Menu

• Dictionary
• Hot Shots

Directory

• Sponsors
• Billing Options
• Content Providers
• Web Hosting
• Traffic Counters
• Website Designers
• Resource Sites

Well it's been two days since I had an operation on my shoulder and this is the first time I've been allowed to take my arm out of the sling I was fitted with before I left hospital. I would love to be able to write something deep and meaningful for today's column but all the pain-killers they've been pumping may have kept the pain away but it's sure been messing with my head too.

So instead of 'deep and meaningful' let's have something a bit lighter ... some snippets of interesting things that perhaps you should be doing a little research on yourself.

Five word search terms You know, you don't have to follow all the search engine boards out there to get interesting bits of information ... this is something that Steve picked up from someone he follows on Twitter.

Over the past couple of years Google has occasionally mentioned that it's seeing more and more people moving away from searching for single search terms ... and even from two and three word search terms. And that's something that I've talked about here and over on Porn Resource too.

It seems that people are refining their search terms right from the first search they make for something that interests them. And that's been a developing trend that has been interesting to watch.

Now Google is seeing an increasing number of people searching for five-word search terms and in the past year Google suggests that the number of people who are searching for five-word terms has increased by around 12 per cent.

That's not something that Steve and I have noticed for some of the mainstream terms that we watch for clients just yet but I'm sure that it's coming. So perhaps it's time to start thinking about the longer search terms that people might be using to find whatever it might be that you're selling and incorporating those terms into the text on your websites.

Linking
As we all know, inbound links are important if you want your websites to rank well for competitive terms and inbound links can be very hard to come by. In the past there have been numerous attempts to develop linking schemes that will boost rankings and not be squashed by Google and these days we're told by Google and by SEO gurus that such linking schemes are never going to work.

Now that may be true but just lately I've seen several linking schemes that seem to be working quite well for the sites that are involved and there's been no obvious penalty from Google ... in fact the sites in one of these linking schemes all rank very highly for some competitive terms.

It really is a very simple and very obvious way to interlink sites and there hasn't even been any attempt to disguise the fact that one person has interlinked all the sites. They're mainstream sites that have all been designed by the same person ... his design link is at the foot over every page on the sites ... they're all hosted on the same server ... the designs are all very similar and they've been around for several years. Yet Google hasn't penalized them.

Now I'm not saying that you should disregard the sound advice that interlinking sites for no other reason than to give a boost to each of the sites involved but it's obvious that sometimes it possible to interlink sites ... get all the benefits of those inbound links ... and not get caught.

It's also important to realize that you're not breaking any laws here by interlinking your sites. Google can make rules but regardless of what they might say ... or imply ... there is nothing illegal in ignoring those rules. So don't be afraid to try a little interlinking of your own ... just for experimental purposes of course.

You use Godaddy?
You're kidding me right? On a little wander through one of my favorite webmaster boards this morning I came across yet another webmaster complaining that they had been screwed by Godaddy and one of their domains had been locked.

I really can't believe that mainstream or adult webmasters still use Godaddy to register their domains. Obviously they are one of the biggest ... if not the biggest ... domain name registrar on the planet but that doesn't mean that they're the best.

Over the years there have been innumerable complaints from webmasters about Godaddy. People have had domains locked for no apparent reason ... lost domains even though they have renewed before the expiry date and just had domains transferred out of their account with no authorization.

There have been more than enough complaints to make me and plenty of other experienced webmasters never want to deal with them ... ever. Of course if you want to risk some of the most important assets you can have ... your domain names ... then go on registering them at Godaddy but don't cry on the boards when you get screwed.

And that's it for today. Hopefully my brain will be better connected with the world around it next week.