Notice how Blogger or Blogspot now redirects to the Australian domain name equivalent?
While I am all for all the other cool changes that have been pushed through such as new layout, location in posts, scheduling posts and more great stuff I haven't yet found.
One thing I am disappointed in is my pagerank is gone :(
I know it will eventually come back, but you would think that Google in their wisdom would be able to pass on this pagerank? Especially to the people who have supported their products.
While I am still listed in Google as the coolest guy on Google (under the old URL), will this be updated and have a negative affect? Most likely yes.
I will be watching this closely.
Unfortunately, I have had few Google related issues of late. Issues with Adwords in particular.
Pretty disappointed with their lack of human support. It feels that Google has got too big, they no longer have the time for us anymore. If you make a mistake in Adwords you get a warning pointing you to around 22 policies. I made dozens of changes but kept getting the same response until they suspended my Adwords.
The annoying thing was that I was mainly setting up ads to train up for the Adwords certification.
Well that's one product of Google's I will no longer recommend.
Recently I have even had a site removed from Google search due to a quality issue I am having trouble understanding. Spent my whole weekend cleaning up the site and removing user submitted spam etc. just to get another rejection a few weeks later.
It is a shame that my experience with a couple of divisions of Google have soured my once strong support for Google. Maybe when Google Drive is introduced this week my faith will be restored?
Time will tell.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Friday, August 26, 2011
Coolest Blogs on the internet
Blogging seems to be a major part of SEO these days so I thought I would list my favorite blogs in order of how useful I found them.
- Wordpress: This is hands-down the best blogging platform on the internet. Pages seem to get listed in Google straight away! If you need a blog, go for a Wordpress blog. Site Popularity in Alexa - 18
- Blogger/Blogspot: Great Blog with plenty of extra features. I found it came up second best compared to Wordpress though. Site Popularity in Alexa - 5
- Tumblr: This would have been number 2, but over the last two years it has become quite slow. Site Popularity in Alexa - 45
- Posterous: Great concept. You can update your blog be sending an email. However, the search engines seem to ignore it. Site Popularity in Alexa - 472
- Live Journal: Good for SEO but a little limited in what you can do with it. Site Popularity in Alexa - 81
- Typepad: Too early to tell. After three days my first post is still not listed in Google, very limited in what you can do. Site Popularity in Alexa - 201
Monday, March 28, 2011
Not happy Jan!!! (Dux Hot Water)
I don't normally come here to vent, but I just got off the phone to a nice lady from Dux, who informs me that my Dux SUNPRO Gas 305 Solar Water Heater that seems to have a burnt out thermostat is no longer covered by warranty.
The original thermostat was replaced under warranty mid December 2008 after being in our new house for a year.
Ok, so we got a few years out of it, but should they burn out so frequently?
My girlfriend rang the plumber that Dux put us on to and was told that they should definitely NOT need to be replaced that often and that the unit has a computer which possibly could be also faulty as it synchronizes the solar and gas power.
I spoke to someone at Dux and they were very polite and keep their cool, even while dealing with this difficult customer. After I got around to explaining what the plumber said, and how I disappointed I was. When they replaced the first thermostat, the computer should have also been checked or replaced?
That's when I got a reaction from the lady! She became quite angry that the plumber said this. She claims the information was inaccurate and that he shouldn't have said that.
Hmm, he probably is more qualified to answer that than some lady from the Dux complaints line!
Later I got a call back. They had to ring this plumber and find out what he told me which apparently I got the story completely wrong as HE is PAID by Dux to give biased views of Dux hot water services, so he would never make up some story about a magically syncing computer that may or may not exist!
Anyone else have issues with Dux? Post them below. Or on one of the other sites full of disillusioned customers!
If you are a representative of Dux, I would be happy for a response, however, I wouldn't expect one!
The original thermostat was replaced under warranty mid December 2008 after being in our new house for a year.
Ok, so we got a few years out of it, but should they burn out so frequently?
My girlfriend rang the plumber that Dux put us on to and was told that they should definitely NOT need to be replaced that often and that the unit has a computer which possibly could be also faulty as it synchronizes the solar and gas power.
I spoke to someone at Dux and they were very polite and keep their cool, even while dealing with this difficult customer. After I got around to explaining what the plumber said, and how I disappointed I was. When they replaced the first thermostat, the computer should have also been checked or replaced?
That's when I got a reaction from the lady! She became quite angry that the plumber said this. She claims the information was inaccurate and that he shouldn't have said that.
Hmm, he probably is more qualified to answer that than some lady from the Dux complaints line!
Later I got a call back. They had to ring this plumber and find out what he told me which apparently I got the story completely wrong as HE is PAID by Dux to give biased views of Dux hot water services, so he would never make up some story about a magically syncing computer that may or may not exist!
Anyone else have issues with Dux? Post them below. Or on one of the other sites full of disillusioned customers!
If you are a representative of Dux, I would be happy for a response, however, I wouldn't expect one!
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Coolest Guy in Melbourne for SEO
Wow! It has been a while since my last post on a two week challenge to become the "Coolest guy in Australia". I managed to crack the first page holding positions 7, 8 and 9, with minimal effort!
I have learned quite a lot from my search engine experiments which has lead me to quite a lot of SEO gigs around Australia.
Unfortunately it hasn't given me much time to blog as often as I would like to, but I love the challenge of taking on a new SEO project and getting results.
I am currently, between other projects, working on promoting three websites for a party planning company in Melbourne. There is a good spread of competition, but I know the odds are in my favour, thanks to a secret weapon I have. Can't give away too much just yet, but once I achieve number one rankings for the clients keywords I will post an update. But for now here are the sites I am working with:
Can't wait for winter to be over! The Coolest guy on Google, is currently also the Coldest guy on Google! ;)
I have learned quite a lot from my search engine experiments which has lead me to quite a lot of SEO gigs around Australia.
Unfortunately it hasn't given me much time to blog as often as I would like to, but I love the challenge of taking on a new SEO project and getting results.
I am currently, between other projects, working on promoting three websites for a party planning company in Melbourne. There is a good spread of competition, but I know the odds are in my favour, thanks to a secret weapon I have. Can't give away too much just yet, but once I achieve number one rankings for the clients keywords I will post an update. But for now here are the sites I am working with:
Can't wait for winter to be over! The Coolest guy on Google, is currently also the Coldest guy on Google! ;)
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Coolest guy in Australia (update)
Well, it's day 2 into my two week challenge and things seem to be going well.
I am currently on page three of Google for the search term "Coolest guy in Australia" (minus the quotes"). Not bad for a day, but I am looking for real results!
One thing that was missed in my previous post, is that Google LOVES keywords in the URL. Unfortunately blogspot ran out of room and cut Australia off the end of the URL! So this post is a bit of an addition to the first one with some cool tips for rating high in the search engines.
Having broken down keywords in the URL rates highly in Google, so it is no wonder why most SEO software for content management systems use URL re-writing to change something like www.website.com/index.php?post=213 to the title, such as www.website.com/index/coolest-guy-in-australia.html.
This is a good way to get around if you don't have a domain name with the keywords you are trying to promote. Sure it helps .... it helps a lot! But it's not the end of the world if you cant secure that keyword rich domain.
If you couldn't get www.coolestguyinaustralia.com, you could always get another name and set up some pages with these keywords e.g. www.otherdomain.com/coolest-guy-in-australia.html
WTF? That heading doesn't even make sense? The point of this lesson, is that Google also LOVES Heading tags. Headings to Google weigh more in the Google formula than if that sentence was without the heading tags.
So, to wrap it up for the day. To get a well placed page in Google:
I am currently on page three of Google for the search term "Coolest guy in Australia" (minus the quotes"). Not bad for a day, but I am looking for real results!
One thing that was missed in my previous post, is that Google LOVES keywords in the URL. Unfortunately blogspot ran out of room and cut Australia off the end of the URL! So this post is a bit of an addition to the first one with some cool tips for rating high in the search engines.
Having broken down keywords in the URL rates highly in Google, so it is no wonder why most SEO software for content management systems use URL re-writing to change something like www.website.com/index.php?post=213 to the title, such as www.website.com/index/coolest-guy-in-australia.html.
This is a good way to get around if you don't have a domain name with the keywords you are trying to promote. Sure it helps .... it helps a lot! But it's not the end of the world if you cant secure that keyword rich domain.
If you couldn't get www.coolestguyinaustralia.com, you could always get another name and set up some pages with these keywords e.g. www.otherdomain.com/coolest-guy-in-australia.html
Coolest Heading in Australia?
WTF? That heading doesn't even make sense? The point of this lesson, is that Google also LOVES Heading tags. Headings to Google weigh more in the Google formula than if that sentence was without the heading tags.
So, to wrap it up for the day. To get a well placed page in Google:
- Keywords in URL
- Keywords in Heading tags
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
the NEW Coolest guy in Australia (Me!)
Setting myself a mini challenge. Not content with holding positions one, two and three for the natural search term "Coolest guy on Google". I now am setting myself a two week challenge to become the "Coolest guy in Australia".
I really feel that your old pal Jezhug can achieve this. How? Well Google already knows I am the coolest, but I forgot to tell the number one search engine that I am also Australian. Therefore by default I should be crowned the coolest guy in Australia also.
I am just going to rely on three techniques and allow two weeks to see if I am successful.
I really feel that your old pal Jezhug can achieve this. How? Well Google already knows I am the coolest, but I forgot to tell the number one search engine that I am also Australian. Therefore by default I should be crowned the coolest guy in Australia also.
I am just going to rely on three techniques and allow two weeks to see if I am successful.
- Use of Blogspot labels, e.g. Coolest, guy, Google ..... Oh and of course Jezhug!
- 10 of the best "Coolest guy in Australia" backlinks I can find.
- A cool picture of the flag for Australia with good use of IMG ALT tags with the keywords ..... well you get the gist!
Thursday, November 5, 2009
The Coolest Guy in the World
I decided to run a test. The results may surprise you.
The below graph is a screenshot in Alexa of the top two results for the natural Google search term of "Coolest Guy in the World". Number one is my arch-nemesis "Brad Fallon" (nah, not really, he is a really cool guy and well deserved of that number one spot). The second was the CollegeHumor website with the awesome video.
The below graph is a screenshot in Alexa of the top two results for the natural Google search term of "Coolest Guy in the World". Number one is my arch-nemesis "Brad Fallon" (nah, not really, he is a really cool guy and well deserved of that number one spot). The second was the CollegeHumor website with the awesome video.
While Brads site generates high traffic it is barely a blip on the radar (that slight bump between Oct 12 and Oct 19) in comparison to CollegeHumor.
It just goes to show, you don't need massive traffic to be the number one on Google for your given search terms. You just need grab a good SEO book and build up a growing list of backlinks. Relevance will beat high traffic any day.
I know it's a bit like comparing apples from oranges as most of the traffic from CollegeHumor comes from many different sources. e.g. coming from a completely unrelated link and finding the video from the site.
But what would be more beneficial to your site? Higher rankings in the search engines or more actual traffic? For example, what if I was to leave a comment under the Coolest guy in the World video saying "That was awesome! Kind of reminds me of this video ** insert obvious link to my own site with embedded YouTube clip here **".
That comment could potentially send thousands of new visitors from a high traffic site to your own.
All is fair in love and Search Engine Optimization, so find that balance of getting to the top of Google (plus the other search engines) AND getting the traffic to your site from other sources.
Remember, you may be number one on Google today but you may not be there tomorrow ;)
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