Written by Trent Brownrigg and taken from SiteProNews

When talking about search engine rankings many people ask themselves questïons like; how many keywords should I put in my anchor text? What is the keyword density that I should have on the page? Should I use short copy or should I use long copy? Can I use flash or not? How many keywords should I put in my “alt” text? Etc…
A general statement to answer the above questïons is that “magic numbers do not exist.” The most important thing you can understand as a search engine optimization expert is that algorithms change. Just when you think you understand what is going to make you number one for a keyphrase in a search engine, something could easily change, and you might have to spend months or even years trying to figure the new algorithm.

By Jim Hedger (c) 2005, StepForth News Editor, StepForth Placement Inc.

An interesting phenomenon is coming to a monitor near you, perhaps the one you are looking at right nöw. The days of convergence are upon us. The trend towards the merging of media via the Internet is already causing significant cultural shifts as witnessed by the power bloggers have exercised in relation to TV and print journalism. What a difference an era makes. A decade ago, the traditional media set the pace by telling our stories and provided practical means of mass-communications. Today, the Internet provides a globally stable transmission line and the Web serves as both production studio and broadcast medium. The Internet’s growth and more importantly, the ease of access for anyone with a computer, a connection and a bit of talent, has pushed the majority of traditional media outlets into a period of survival strategy and planning.

By Jim Hedger (c) 2005, StepForth News Editor, StepForth Placement Inc.

Ever since Google introduced its latest algorithm update in September, a fair amount of column space has been dedicated to telling webmasters and small business owners to wait until the update is complete. In so much as it can be said that the Jagger Update will ever be complete, the final cycle of the immediate update appears to be playing out.
Jagger was a different sort of algorithm update for Google. Its infamous predecessors, Florida and Hilltop were generally limited shifts in the values Google assigned domains based on content and links. After the immediate punch of previous updates, the search engine results pages (SERPs) would generally return to a stable and predictable state. SERPS generated by Jagger are expected to constantly update themselves with a greater degree of flux and change.

Written by Benjamin Wigoder, published in DevWebPro

Learning to use valid html code is one of those website building techniques you decide to use. It is a big step requiring the use of validators, doctype declarations and often lots of extra work.

But now for the big question: Is it worth all the effort?

Benefits of valid HTML Code

* Valid code renders faster than invalid code!

* Valid code will render better than invalid code!

* Browsers are becoming more standards compliant, and therefore it is important to write valid standards compliant HTML.

* The search engines understand better/prefer standards compliant code!

By Paul J. Bruemmer (c) Nov. 2005, Bruce Clay, Inc.
Published in SeoNews.com

“SEO is still a tiny portion of the total search marketing spend.” So states MarketingSherpa in its recent Search Marketing Benchmark Survey. I find it hard to understand the under-utilization of organic SEO compared to PPC (pay-per-click) advertising when organic listings are preferred by 5 clicks to 1. The natural organic listings convert better, too. So what gives?
MarketingSherpa also states that organic results are “better noticed, read and clicked on than paid listings.” The report notes that organic listings convert as well as, or even better than, paid listings (4.2%, versus 3.6%). Study after study continue to demonstrate the power of organic links.

Written by Jason OConnor (c) 2005 for SiteProNews.com

Color is often overlooked in the business of optimizing websites for better returns on investments. Website salës can be greatly affected by simply changing its colors. Ever come across a website that uses some funky combination of print and background colors? If you ever want to experience an eye-twisting headache, try reading yellow print on a blue background. The reason you see black type on a white background so much is that it is the best color combination for reading, both on and offline.
And since it is even harder to read text on a monitor than it is on paper, we must all be especially careful with the colors we choose for our websites, or suffer less-than-optimal site traffïc and repeat visitors.

By Jim Hedger (c) 2005, StepForth News Editor, StepForth Placement Inc.

Google has scored a major coup with the release of Google Analytics. In the spirit of helping webmasters and search marketers move site visitors into converted site users, Google is offering its enormously useful site analytics tool, Urchin, frëe of charge under the re-branded name Google Analytics. The software is designed to help webmasters and marketers understand site visitors and their behaviours. Last year, it cost almost $500/mth to subscribe to.
For Google, search is about business and business is about results. Results are measured in many different ways, depending on the goals of those gauging the yardstick. For Google, the yardstick continues to appear infinite, defying common sense, which logically tells us otherwise. The introduction of Google Analytics solidifies Google’s place as the pinnacle of search advertising providers and is likely to convert a lot of webmasters into Google account holders.

Written By Sharon Housley and published in SiteProNews.com

The age old question keeps coming up, how do you retain website visitors, how do you make visitors return to your website? The answer should come as no surprise, fresh content. Content is truly king, the fresher the content the better the site. What many webmasters fail to realize is that there is an endless supply of content on the web that is freely available to webmasters.
Not only can public domain material be freely used and syndicated on websites, but a number of content publishers provide content in exchange for a link back to their websites. A variety of contents related to the website theme that is integrated into the website will attract the interest of both search engines and web surfers. The key to taking advantage of frëe content is integrating or including content that is directly related to the theme of the website.

Written by David Utter for WebProNews

Just in time for the holiday shopping rush, Yahoo has made a “social commerce” update to its site to add community feedback on products to the shopping experience.

Yahoo posted details about its Shoposphere and Pick Lists features recently.

One joins the Shoposphere by creating a Pick List. The list can be themed however the creator wants it to be. People can list similar products, accessories for a popular product, or products for certain hobbies or interests.

Written by Jason L Miller, for WebProNews

In response to user requests, eBay launched a new service giving buyers and sellers access to listing, bidding, and pricing trends in the marketplace to help them make more informed selling and buying decisions.

As many anticipate an especially busy online holiday season, the number of people using the Internet as their primary research and pricing resource is expected to increase.

eBay’s Marketplace Research subscription service will allow eBay community members access to data and charts and graphs showing real time historical information on product listings.