Pirates Attack the Hyatt Regency Miami Hotel September 8, 2009
Posted by Daniel in Search Engines, SEO, WebStuff.Tags: Blackhat SEO, Google Local, Google Maps, Hyatt Regency, SEO Pirates
2 comments
…which gave me an idea – to write a quick how-to. Check out what inspired my how-to below step 4.
How to Rank First in Google Local Listings With Almost No Effort
1. Find an Un-claimed Company Ranking First in Google Local Search
Do some general searches in your area on Google Maps for items totally unrelated to what you’re trying to sell. For example, you’re selling moving boxes, try searching for pizza. Click on “Edit” for the top listing and if the business is unclaimed you’ll see a link to “Claim Your Business” which will take you to the Google Local Business Center (LBC).
2. Claim the Listing (Even though it’s not really yours) in Google Local Business Center
Once you either create an LBC account or log-in using your existing Google Account, you can enter your phone number and website for the business you are comandeering. After you finish replacing the true business contact information with your contact details, Google will ask you to verify by mailing you postcard in 1-2 weeks with a PIN on it that you’ll enter in your LBC account.
3. Verify the Listing and Watch the Traffic Pour In
Here’s where there actually was some creativity in the SEO Pirate’s plan and why it only works on Hotels. When the verification postcard is mailed out, you’ll need some way to be the recipient of that postcard at the business’ real address. So a pizza place (example in step 1 above) wouldn’t work. However, lets say you claimed a hotel and booked a 2 week stay in that hotel immediately afterward. You’d simply have to let the front desk know that a peice of mail containing your name and phone number would be arriving and to have them send it up to your room.
4. Viola – You Now Own Hyatt Regency (According to Google Maps)
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While doing research for our Miami Movers, I stumbled upon a very interesting approach to SEO. When searching in Firefox for Miami Hotels on Google Maps, the first result listed turned up “Miami Moving and Movers“. As I’ve been working on the movers aspect of the HireAHelper site for a while now, I thought maybe Google was using my search history in an attempt to enhance my search results by providing me with a result pertinent to what I normally search for.
So I opened Internet Explorer and did the search again, staying logged out of my Google account. When that search yielded the same result, I knew something was up. Clicking through the additional info, I found over 700 reviews. I started to assume that Miami Moving and Movers had simply posted themselves in the wrong category and spam reviewed themselves as a hotel to rank in an easy-to-rank, high-traffic area. But to my surprise, the reviews sounded very real, and halfway down the page I found 2 reviews directly referencing the Hyatt Regency Miami.
That’s when it clicked – pirates had attacked the Hyatt Regency Miami. Some SEO genius thought it would be a good idea to claim the Hyatt listing as his business after it had already risen to 1st place in the local rankings with several hundred reviews. He then changed the name and contact info to point viewers to his moving company.
I guess if you want a lot of easy traffic and don’t care about your site getting blacklisted then this approach makes sense – almost. Getting all that traffic from a different industry probably doesn’t result in a lot of conversions. Definitely not enough profit to cover the costs of the lawsuit Hyatt should bring against the offender. I wonder why Miami Moving isn’t associated with any trustworthy associations or accreditation like the BBB or the AMSA (American Moving and Storage Association).
To Miami Moving and Movers: Sorry to turn you in… well not really. I work too hard trying to do our SEO in a real, sustainable way to let you get off that easy. Good luck in the Hyatt vs. SEO Pirate trial.
How the Google Stole Christmas… July 14, 2009
Posted by Daniel in Search Engines, SEO, WebStuff.Tags: google, Regulation, SEO
1 comment so far
An anonymous post on TechCrunch.com calling for SEO/SEM regulation supposedly “written by a well known executive at one of the largest sites on the Internet” has sparked a tremendous amount of discussion and debate. I agree that we should find someway to credential or license exceptional SEO’s. However, I don’t agree that the government needs to be involved or that total transperancy from the search engines is necessary.
The post makes Google look like the Grinch who stole E-commerce. The author does this by arguing that Google abuses its position as the sole gatekeeper to most of web-based commercial world by changing its search algorithms without warning and disabling clients pay-per-click accounts without notice or reason.
The mysterious author draws the comparison to Los Angeles where the entrances are guarded by one company, and the streets changed sporadically by the same company – restricting the customer’s travel and often completely blocking access to some vendors.
The funny thing is, as I was reading through articles this morning on SEO techniques and tips, one of the articles (from SEObook.com, Is PageRank Important) pointed out that because search aglorythms are always changing, the best approach to search engine marketing is a traditional marketing strategy – provide great content, products, or services and people will come back with their friends.
In constantly updating their algorithms, Google isn’t being a Grinch, they’re attempting to weed out the trickery and magic of SEO to find honest, helpful search results. On the other end, SEO’s are finding out more and more that their goals should be to produce accurate and high quality content and market it to the right crowd.
In other words, the market is already regulating itself. Nobody is forcing the public to use the Google gateway to the e-commerce world. Who knows, maybe bing.com will turn out to be a surprisingly strong competitor for Google. The consumer will dictate which gates to use in their online experience, and if Google fails to produce relevant results, the consumer will find another gate.
Thanks Mr. Anonymous for sharing your feelings about regulating SEO/SEM. But its already fixing itself as you write.
New …ish PageRank Rules Revealed June 23, 2009
Posted by Daniel in Blogging Advice, Search Engines, SEO, WebStuff.add a comment
Last week, Google’s Matt Cutts blogged about a change to PageRank that took place a year ago. The change was drastic enough that the comment list ran on for over 200 responses. However, Cutts made the argument in one of his comment responses – “The fact that no one noticed this change means (to me) even though it feels like a really big shift, in practice the impact of this change isn’t that huge.”
The change is in reference to the Nofollow link command. Previous to 2008 if a page had 20 links on it, with 10 of those links being Nofollowed, the other 10 would carry the PageRank passing power of all 20 links divided up among them (1/10 of the PageRank Power).
Now, since the change last year, on that example page – the 10 followable links would only carry 1/20 of the PageRank passing power. The 10 Nofollow still don’t pass PR but the other 10/20 power to pass PR disappears.
This has people up in arms about all the work they’ve done to direct and steer their PageRank power within their site. The basic feel for what Cutts was saying was that if people haven’t noticed in a year apparently their work to contour PR hasn’t been worth it. He says, “In practical terms this change really doesn’t affect rankings very much at all.”
Personally, I disagree only in that those people who have made PageRank contouring a pillar of their SEO plan will need to re-think their repertoire. Otherwise I don’t really know what all the fuss is about. Continue making pages with great, resourceful content and people will want to visit and link to your site.
What do you think? Vote in my poll and let me know.
My First Week as an SEO Intern July 8, 2008
Posted by mikeglanz in Search Engines, SEO.add a comment
By Katie Pitman
I am a Search Engine Optimist. Or an Optimizer, or a new search-engine Transformer by the name of Optimus Rhyme (okay, so that doesn’t make sense, I’ve just always liked the pun). I’m also a noob. But in my past week as an SEO intern, I’ve really learned a lot about the basics of search engine optimization. I’m enough of a nerd to find this really interesting, and enough of a thinker to see how big this industry is going to get, which I why I bullied Mike into giving me the internship in the first place.
SEO is a relatively new industry that is growing very quickly. The more internet oriented businesses become, the more important it is to these businesses to show up higher in search engines and get more organic traffic. Most businesses have no idea how to do this: enter the Optimist. I’ve been looking at businesses that are hiring SEOers in San Diego’s Craigslist, and it’s a bit nutty not only how many positions are open and being created, but also how much these people are willing to pay a person with proven results. That’s another reason I convinced Mike to give me this internship, and why I’m willing to work for free: experience in a field where few others have it is really going to pay off. Even if I don’t end up with a career as an SEO analyst/tech/consultant, someone with not only standard MS Office Suite skills, but also fancy SEO skills will definitely have an edge in the job market. And hey- in today’s economy, who doesn’t need an edge?
The fact that there are no degrees available in this field makes it a little bit of a free for all— experience and proven results are all that matter. Because it’s a new industry, everyone in it has the chance to make new discoveries and shape the field. I, for instance, just got my bachelor’s with a double major in Psychology and Communications, with just a bit more computer knowledge than the average joe, and yet I’m helping HireAHelper.com and it’s landing pages rise in the Google ranks. It’s very exciting to see Google’s analytics showing an improvement since I started working here. The future is looking pretty bright! Between Mike’s hands-on training and recommended reading, I’m starting to feel like a real Optimist.
5 Reasons to Celebrate Google’s Birthday September 27, 2007
Posted by mikeglanz in Search Engines, WebStuff.3 comments
A tear comes to my eye when I think of everything that Google has done for me in its 9 years of existence. Today is the 9th anniversary of the day that Google.com launched. In honor of Google.com here are the top 5 reasons Google.com is my favorite website:
- They taught us to search – Back when I was still using a 26k modem is the first time I ran across Google.com. My best friends mom was a software developer and told him to start using it instead of Yahoo. I remember not knowing how it worked, but actually being impressed with the relevance of the results for the term I was searching. To date I use all sorts of advanced search techniques like “site:”, “linkdomain:” (RIP), and date search (which I picked up from Matt Cutts).
- They brought us Gmail – Hotmail would never let me have my own name (mikeglanz@hotmail.com was taken!) – when a friend from Stanford gave me a gmail invite, I was stoked to get not only mikeglanz@gmail.com, but my wifes, and my parents names as well. With few exceptions, all my friends have their name on their gmail account (Pete Johnson had no such luck)
- Free Analytics - To date HireAHelper still gets calls from analytics firms offering to sell me $1000/mo+ analytics packages.
- Online Advertising – with positive ROI! – CPC has been responsible for 50% of HireAHelper sales to date. We will most likely never stop making money off the AdWords platform.
- They gave us inspiration – Larry and Sergey jumped to the 55th richest men in the world when Google.com had its IPO. Other companies have inspired me as well (Amazon in particular), but Google is at least partly responsible for me quitting my job and launching my own startup. How many other great startups have been founded because they were inspired by Google. (Ask any VC how many entrepreneurs come in telling them they have the next Google!)
So here’s to you Google. May you last another 9 years. And may HireAHelper.com show up as result 1 for Moving Help!
Comment with YOUR reasons to celebrate Google’s birthday
Microsoft Advertising with Google? September 26, 2007
Posted by mikeglanz in Advertising, Search Engines.add a comment
I wasn’t aware of this, maybe its old news. I was actually looking for samples of the Google banner ads they are using for Docs.Google.com. I figured YouTube would probably have sponsored ads from Google (seeing is how Google bought them), so I was clicking around on the tuber and before I run across an advertisement for Docs, I run across an advertisement for Office 2007? (don’t know if the ad is still there). Anyone know how long Microsoft has been doing this?
Exciting New Features In Google Webmaster Tools September 17, 2007
Posted by Zac in Search Engines.1 comment so far
As I was scrolling through my feed reader which is my typical weekend ritual, I came upon a real gem. Google is updating their Webmaster tools with a new look and features as noted in their latest Google Webmaster Central Post. Now most of the time updates like these are all show and no substance, but Google has been pretty good about listening to what people want and updating the Google Webmaster Tools in a timely fashion. One feature stuck out though as something I did not see coming, “Webmaster Tools now show feed publishers the number of aggregated subscribers you have from Google services such as Google Reader, iGoogle, and Orkut.” Now this is quite an awesome feature, webmasters can now see feed stats without a 3rd party feed management or tracking solution (at least for the mentioned services). I think that this is just another area that Google shines far brighter than the other search engines. Yahoo has a good webmaster tool set but nowhere near the reporting Google does and MSN basically leaves webmasters in the dark. In an age where accuracy and relevancy are key it really looks like Google is going the extra mile to improve its services and bring both websites and searchers into a much closer and advantageous relationship.
