At the beginning of December, personalized search was rolled out to all Google users, not just those signed in to their Google accounts. Now Web history is being gleaned through an anonymous cookie, and search activity of non-signed in users will be stored for 180 days, thereby having an effect on search results. Bruce Clay, Susan Esparza and Virginia Nussey consider how personalized search results affect the job of an SEO and shape users’ expectations of search results. Bruce gives his recommendations for search engine optimization in a world of personalization and intent-based targeting.


David Harry, blogger and founder of the community forum and discussion hub, SEO Dojo, has performed three rounds of research to gather data on result ranking flux due to personalization. Dave shares his analysis of the latest round of testing, and among his observations he notes the difference of results for informational and transactional searches. He also explains how SEOs might go about optimization in light of personalization. Finally, Dave puts the personalized search piece of the puzzle into a broader point of view, including the way a more powerful infrastructure like Caffeine allows broad customization of search results to occur.

Then Susan, Virginia and Michael Terry look at another recent Google implementation — real-time search results. The question of spam and low-quality information is raised, as is the shift in information gathering and consumption. Some seasoned search marketers expect real-time search results to disappear from Google in the coming months, while others see real-time search as a valuable tool for mining data online.

At SES San Jose last week, Bruce, Virginia and Robert stayed busy in the expo hall and conference sessions. Opening the show, they recall the takeaways and stand-out moments of the event. Bruce explains some of what was discussed at the Advanced SEO Roundtable. Virginia considers some of the most popular live blog posts on the Bruce Clay blog, including The Death of Last Click Attribution.


Then Aaron Landerkin, Bruce Clay, Inc.’s IT Manager and lead developer of the SEOToolSet, talks to Virginia about the new SEOToolSet tools that were demonstrated at the show. The company has been in development of a new version of the SEOToolSet, and the first three tools — the Check Server Tool, the Ranking Monitor and the Single Page Analyzer — will soon be available for beta testing. Aaron and Virginia also talk about the intermingling of technology and people in the SEO profession, and how technophiles like Aaron maintain the balance.

Then Bruce, Robert and Virginia discuss Google Caffeine, one of the biggest stories coming out last week. They first look at the differences between the current Google engine and Caffeine. The hosts explain that they’re not surprised at the convenient timing of the announcement. They also consider why Google might be accepting and benefiting from developer feedback.

Real-time search is a buzzword that’s been getting a lot of action in the search industry lately. Bruce, Susan and Virginia discuss what real-time search is, how it can be used as a tool, and whether or not a real-time search optimization strategy exists. They also look at real-time search in the spectrum of search engines and whether or not Web search might be influenced by real-time search.

SEO and social media marketer Dana Lookadoo then talks to Virginia about how to use real-time search as a marketing advantage. She explains the value of real-time search for individual users as well as businesses and gives her tips on how to optimize content for real-time search. Dana has also written about the usefulness of lifestreams on her blog. In a similar way, a lifestream is a window into the interests of an audience and can also help businesses attract engagement.

Along with real-time search making the news of late, some other headlines have also made a search splash. The FTC is modifying its guidelines to require bloggers to disclose any payment received. Yahoo’s new product Search Pad lets users take notes, save and share searches. And the announcement that several Google Apps were coming out of beta was the source of a few chuckles.

A reputable marketing intelligence agency, Interpublic, has forecasted that search advertising will be the only major marketing channel to make gains in market size this year in its report MAGNA Media Advertising Forecast (pdf). Today’s show is about online advertising with a focus on pay per click (PPC). Bruce, Susan and Virginia start off the show with a look at some recently launched online ad opportunities, Google Affiliate Network Product Ads and Yahoo My Display Ads.

Heather Lutze is the author of The Findability Formula: The Easy, Non-Technical Approach to Search Engine Marketing. With the search advertising industry expected to grow, it’s helpful to have a plain-English resource that can help SEM students hit the ground running. Heather talks to Virginia about organizing campaigns to target consumers at various stages of the buying cycle, preparing for seasonal PPC campaigns, and some other lessons, rooted in more than a decade of experience, that Heather shares in The Findability Formula.

At Bruce Clay, Inc., SEM analyst Jim Stratton troubleshoots and manages PPC campaigns everyday. He sits down with Susan and Virginia to explain his strategy for theming keyword ad groups. By theming ad groups within campaigns, a marketer can better see the performance of individual ad groups and more easily identify areas for improvement. Siloing is a cornerstone of BCI’s SEO methodology, and a theme-aligned structure can also work for paid search campaigns.

In April 2009, search engine optimization professionals learned that a common tactic for directing link equity on a site had been more-or-less ineffective for more than a year. The technique, known as PageRank sculpting, relied on the rel=”nofollow” link element to keep PageRank value on pages targeted for SERP ranking. At SMX Advanced in Seattle, it became clear that the nofollow element had changed, no longer preserving PageRank on a page, but instead, causing PageRank to disappear.

There has been no shortage of coverage following Matt Cutts’s recommendations for nofollow use. At Bruce Clay, Inc., we have talked about it on the blog, in the newsletter, and now, on this week’s episode of SEM Synergy. Bruce sits down with Susan and Virginia for the whole show to give his input on what the new nofollow behavior means for SEO, siloing and search optimization practitioners. They discuss why SEOs and site managers should avoid overreacting, the remaining uses of the nofollow element, and alternate ways of directing PageRank flow.

With Wolfram Alpha and some of the new Google features announced at Searchology last month, the possibilities of data visualization were made more apparent to the public. But presenting data in meaningful ways has long been a goal for professionals within the Internet marketing industry. Today’s show is about data visualization, including how it can help Internet marketing professionals, as well as current applications in tools and analytics products.

One well-regarded analytics suite that utilizes data visualization in innovative ways is Enquisite. Richard Zwicky, founder and president of Enquisite, talks to Virginia about data visualization, such as map overlays that look at where site visitors are coming from and longtail keyword charts. At Enquisite, the company uses feedback from SEOs to continually improve reporting and data presentation. He explains that there has been a growth in how analytics solutions present data visually which has happened alongside a growing expectation among search professionals who use those tools.

Then Bradley, Susan and Virginia look at a few tools that present data visually and the different purposes served. Tools like Crazy Egg and Web Profiler are data interpreters, filtering sample data into a picture. Free Mind and Visio are visual thinking tools, helping with problem solving by representing data elements as icons or symbols. Other tools, like Excel or screen captures, aid in visual documentation. Communication made visible helps illustrate concepts to those who have never seen the data before. It can also reveal connections that were not previously identified.

A number of search engines have come and gone since the early days of the Internet. Today’s dominant player, Google, has shown a unique ability to continually rise to challenges from new engines. Wolfram Alpha is the latest engine to enter the ring, but rather than positioning itself as a direct competitor to Google, the engine is a “fact” or “answer” engine that compiles and visualizes data. Bruce, Susan and Virginia consider the role of alternate engines, such as Wolfram Alpha, and the unique functions they perform.

Virginia then talks to Barbara Baker, of Kolbe Market Consultants, about the search evolution and what the search future may hold. In 12 years as a search marketer, Barbara has witnessed the search engine changing of the guards more than once. But as Barbara sees it, a formidable challenger to the Google will depend on the discerning abilities of the human mind — one technology that is difficult to reproduce. Barbara points to Twitter as an example of the kind of info gathering resource to come.

Then Maryann, Susan and Virginia look at the way Google responds to challengers. Bloggers pointed out that Google has conveniently rolled out new competitive features in the face of Wolfram Alpha, Cuil and social media sites. Matt Cutts has written a post to dispel the rumors, yet the hosts still believe Google could purposefully release developing projects in order to dampen the other product’s publicity.

Today on SEM Synergy we focus on branding and the Vince algorithm change. Bruce, Virginia and Christopher open the show by discussing how establishing trust, authority and quality is vital on the Web. Chris says that establishing a long-term value position of expertise among your market is the key to branding. Bruce says that a company doesn’t have to be a brand to be an expert in the field or to be relevant to a query. He thinks characteristics like longevity or fast servers could actually responsible for brands just naturally performing better.

Jayme Westervelt

Jayme Westervelt of Simply Optimized then talks to Virginia about ranking shifts she saw among her clients over the last few months. Jayme compares the changes among those sites with a strong branding focus and those that are more general in content. Among her clients, she always recommends a strategy that covers highly-targeted and more broad terms in order to cover the search spectrum and to please clients who refuse to give up on the very competitive terms.

Then Susan and Fernando debate their perceptions of the target goal of the update. Fernando proposes that changes to the algorithm may have included increasing the value of link age or decreasing the value of anchor text while raising the value of the page theme. Susan argues that trust and authority are the qualities of a brand. So even though Google said they didn’t boost brands, they did in fact boost qualities of brands.

Interest-based ads made a splash last month when Google announced beta testing in AdSense and on YouTube. Christopher, Bruce and Virginia start off the show by looking at how the development affects the marketing industry. Bruce points out that privacy concerns would likely be moot if interest-based ads followed an opt-in policy rather than the opt-out policy currently in place. However, the likelihood that users would opt-in is low considering the average user doesn’t know interest-based ads exist.

David Szetela is the host of PPC Rockstars and CEO of the PPC-only agency Clix Marketing. He talks to Virginia about his thoughts on interest-based search advertising. A veteran on the conference circuit, he also explains what he does during PPC site clinics and gives listeners a preview of his presentation on black hat PPC tactics at SES New York.

David Szetela

Then Fernando Chavez, a Bruce Clay, Inc. SEO analyst since 2005, makes his debut appearance on the show. Susan, Fernando and Virginia talk about what interest-based search would look like in organic listings. Fernando explains that he wouldn’t do anything differently to cater to personalized search. Susan argues that knowing what interest categories exist could be beneficial to an SEO looking to focus their efforts.

The search engines’ support of a new canonical link element made news last month when it was announced at SMX West. The tag allows webmasters to indicate the preferred URL of a page that has multiple URLs, saving them from the duplicate content issues that occur with tracking IDs and parameters. Bruce cautions that the tag is merely an extra measure and not a full solution. 301 redirects and other multiple URL best practices must be adhered to.


Vanessa Fox joins Virginia to explain how the canonical tag helps search engines, webmasters and users. As a former Google employee, Vanessa provided insight into what happens when the search engines collaborate on an initiative. She also shares news of an upcoming conference, O’Reilly Found, she is organizing with Nathan Buggia that is geared to educating developers on the technical issues related to SEO.

Finally, Bradley talks about his concerns with the canonical tag. While it can be a great tool for sites that are unable to create redirects on large sites, the tag should only be relied upon when all other alternatives have been exhausted. Similar to Matt Cutts suggestion at SMX West, Bradley recommends that mom-and-pop shops and the less-technical webmasters not try to edit their code themselves in order to avoid causing greater problems on their site.