Where is Ian Turner?

From Threadwatch:Ian Turner has been missing since Sunday. He was due to fly back from New Orleans (wmw show) and has not been seen since. His wife and family are all very worried about him, and so are we.If you think you may have any information, or even if you were at WMW New Orleans, please click over to the Threadwatch thread.

Find ALL of Your Backlinks

I've never even looked at MSN Search's WebLog, but for some reason today I did, and I'm glad. They've finally integrated the "linkdomain:" command:

Link: and LinkDomain:

We shipped 1.0 with the Link: keyword, which allows you to find pages that link to a single page, ala link:search.msn.com. Weâve added a variation of that, LinkDomain:, which returns pages that link to any page in a given domain. This is a great way for all you bloggers out there to see how many people are linking to you some way some how, and where theyâre linking. For example, to see pages that link into MSN, you just issue the query linkdomain:msn.com.

This is great news. I've long felt that MSN gives you the freshest and most comprehensive look at your backlinks, and this command will making sorting through them a bit easier.

For "links at a glance", I prefer Yahoo!, which seems to give backlink results in order of their importance (e.g., your "strongest" backlink is the first one listed).

For you n00bs out there: Google gives just a random sampling of back links and is not a good place to check your links.

Linking on a Dime

Barry Schwartz wrote an awesome recap of the "Linking on a Dime" panel here at WebmasterWorld New Orleans. Patrick was of course on the panel, as were linking experts martinibuster, oilman and stuntdubl (Todd Malicoat).

If you're not in New Orleans, I highly recommend you check out Barry's recap, it's pretty extensive.

Using Creative Commons to Build Links

Just saw this great thread over at WMW, Using Creative Commons to build link popularity. Creative Commons is a system that allows you to offer content for free syndication while retaining copyright.Why it's great for link building

People who syndicate your content often link back to you. Really this is not too much different from offering articles for syndication, except I would guess that sites syndicating Creative Commons content might tend to be higher quality than a generic article bank.

From the thread:We have a database of "Widgets" which has been cited in a large number of publications - all good linkages.

Now we have released that database under a Creative Commons license, under the condition that the authorship (our web site) is retained.

Now, anyone can duplicate the content for free - but they must link to us.

So, now - for no effort on our part - we are starting to build up a body of
sites linking to us, as a condition of their using the content.

And even better, the page and sites that link to us are all relevent to us,
and hence that also boosts thematic linking as well.

Heading to Narleans...

I'm going down to Narleans tomorrow for the WebmasterWorlds Search and Marketing Conference 2005. I have a lot to look forward to:

John Battelle's keynote speech

Manning the TLA booth (handing out our free link building guide!)

Finally meeting SEO friends in person -- AWall, Todd Malicoat, et al (too many to count!)

gumbo, mmmm.....

Patrick Gavin's presentation on determining the value of links

PubConference on Friday

Hopefully getting a picture taken with Matt Cutts, Brett Tabke :)

Bourbon Street



And I'm not sure what exactly my schedule will be like when I get there, so I may be blogging sporadically or not at all. But in any case I plan to start posting more regularly next week.

Hope to see everyone in New Orleans!

Can Links from Scrapers Hurt You?

AWall posts about "good links" and "bad links":Have you ever had a strong ranking site filtered out of the results
because automated links gave you an unnatural linkage profile?I have never seen an instance of this. (Have you?) To be honest it sounds tin-foil hattish to me.

That being said, I do try to get one high-powered link to every new Web site I put up; that way, if someone quickly jacks my content and Google puts us head to head for canonization, my site comes out on top.

Yet another 'How do you choose Directories' thread ;)

SERoundtable has posted on an SEO Chat thread, Main deciding factor .

Some joke that the best directory is the free directory, or better yet there is no recip link required for inclusion. There is a good discussion about design and the visual appeal of a directory. While I do agree it is nice to see, it doesn't necessary mean the directory is always the best.I agree that it's best to stay away from directories that require a reciprocal link. My earlier post on TrustRank stressed that low quality directory listings may not help your rankings (and could possibly even work against you). When in doubt: get listed in those places you would like to be even if Google didn't exist. Yes, I toot that horn a lot, but I truly believe it!

Don't Be a Greedy Linkster

This thread on SEO Chat has some interesting advice. Namely, that when you link out to an "un-themed site", you should use the rel="nofollow" attribute. I try not to get emotional about these things but this attitude really ticks me off.

When did we all become Greedy Linksters? I guess it started with PageRank and morphed into the mess we have today, with blog spamming, Arelis et al. Admittedly, I'm as greedy for links as anyone. Heck, we even made a blog about how to get as many/the best links as possible to your site (p.s., isn't our blog great? you should link to it).

So your site is about blue widgets, and your hosting was graciously donated by HostingCo Inc. You, of course, want to link to them in your footer with "Hosting graciously donated by HostingCo Inc." The problem (apparently) is that HostingCo Inc. isn't ranking for "blue widgets", so you're afraid that by linking to them you will lose hub points with Hilltop.

Link to them. Trust me. The algo will get over it. Don't be a Greedy Linkster! *steps off soapbox*

Out of Link Building Ideas? Get Creative.

I don't normally visit Jill Whalen's High Rankings Forum, but there's a fantastic thread up there called Out of Link Building Ideas.Here's what I've tried so far, can any one offer some suggestions? The
ones below have worked out somewhat ok (Marketleap 758, PR4) but
obviosly I'd like more. Yes I am keyword optimizing all these links and
will continue to use the techniques below but they're getting less
efficient every day.If you're a serious white hat link builder, and I am, you know what it feels like when you've given it everything you've got. You're in all the directories, you've gotten 12 articles syndicated, you've traded links with everyone possible ranking top 500 for your term (and a ton of people who aren't), etc. etc. But you're still ranked #7! How will you get to #1?

At this point, I usually do two things:1) Rent a couple very powerful, on-topic links (prepay for six months -- it won't help unless it stays up for a while!)2) Put my content creation in overdrive (e.g., pay an author to write 3 articles per day, instead of 1). The content will drive traffic and links (very slowly, but remember, we've already gotten all the "easy" links)

And if I was a different type of person I might even try3) Think of a very creative way to make your site better or say something crazy. Aaron Wall is always tooting his horn on how creative / excellent / terrible ideas attract a lot of links.

DMOZ Bashing!

Question: What Should one do if DMOZ Link got rejected?

Answer: Complain about it.

Let the productive mud-slinging begin!

And P.S., I've never been offered a bribe as a DMOZ editor, although I'm certain that it does go on (probably on a limited basis, and only in "high margin" categories).

P.P.S, If you would like to get listed in dmoz.org/Games/Gambling/, send a $2,000 cheque to:


Andy Hagans137 Fake St.Anytown, State 12345

And don't forget to double the amount if you want a keyword-rich title.

Disclaimer: That's a joke, son, a joke...

'Link Spam Alliances' Research Paper

Gary Price of Search Engine Watch Blog has found yet another Stanford research paper . In this paper we study how web pages can be interconnected in a spam
farm in order to optimize rankings. We also study alliances, that is,
interconnections of spam farms. Our results identify the optimal
structures and quantify the potential gains. In particular, we show
that alliances can be synergistic and improve the rankings of all
participants.Seems like old news to me :)