The Moz Blog

Finding Hidden Links and Text Using the Web Developer Toolbar

White hat versus black hat SEO seems like a never-ending discussion. An action one SEO finds absolutely fair might be seen as downright cheating by another. The ambiguity in the guidelines from search engines such as Google usually isn't adding much clearness to the discussion either. On some issues, however, the search engines are crystal clear, and hidden links/hidden text is one of those. Information on the matter is given in both the Google Guidelines and on the personal blog of Matt Cutts: hidden text and links are not allowed.

An SEM's Guide to Surviving Redundancy

I hope you read this post and enjoy it. I also hope you never need it. In the 'current economic climate' there is a chance that any company may have to 'restructure' or even cease trading altogether. These events are no fun for any employees involved, but I'd like to share some advice that will help you prepare for and cope with the worst situation if it arises.

Reykjavik Internet Marketing Conference: An Extraordinary Experience

This past week, as Sarah, Adam, Jeff and I left the office for our Tuesday lunch meeting, they asked me how the Iceland conference went. I believe my exact words were "It was the most fun I've had since my wedding." The more I reflect on the experience, the truer it is. I arrived in Keflavik airport at 6:15am last Thursday morning. I walked outside to take the bus to Reykjavik...

Competing with Other SEO Services

Introduction A few days ago, there was a blog entry by jordan8037310 titled "How Do You Crack Open That Marketing Budget?" It got me thinking about how we compete with other SEO companies.

New Guide Release: The (Updated) Professional's Guide to Link Building

We've given a face lift to an oldie but a goody: The Professional's Guide to Link Building has been updated and is available in web and document format. Written by link builder extraordinaire Eric Enge, the guide is a great resource for beginners who want to know why link building is important and how it impacts a site's rankings. Additionally, it covers various link building strategies and lists a ton of tools and resources to help you find links.

When It Comes to Reputation Management, Use Protection!

There have been a few mentions on SEOmoz regarding online reputation management and public relations. Rand discussed how to remove a page from Google and RZ Awhyles brought up the simple fact that sometimes, you just need to apologize directly. But neither talked about ways to discourage negative feedback being distributed online in the first place. Taking measures to prevent reputation damage and negative PR is always better than trying to recover from a less than positive review or statement.

Presentation Skills for SEO

Good presentation skills are essential in the SEO industry. As well as the multitude of conferences that feature so prominently in our industry, we are also often called on to present SEO clearly (and favourably!) to potential clients and skeptical CEOs.

How I Got a Link from CNN

As my Dad always says, "It's better to be on page 2 in the editorial than on page 7 as an advertisement." This advice has been the guiding principle when it comes to the public relations strategy at Voices.com. In fact, I've proven this to be so effective in public relations that I've applied it to SEO as well. How does the advice translate?

Obscenely Belated and Bloated Roundup: The Triumphant Return

I've been neglecting the Thursday roundups lately due to chronic deadlines and client work taking precedent over sitting down for four hours and putting together a post full of links. However, since I've received clamorings to resume the roundup (and because Rand is sad that I haven't been blogging much lately), I figured I'd hunker down and get you all up to date on what's been going on the past couple months. I'll also be "Andy Dufresne-ing" old YOUmoz entries and Marketplace listings into subsequent roundups until we're all caught up, so don't feel sad if you contributed to the site some way in the past and aren't listed below--I'll get to you! My apologies for some of the more "dated" news--hope you enjoy this mega long, uber-huge roundup!

Politics and Link Campaigns in the Blogosphere

Hi all, I'm Chas, the lead developer for Blogscape here at SEOmoz. I'd like to share a brief story about finding a semi-hidden link campaign while testing Blogscape this week. I watch the 'Movers and Shakers' feature of Blogscape somewhat obsessively -- both to research Blogscape's quality of data and to k...

Page-Level Algorithmic Penalties On The Rise From Google

Hello, I'm here today to talk about Google penalties. There's much talk and confusion in the SEO industry about penalties. We're always seeing in Q&A questions like: Do I have a penalty? Why do I have a penalty? How can I get rid of my penalty? ...

Do Not Overlook the Importance of the Display URLs in PPC Ads

When creating a pay-per-click ad (PPC) ad, it is easy to overlook the importance of the display URL. However, search engine marketers have only a limited number of lines of text to work with and should take maximum advantage of each of them. This article summarizes the results of an eye tracking study and reviews the findings of two other tests of display URLs. The eye tracking study demonstrated that the display URL in PPC ads captures a significant portion of the gaze time allocated to the ads. The results of the other two tests showed that display URLs can have a meaningful impact upon click-thru rates.