Dangerous Links: Why & How Google Wants to Abolish Hypertext
* Are links unnatural or even dangerous like some SEO experts repeat after Google? The Web is built upon so called hypertext. Why is it hyper? It’s not because of all the hypes we witness on the Internet. The hyper-aspect…
Training in Winter
* Some of you may remember that I have started training parkour some time ago. It made me not only 200% healthier over the recent years (I feel 10 years younger by now) it also inspired me in other areas…
Does Smashing Magazine Fail to Represent SEO Properly or Do We?
Does Smashing Magazine fail to represent SEO? Patrick Altoft and AJ Kohn are mad at Smashing Magazine for not getting SEO: Are they right? Do the people over at Smashing Magazine have no clue about modern SEO? I simply couldn’t…
How to Use the Google Disavow Tool for NOT Against Negative SEO
* Google first created the problem of so called negative SEO by taking “manual action” on links webmasters have no control over. Instead of just discounting “unnatural links” pointing to a site Google will make you responsible for them even…
What Guest Blogging and Blogger Outreach Are Actually About – Stop Perverting Them
* Now that “content marketing” is the latest rage people who have no clue what content really means are perverting ages old techniques like guest blogging and blogger outreach. Many lazy SEOs are late to this renamed “great content” and…
Unnatural Links: What is the Purpose of the Google FUD Campaign?
* Google has been sending out “unnatural links” warnings for some time. At first they meant you got penalized in Google search and thus you lost your rankings. Lately they have been sending out even more of the cryptic messages,…
Why I Am Banning Google on my Blog
* I am banning Google on my blog. Why? Isn’t it ironic for a self proclaimed SEO blog to ban Google? Let me tell you the whole story. When I started out this blog in 2007 I did not get…
Why Peer-to-Peer SEO Beats Influencer Ass Kissing
* In the past I have written repeatedly about the need to find your peers and to work together with them for the benefit of all parties involved. On the Web it’s not about competing with 7 billions of people,…
Unofficial Google Newspeak Glossary: Manual Action in Commercial Relationships
Euphemisms are often made up words that are meant to hide the real (in most cases negative) meaning of existing terms. For example the thing the US government refers to as “targeted killings” is basically an assassination which in turn…
Successful Blogging is Not About Becoming a Superstar
* Last week one of the most successful bloggers in the marketing industry, Neil Patel has published a post called “How to Become a Blogging Superstar”. At first I felt like it was 2007 again, or even 2002. Why? I…
Words that Damage Trust in Your Blog
These words may be correct English but nonetheless they make you appear like an idiot when you use them on your blog. Why? They have obviously negative or hidden meaning that influences your readers. Thus they damage trust in you…
Are Category Keywords in the URL a Significant Ranking Signal Now?
Above: Not personalized search results for the query [content strategy mistakes]. I rank at #7. Look who ranks at #2 and #4. While trying to assess the impact of stolen and otherwise copied content on my rankings here on the…
Google Buys Links with Hidden Anchor Text
I was awestruck today when I noticed that the perhaps most important German blogging conference re:publica sells high PageRank links. Paid links are forbidden by the Google Webmaster Guidelines since 2007 and Google has repeatedly asked webmasters to report paid…
Science vs Reality: Do Not Obey Scientists – Practice What Works in SEO & Beyond
* A few weeks ago I had a lively discussion on Twitter with two quite opinionated individuals who are quite known in the SEO industry. I won’t name them here to prevent this discussion from getting personal but I want…
Lead or Follow?
* One of the most important factors of my success until now is the fact that I was never been content with following. I never liked following orders following trends following people I always preferred leading. I’m not speaking of…
Usability Experts Still Fail Themselves on World Usability Day 2010
* Two years ago I celebrated my first world usability day by pointing out usability mistakes usability experts commit. Fast forward to 2010 and what do I see? World Usability Day is here again and usability experts still can’t even…
‘SEO is Dead’ is Dead
Diamond Skull by Damien Hirst. Image by Aaron Weber. Recently a post titled “How SEO is breaking the web (and killing Google)” has garnered almost 200 tweets. While I assume that many of them were automated tweets from accounts retweeting everything…
10 Internet Legends Everybody Should Know
You certainly know urban legends already. Stories, misconceptions and myths that sound enticing and thus get spread through gossip all over the place, mostly where people use to meet for small talk, thus “urban”. The Internet is even worse when…
Panama Hat SEO
I confess: I’ve been lying to you all these years! I don’t wear a white sombrero like my avatar does. I wear a Panama hat instead. There is more to it than just the hat type I realized recently. It…
Quick & Dirty SEO or Quality Optimization?
Most Hair Cuts 6.99$ by a4qpa. Last week I went to the barber. Actually she’s a female barber so should I say hairdresser then? I paid 25 Euro for approx. 45 minutes. That’s quite but not very expensive. A haircut…
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