Todd Malicoat aka Stuntdubl works as V.P. of Sales and Marketing for We Build Pages. He also maintains a widely-read weblog on internet marketing, self-titled Stuntdubl Internet Marketing Consulting.
1) Google Sandbox: myth or reality?
Sheesh...start me off with a trick question. I was thinkin' maybe I'd get to tell you my life history about "falling into SEO by default" after being a web designer/developer like everyone else. I think the sandbox is a name given to a variety of different ailments, and provides a good excuse for those not ranking. There is so much talk about sandbox, filters, and penalties that it has really become overwhelming. I think Google has learned their lesson about being too open with SEO's. I don't blame them a bit for ambiguous guidelines and subtle disinformation tactics. SEO's make their living manipulating their algorithm, which isn't in the best interest of their users. There is something that was implemented in late 2003/ early 2004 that was much more time based. Using a great line from "Things to Do When You're Dead in Denver"..."Give it a name"...call it a filter, call it a penalty, call it the sandbox...the simple fact is if you are a good SEO you will diagnose the problems and get the site up the rankings.
You really have to play the "best practices" to beat the sandbox (and other filters for that matter). I'm often pointing people to your guide to beating the sandbox on WMW . The age type filtering has really made SEO much more complex, and I'm sure personalization implementation will only continue to increase the complexity of learning to rank well on Google.
2) Link building: love doing it or hate doing it?
Link building is a necessary evil. I still love PARTS of link building. It's exciting when you know you got a very valuable link for next to nothing. I think the low barrier to entry in SEO is what has made it so attractive to people offering the services. That barrier is rising, and link building is getting tougher. Tools are getting better, but it really comes back to personal relationships with other webmasters. I think link building has really become the red headed step child of SEO that most companies don't want to do anything with except ship off to the neighbors. It's difficult to put a revenue model around it that is beneficial to both the provider and the consumer. The models that DO work are abused by everyone and ultimately cut off at the base by the big G-monster. It's great to see the results of link building and that's what makes it fun. It can be quite disappointing when you put in a ton of time though and don't see highly tangible results.
Even more than link building now, I enjoy tryin' to find older sites to purchase more bulk advertising and presell pages from. It's a little trickier than getting just a plain link, but it's more worthwhile as well.
3) TrustRank: implemented now, or next year?
I think there are definitely elements of Trustrank in play now which we will only see increase. We all know now that leaving an unattended ballot box is going to result in ballot stuffing. Humans are a better determinate of quality content than artificial intelligence (at this point anyhow), so combining as much carbon based intelligence into the search algorithms as possible would be a priority for the SE's I think. It would make logical sense that the data Yahoo and Google are mining from personalization will eventually be rolled into the criteria for rankings. The add/block feature on MyWeb 2.0 is about the best spam-reporting feature out there, because Yahoo doesn't have to pay anyone to use it. It would be silly if they DIDN"T use that data. Of course it can be manipulated by the uber savvy blackhats, but it's still a step in a good direction for them.
I think Trustrank will start to affect the SEO/SEM community more and more. It will just change the game like so many things in the past have. There will always be best practices for marketing a website and that's what we will continue to do. Rolling with the changes is part of what makes SEO services valuable. I did an overly dramatic article on Trustrank and personalization that details why I think it will spell the end for a lot of the crappy SEO's we've seen start charging for BS services in the last few years.
4) Will blogs still be "in" next spring?
Ugh. I sometimes cringe at the thought of myself being a "blogger". Bloggers as a whole are really quite an annoying bunch of blowhards that have become full of themselves because someone actually listened to what they had to say. I think they will be around next spring, and will probably evolve in some way. Chances are they still will be the in thing because I think as a society we like hearing the inside scoop about a company. It's the whole Cluetrain thing...having an open dialogue with customers is the only way to conduct business effectively these days. Blogs provide a nice form for communication. I blog for a couple reasons...firstly to give away information to people that I think would be valuable when there is no way I can really take them on as a client myself. I want to be helpful to those who are interested in learning for themselves the same way folks at WMW and other forums have helped me to learn so much. The second reason I blog is to have a nice timestamp for when things happen and reference points to go back and use. The last reason would be to communicate ideas and methodology to existing clients. I think all these are valuable and valid reasons beyond just yapping about rehashed news because someone might listen.
It's pretty easy to skim 50 or 60 blogs in a day if they all only have a couple of posts. The good information will rise to the top of the stack and the way it is presented to users is just kind of a formality I think. Blogs will be probably by "in" on MTV soon which I suppose would make it "out" in our early-adopter type circles. Blogs with information rich content and good value for a reader's time will be something I'll be happy to learn from for a long time to come.
5) Sometimes I lie in bed and surf the Web with my laptop sitting on my chest. Do you think this could give me cancer?
Much better your chest than your lap. Gotta watch out for your neck and back....more likely to jack that up lookin' at a laptop all day and night. Since you're an internet marketing geek like me I suppose you see the sun about the same as I do so I'm sure it all balances out.
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