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So, VMware has officially annonunced that it is buying email and collaboration software vendor Zimbra which was acquired by Yahoo in 2007. Although financial terms of the acquisition were not divulged, some observers say that it is actually lower the amount Yahoo paid for the company when it was still a start-up in 2007. According to the Press Release obtained by AllThingsD , VMware will utilize Zimbra to further its mission in simplifying datacenter, desktop, application development and core IT services in the enterprise setting. Although, it might seem unimportant anymore for Yahoo, Zimbra has been leading the open source email and collaboration solution, boasting of 55 million mailboxes with 85% growth during 2009. But the thing is, Zimbra is operating in an environment where one of the major rival happens to be Google with its Google Enterprise solution. Under the terms of the agreement, VMware will still support Zimbra’s existing products and open source efforts while at the same time enhancing it to fit into VMware’s own product infrastructure. The deal also gives Yahoo the rights to continue utilizing Zimbra technology on its Yahoo Mail and Yahoo Calendar services. The deal will close end of Q1 2010. Check out the SEO Tools guide at Search Engine Journal . VMware Acquires Zimbra from
Tags:
acquisition,
enterprise,
press,
rights,
search engine news,
software-vendor,
under-the-terms,
yahoo,
yahoo-calendar
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Welcome to another edition of ‘ 7 Days of Search and Social ‘ – We’re all back in the swing of things after the holidays, although I am still getting caught up over here…sigh. Anyway, it was a pretty good week out in the blogosphere and somewhat drama-free, (always a good thing). While there were plenty of interesting blog posts, the rest of the search geek world was still somewhat sleepy (other than some interesting patents). Without further adieu, the best from the week that was;
Tags:
column,
googlers,
microsoft,
patents,
Real Estate,
recommendation,
search,
search-engine,
seo,
social
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The idea of giving the opportunity to leave off-site comments to any page has been hot for a long time: that’s how many social bookmarking / sharing sites work (like StumbleUpon where people “review” and tag pages within the system), that’s what Google Sidewiki concept is based on and that’s how Tweeting any page works… Why it has been popular is quite clear: people are saved from the trouble to log in or filling the comment form and are given the opportunity to use their favorite web environment and instantly share their comments with their online friends. The question is how we, bloggers and Internet marketers, can keep track of those comments and utilize that off-site conversations around our web pages. This post looks at one part of the question: possible ways to keep track of Twitter conversations related to any web page : Type Instant notifications Additional tracking tools Kutano Browser addon Yes No BackTweets Browser bookmarklet No RSS feed, email alerts AddATweet Browser addon Yes No Kutano Kutano works as a browser addons (supported browsers: FireFox, Internet Explorer and Google Chrome) that hides behind a handy sidebar and notifies you of recent Tweets around any page you are landing on. In short, it works as follows: Install the addon (and restart your browser). Kutano sidebar should appear; Navigate to any web page and notice a number that appears right on the sidebar (when it is closed). This number indicates how many Tweets have been found for the current page): Click on it and see the actual Tweets in the opened sidebar: Best features: Instantly see Twitter comments on any page you are currently viewing (the sidebar is open); See Tweets to the page or to the site; See “Discussions” – i.e. recent web updates that do not link to the page directly but use a related hashtag or keyword (useful for tools, brand names, etc): BackTweets BackTweets is a popular tool that tracks and aggregates tweets linking to a particular page. It supports a number of URL-shorteners which makes the tool one of the most complete. It can be added to your browser with help of a bookmarklet which allows to quickly find Tweets linking to the current page. Best features: Create an email alert for new Tweets linking to any page; Grab an RSS feed to follow Tweets commenting on any page. AddATweet AddATweet is more about commenting using your Twitter identity than aggregating all Twitter buzz around one specific page – that is you won’t see all the Tweets related to any specific page but you will be able to track comments left using the tool. Best features: Instantly see if the page has comments by the color of the addon button; Easily leave your own comments using the tool and your Twitter identity. Check out the SEO Tools guide at Search Engine Journal . How to Quickly Check Tweets Related to Any Web
Tags:
color,
internet,
online,
opportunity,
search-engine,
seo,
Social Media,
social-bookmarking,
tool,
tools,
tweets,
twitter,
using-the-tool
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Congratulations! You’re hired… It’s a huge step in your SEO career to be hired for an in-house SEO department. Now it’s time to plan your in-house SEO strategy carefully, so you can secure your position and give your company what they’re looking for: tangible results from your SEO expertise. What your average workday will look like will depend on several factors: Are you a one-person team, or are you part of a team? Do you work for an average-sized company or a big brand? If you are a one-person team you will likely find yourself with a huge workload as you struggle to get results that will be noticed in the shortest time possible. Unfortunately for many businesses SEO still has to ‘prove’ itself. If you’re part of a team your workload will be lighter, but possibly not any easier. It’s a fact that for most companies SEO has to prove itself in order to earn the right to stay. Sadly, too many half-baked SEOs who mistake what they do for Blackhat have created enough doubt and double standards that we are still not considered as important as we should be in many circles. For now we’ll assume that you’re a one-person team and that you’re working for the average business. Let’s take a quick look at all the tasks that will fall to you: Keyword research : do this properly. Monitor where your pages stand for all presently used keywords and keep a record, together with your record of all new keywords you introduce Competitive analysis : you need to know exactly who you’re up against and what kind of steps you need to take to get ahead of them in search Correcting canonicalization : make sure that as far as Google is concerned, there is only one version of each page of your company website. Correcting site structure (excellent article on the subject by Dave Snyder) Creating an internal linking structure Creating an incoming-links strategy Optimizing HTML Make sure you use a good meta-description tag for each page plus a carefully crafted page title (must be different for each page of your site) Checking site navigation Arranging for appropriate quality content that matches chosen keywords for each page Scanning for any issues that might be perceived as black hat by the search engines (such as inadvertent hidden text and so on) Monitoring pagerank and pagerank flow Your Initial In-House SEO Strategy… The best thing you can do off the bat is make friends with the people in the IT or web development department, and if there are in-house copywriters get to know them too. The structure will differ from company to company, but basically you need to be on very good terms with anyone who will have anything to do with your end of the job. Your task will be so much easier if they are your friends instead of enemies. This is especially so if, as is normally the case, you will need to ask for changes to be made in what they do. If you build enough bridges you may even be able to delegate some of your huge workload to them. After making friends and influencing people, the next most important thing is to get your web tracking applications in place , assuming they aren’t already there. In order to prove your own worth you need to be able to prove where the company was in terms of search engine estimation, and where it is going as a result of your expertise. In all likelihood you will be responsible for the social media strategy as well as SEO. What you do in this regard is especially important if your company has any reputation management issues. For a quick rundown on why you need a social media strategy, I can’t do better than refer to this excellent post on Mashable When General Motors put together their social media strategy, they had some specific objectives they wanted to accomplish. Christopher Barger , director of global social media at General Motors, outlined the following: A. Become more responsive to people/consumer audiences B. Incorporate audience/consumer feedback into your organization more quickly and effectively than has happened traditionally C. Make your brand a little more “human” to the outside world, and show people the smarts, personality and passion of the people behind your logo D. Increase awareness of the strength of your current product lineup, and provide perspective/accurate information about your company You’ll be asking ‘isn’t this for the PR people or a social media person?’ Technically speaking, yes it is. But a good social media strategy is simply one of the finest things you can do to get your SEO strategy showing gains in the shortest time –if you do it right. The points outlined above should give you ammo for when someone above you asks ‘whaddya think you’re doing…’ Patricia Skinner is an SEO consultant , social media coach & reputation management expert. She is also community leader at the nascent SEO Self Regulation Community . She can be reached any time through her SEO website . Why not follow her on Twitter & her LinkedIn profile. Check out the SEO Tools guide at Search Engine Journal . Advice for the Newbie In-House
Tags:
Business,
general-motors,
one-person-team,
people,
search,
seo,
shortest,
tools
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Google’s announcement of personalized search for everyone has stirred a lot of mixed reactions from the search industry. Eric Schmidt’s interview on CNBC has even provoked various sentiments on privacy issues. I think Aaron Wall of SEOBook.Com has an excellent take on this one. Personally, I agree with Kalena Jordan’s conclusion on whether or not SEO can exist beyond personalization , in which she said: Personalization has been in place on Google for over 4 years. This isn’t a new algorithm, it’s simply a new delivery mechanism. It’s important to remember that a large number of Google users are logged in to a Google account of some kind when conducting searches anyway, so they won’t even notice the difference. The other thing to keep in mind is that personalization is all about relevance and usability. And then there’s the launch of Real-Time search results from Google (just a few days after the rollout of personalized search). So expect conversations your favorite social media sites like Twitter and Facebook to show up in your respective search results. However, I wasn’t surprise to see some questionable results in the early stages. But I won’t go on explaining what these two features mean for Search Engine Optimization. After a few weeks of reading experts’ views on the topic, by now you already know what it does for our users, what challenges it poses to us SEO’s, and what benefits Google gains out of these intriguing additions. Instead let me show you how we can still win the battle for search rankings with these new set of rules. Why don’t we explore our weapons in modern warfare? 1. Quality Content with Value – Ever since I started out as a SEO content writer 4 years ago, I’ve always been a believer in the “Content is King” school of thought. But SEO has evolved so much that great content may not be enough. Thus, you have the popular viral content and link baiting trends. I believe in today’s context, content should be beyond quality, relevancy and link worthiness. Let’s just say you’re a movie website and you want to drive visitors to your AVATAR page (oh Yes, It was phenomenal!). Typically, you’d be providing a brief synopsis of the film, movie ratings, and screening times. Will that be enough? Well you should throw in a video trailer, a listing of local cinemas in the area featuring the film, movie reviews from selected bodies like Rotten Tomatoes, tickets and seats reservation system, or maybe a list snack items your visitors might want to grab while watching (maybe that’s a bit too much, but hey it’s possible). You don’t have to be a one-stop shop website, but your site must be what your customers need and even more. Great content will not be merely something to read and understand. Great content will be something tangible, something that customers can act upon, something that entices emotion, something that is real and beyond just characters in a white space. 2. Increase ClickThrough Rate – Personalized search will mean effectively manipulating influencing your users to click on your listing. Of course you can always conduct your own tests and come up with your own tactics to exploit personalized search . Here’s one simple tip: improve your page titles and your meta descriptions. These elements will reflect how you’ll appear on the SERP’s. Your description should inform your customers who you are and what you can deliver. If you can add a call to action line in less than 160 characters of your description, you’re off on a great start. If you can capture your customers in the first 3 lines of your search listing, you’re definitely a mile ahead of the competition. 3. Brand & Online Reputation Management – When we do research on certain topics, we tend to look for sources coming from brands even though they might be beyond page 1 of our searches. In the same way we try to avoid clicking through listings which come from dubious providers despite their top positions in the results pages. The reason being – TRUST. People trust brands. People trust businesses, individuals, and groups who have made the effort of developing their brands and delivering no less than the best to their customers. You may have won the battle for the top rankings but if you’re sitting beside the big fish in your niche market, they’ll definitely choose the neighboring giant. 4. Get Active on Social Media – This goes without saying. Even before rumors of real-time search came to life, marketing, PR, and online professionals have taken advantage of social media to its fullest potential. Well for those who haven’t, now is the time to get cracking on social media optimization (SMO). If not for real-time search, then you’ve got more reasons to embrace social media in 2010 . It would be naïve for us to think that we didn’t see this coming. Personalized and real-time search was definitely the next step for Google (and probably for the rest of the search engines). And we, as SEO’s, are expected to rise up to the occasion to do what we do best – to quickly adapt to the environment and to deliver the right results. Dave is currently working as an SEO Analyst for Nurture3 , and online marketing company based in Dubai, leading a team of junior SEO?s optimizing in-house web projects. He is also the author of Click-Dubai.Com , which talks about the basic functions of organic search engine optimization and its importance in the Middle East & GCC markets. Check out the SEO Tools guide at Search Engine Journal . How SEOs Win the War on Personalized & Real-Time
Tags:
dubai,
film,
management,
middle-east,
online,
search-engine,
seo,
social,
Social Media,
time,
tools
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Ever since Google Chrome blog announced the launch of Google Chrome Extensions , people have never stopped talking when this move is going to kill FireFox. Well, you might know how much I love FireFox ( even despite the fact that because of my experiments with addons it sometimes becomes dead slow ) and how hardcore I may become wen it comes to something that I love, but even I couldn’t ignore those talks any longer. So yes, I went ahead, did some research, tried Google Chrome extensions and here’s what I came up with: Chrome Extensions vs FireFox
Tags:
browser,
chrome-battles,
comparison,
extensions,
firefox-add-ons,
security-as-due,
security-issues,
seo,
should-migrate
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With so much important private information we store at our computers and send to our co-workers, secure browsing is very important. For us, search marketers, there is another benefit of seeing online security flags while we browse: this works as an additional help for SEO diagnostics because security flags can easily be the reason of low rankings. So this post lists four tools that insert security report right within Google SERPs for you to see if there are any issues even before clicking through: Website link Notes Download link LinkExtend Aggregated results Download SiteAdvisor Desktop Download MyWot Registration required Download Browser Defender – Download LinkExtend FireFox
Tags:
browser,
computers,
credit-card,
Environment,
history,
seo,
supports-google,
tools,
wikipedia,
yahoo