
The Effect of Activating Google AdWords Sitelinks
Blog Post: December 08, 2010I love posts that can save me money but one that can also make me a smarter SEO, well thats just golden. Thank you!
PPC vs. SEO: Sibling Rivalry at Its Best - Whiteboard Friday
Blog Post: December 02, 2010Woot!
Much apprecaited! Would you mind expanding on what you mean by correctly configured in order to know what is going on in your current market?
We have been very interested in Google Instant as well. As soon as we have had enough time to collect a substantial amount of data on its traffic effects, we will write up our findings.
Thanks!
Good point, I suppose I have a bit of a blind spot there as at SEOmoz writing content and doing SEO fall under the same job description. You are right that in most organizations the content writers are not full time SEOs.
Thanks for pointing that out!
Good point, although I don't think it is quite as black and white as you mention.
While it is true that PPC allows you to definitively pick the page traffic will get sent to, SEOs don't totally have their hands tied.
Not only can we be specific with our on-page optimization, we can also use tools like 301 redirects and rel canonical to influence where search engines send related traffic.
You should, sounds like an interesting read!
Agreed gfiorelli,
It is all about getting the mixture correct. Both PPC and SEO have their strengths and weaknesses. The best match is using them together and maximizing the utilization of resources. That said, that is a hell of a lot easier said than done :-)
7 Non-SEO Tactics That Will Make You a Better SEO - Whiteboard Friday
Blog Post: November 25, 2010Glad I could help!
Regarding describing our job, I have found it works best to describe an easier to understand passion of yours (for me, it is my bucket list) and segueing that into a overview of the work. The segue is almost always them saying something along the lines of "bucket lists are great but how do you get the resources to pursue them?" The answer of course is SEO.
SEOs like beer :-) I am half kidding.
I bet you will be surprised by how many marketers or professionals in almost any industry for that matter would be happy to have lunch or drinks with you. Networking is two-way.
Try just sending a polite e-mail. Better yet, if you are in Seattle, let me know and we can grab a bite to eat.
Soon. Very soon :-)
...plus you can draw mustaches on your reflection which is key the SEO process. :-)
Passing the e-mail on to the client is a great idea. It is their information, they should have control over it. Great addition.
Also, I am a big fan of password managers as well. I use 1password which syncs with my phone and it is a life saver!
Agreed on all points. Getting others in on what you are doing is paramount in trying to get big initiatives pushed through. Great addition.
Also, you may very well be right about it being an issue to have the whiteboard in the room if you are sharing it. Perhaps you could use a portable small one in a living room or kitchen?
Great points as always. Why aren't you writing these posts? ;-p
Every morning is like the beginning to the Simpsons with me (instead of Bart) writing something I won't do again on the boards.
I won't put vodka in the coffee maker before other people get into the office again
I won't put vodka in the coffee maker before other people get into the office again
I won't put vodka in the coffee maker before other people get into the office again
They are slave drivers here at the moz!
"It seemed a good idea at the time."
lol!
I'll work on that... ;-p
On a related noted, I did find that Whiteboard are priced very strangely. The one I have cost me about $5 at Home Depot while other ones I have seen can be $100 or more. I can't tell that big a difference between the cheap and expensive ones.
The SEO side of design
Blog Post: November 22, 2010Love the point about the impact on previews and bigger fonts. It would be interesting to test this but it makes a lot of sense intuitively.
Search Engines and Brand Entities - Whiteboard Friday
Blog Post: November 11, 2010Excellent he got it right! Thanks MDimov!
The Basics of Local SEO - Whiteboard Friday
Blog Post: November 04, 2010"I do wonder about those SEO types who run same for clients and get to now see their right-hand-side-bar adverts covered up by the sliding map...."
I was wondering about that as well. I agree with you and would be shocked if it stayed that way.
"As for anchor text, how much value do you think that has in Google's local search algorithms?"
I think it can only help you. You are right about the gas station example but I think it is the side cases that can help you. For example, in Seattle we have two music venues with the same name but different locations. While the categories don't help differentiate the two, the way people talk about them (anchor text and such) does.
"Did they offer a reason why beyond the impact of mobile?"
Nope
"Is most of this behavior coming from within the US?"
It is hard to say. From the data I have seen, it is growing in the States. I am not sure if the 20% number was US only.
"Also, any guesses as to whether this will be a trend that would continue to grow?"
My guess is that it certainly will as smart phones become more prominent and searching becomes more ubiquitous.
Are you talking anchor text or elements like hours of operation?
"You said social wasn't really having an impact but I would say Foursquare and to some degree Facebook Places are having an impact in the way users interact with their local environment."
I was referring to the Google SERPs only. You are absolutely right, outside of Google results, services like Twitter, Facebook and Foursquare are making a huge impact!
:-)
Really it will come down to the research. For what its worth (not much) my gut says Google is still waiting to see which of the tools you mentioned will go mainstream before relying on them heavily.
Good point, let me add that to the pipeline. Thanks Craig!
That is a pain! I didn't even think about those sources being US only ;-/ Sorry about my carelessness. Care to share any directories that you have had success with?
lol, i wouldn't say I prefer data from the US, I am just more familiar with it :-) What data sources are you seeing for Places pages in Austria?
Google's Unspoken Failures Are Limiting Your Potential
Blog Post: November 03, 2010Ah yes, its purpose is not just to index the Internet, it is organize all of the world's information. That difference is huge!
Good points. I touched on your failure vs limitation argument in the update to the post. Well put, I didn't define my context well enough. A few other points you brought up:
"You often refer to very personal experiences with the other senses - the meal in Greece is something I have experienced,"
That was something I have experienced as well :-) I took that anecdote from a dinner I had last week in Greece.
"as was trying to work out the spices used by a Jerusalem falafel maker to flavour his food. It turned out to be black cardamom and sumac, spices I had never experienced before then, but I only found this out when I bought both a couple of years later on a whim."
This is where I am optimistic for growth from Google. If it really wants to organize all of the world information, it will need to be able to answer search queries exactly like the one you mentioned. Imagine how different the world will be once we can do that :-)
Hi algogmbh,
I responded to your comment in the post above. Just to clarify, I am glad Google has limits too :-)
Great point about upcoming major breaks. I am excited too!
Hey grasshopper,
I responded to your comment in an update to the post. Good insight!
Video SEO Basics - Whiteboard Friday
Blog Post: September 23, 2010Interesting points, I suppose it just makes sense that certain niches would do better with video than with text. Take fashion for example, it is so visual that text has difficulty doing it justice. The same could be said about food as evidenced by the success of the Food Network in the states.
Hey Fabio!
I do think Google is using backlinks in video rankings (for universal rankings anyways). Great point which I accidentally left out. :-)
I am not sure about video embedding. It would be easy for them to map a specific embedded video if it were hosted on YouTube but it would be harder to keep track of this on other third party hosting providers. They could see that a video was embedded on a given page and even see the source file but parsing that and keeping it updated while the third party hosts change would be difficult. Google has done more difficult things but the ROI on this seems relatively low.
I don't know enough about video responses to decide if they are important or not. In my experience, I have seen that video responses tend to be mostly spam. This is especially so on popular videos as people are simply trying to piggyback off of the popularity.
Cheers!