Want to know what Search Engine Optimization is? Check out this short video brought to you buy Search Engine Land.

Here is a nice little infographic on how Google works. Enjoy.

When it comes to checking your website’s search engine rankings, people often make the mistake of simply running a search in their browser using Google. The problem with this is Google tracks your activity and if you have visited your website alot, they will artificially push it to the top of the results. The catch here, is that it is only pushed up on YOUR computer. No one else will see the same rankings as you. So to get accurate rankings it is important to do one of two things. 1) You can clear all your cookies and then redo the search. 2)Use a service like PageWash.

I prefer #2. Go to http://www.pagewash.com/ and then go to Google through their service.  You can then type in your search phrase to get the correct rankings.

Here is an example of a search for “Portland Web Design” using Google without Page Wash or cleared Cookies:

In the above example I could mistakenly assume that I am ranking in the 4th spot for the term “Portland Website Design” however this is not true.  Google simply noticed that I go to my website alot and they pushed it to the top for me to make it easier to find.

Now, lets look at the exact same search using Page Wash.

Notice how Moore Web Exposure doesn’t show up at all? This screen shot is only for the first half of the page, however I can tell you that I am on the second page for the term “Portland Website Design”. In fact, I have moved up since the last time I checked and am the very first result on the second page, which is exciting.

Anyways, this was a longer post than intended but hopefully it illustrates how you can get served up different search results based on your search history.

For some reason GoDaddy has been a royal pain to get my htaccess files working properly but I finally found a decent solution.  First off, make sure you aren’t running Windows for your hosting package or this will not work. Below is a quick snippet that will create SEO friendly htaccess rewrites for your url. Simple copy the code and insert your related domain name where it says “yourdomainnamehere.com” and then add this to the top of your htaccess file and upload it to the server.

The following snippet will rewrite your domain from “yourdomainnamehere.com” to force the “www” in front of it so it would appear as “http://www.yourdomainhere.com”.

The second part of the snippet will force your index.html to rewrite to your home domain of “http:www.yourdomainnamehere.com” instead of looking like “http://www.yourdomainnamehere.com/index.html”.

For more on basic htaccess checkout this post

This is a great podcast I came across that really breaks down what SEO is in about 15 minutes.  Have a listen:

New Google Places Catalog Revealed

If you haven’t heard by now, Google has chosen Portland, Oregon and Austin, Texas as two test markets for their new “HotPot” feature. It is basically their attempt at competing with sites such as Yelp.com and Facebook where users can review businesses, post information and share stuff with friends.  Well along with the Hotpot push, Google is also trying to increase use of their Google places, which coincidentally enough, integrates directly in with Hotpot.

“Google is now offering what appears to be swag”

That is where this post comes into play.  Yesterday when I went for the mail I noticed a large package from Google.  This isn’t unusual as I sometimes get stuff from them for Adwords as well as my places account, however this package was a bit bulkier than normal.  Inside it I found a folder basically saying that I had been recommended enough on Google to catch their attention and that they want me to begin encouraging customers to review my business.  To do this Google is now offering what appears to be free swag that business owners can order and give away to customers as a reminder to leave a review.  To order they directed me to a site where I found the following:

Once I input my business information and Google was able to locate me I was directed to a catalog with the following products to choose from:

You can order window stickers and neon signs for your store or shop.  A good way to remind people on the outside that you are on Google.

Pens and Card sets.  More reminders.

Business place cards.  I personally like this one as you can give it to a client or mail it with a final invoice to remind them to leave a review for you.

The billfold I don’t get so much but I thought the fortune cookies were a great idea.

Google sugar packets and coffee stirrers are another great idea for the obvious coffee shop or restaurant.

Counter pins for the in your face reminder and the not so understood brown bag.

I love this idea…. the Google hotel key card.  What a great reminder for people who travel to rate the hotel while they are killing time surfing the web.  This might be the best one of all.

After going through their order process and submitting your request Google says they will get in touch with you over the next week to see if you qualify for the order.  I am not sure what this process entails but once I go through it I will be sure to share.

If you are curious, the website to find all this stuff is www.googleplacescatalog.com but unless you live in Austin, TX or Portland, OR don’t bother rushing to sign up.  They make you choose your city from the two choices from a drop down and then you have to select your business from a list.

All this is cool stuff but it can’t be coming cheap (not that Google cares).  I would love to have all this stuff minus the hotel keys but I really have my eye on the neon sign.  Keeping my fingers crossed!

Info graphics have become popular over the past year or two due to the way most of them layout data in an extremely visual way. Perhaps one of the main reasons info graphics has exploded in popularity, however, is their use as “link bait”.

Information graphics tend to be very eye catching and are usually so well done that people want to share them with others via email, social networks, etc. This has become a prime motivator for designers to put together information graphics, as a way of attaining links from other websites or social networks.  So in a way, information graphics have been used as an SEO strategy to gain back links and increase website popularity.

For those of you new to information graphics, here is an example of one that I personally like:

Click here to see the full size version.

As you can see, this information graphic is eye catching, informative, and if you are a beer enthusiast like me, makes you want to share it with other beer enthusiasts.

Here is a great write up including the top 10 information graphics from 201o.

A new free web directory that might be worth submitting your site to:

http://www.brownbook.net/

While there isn’t much that differentiates them from sites like Yelp and other directories, it is still a free directory adding exposure to your website.  What could it hurt?

Here is short and sweet post for you to chew on.  In Facebook we are all familiar with the crazy urls they assign your profile.  They are long, full of numbers and just plain intimidating.  Here is an example of Facebook urls vs. Twitter:

Twitter: http://twitter.com/moorewebx
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Portland-OR/Moore-Web-Exposure/102792494795

Finally, Facebook has come along and given us a way to change these long urls to something a little more managable and aesthetic.  You can do this for both your personal profile and for your Facebook Page.

To start, make sure you are logged into your Facebook account.  Once logged in click on the following link or simply type it into your browser.

http://www.facebook.com/username/

If logged in, this should take you to a page that gives you an option to create a shorter profile url.  Follow the simple instructions and you are done!

Things to note:  Once you change your url you are stuck with it so make sure you change it to something you will like forever.  Also, in order to change your Facebook Page urls you must have at least 25 fans who “like” your page.  If you don’t have 25 people who like your page you cannot change your url.

So now let’s look at my page’s new url compared to the old one:

Old url: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Portland-OR/Moore-Web-Exposure/102792494795
New url: http://www.facebook.com/moorewebexposure

Much Better!  Comments or suggestions?  By all means leave ‘em below.

Google Alerts is an excellent free resource that in my opinion far to few people use.  In short, it sends you alerts anytime your chosen search phrase is mentioned.  Meaning, you can tell Google to alert you via email anytime your website is mentioned by another source.

To setup an alert visit:  http://www.google.com/alerts

For a very good write with detailed instructions on how to use Google Alerts Check out this post in the SEOmoz blog:  http://www.seomoz.org/blog/how-to-use-google-alerts-for-quick-and-easy-domain-alerts-10098

Update: Here is a new write-up from Sitepoint on using Google Alerts that is also worth checking out. http://www.sitepoint.com/blogs/2010/09/07/how-to-use-google-alerts/