The Moz Blog

Link Forensics: Finding Shady Links Before Taking on New Clients

What happened was that their past had just caught up with them. They had previously engaged a local SEO firm with tactics that were a bit past their sell-by date (mainly consisting of a huge link network of sub-domains off the SEO company's own site and some other properties). There was not only a question of tactics here, but also of plain common sense - not only was part of the link network on the SEO company's site, but so were proud links to "our clients" (all of whom got slapped, we believe).

How It's Feasible to Manually Review All Domains

After watching Nate Buggia a few weeks ago speak about Live's Webmaster Tools I was struck by his statistic about the number of domains on the web. He suggested that there are 78 million domains. Could we manually review all of them?

Headsmacking Tip #8: Give Your SEO Campaigns Time to Take Effect

It's been a few weeks since I last posted a headsmacker, but this topic has been begging for some exposure. Recently we've worked with some fellow SEOs who've felt the harsh constraint of overly eager, impatient management. They're campaigns followed solid tactics, stuck to best practices and even...

No Liability for Your Co-Blogger's Content: Another Successful CDA 230 Defense

May It Please the Mozzers, Attention everyone who co-blogs! If you create a blog collaboratively with another person, you may be wondering whether your blogger buddy creates potential liability for you each time she posts. We know that website operators can't be held liable for their users content thanks to Section 230 of the CDA. That's old news....

Whiteboard Friday - Corporate Blogging Tips

This week Rand discusses some oft overlooked factors one should consider when preparing (or revisiting) a corporate blogging strategy. We all know a blog can be a huge asset to improving a company's web presence and rankings, but if approached carelessly it can cost you. ...

Rock, Paper, Scissors: The Results of the Beta Tester Contest

Disclaimer: This post doesn’t include any information about SEO. If you are looking for SEO related content, please read the normal search related posts on this blog. UPDATE: I clarified below that it is the winners of the 4 rounds that won, not just people who chose the winning weapon.

Google's Advice - Godsend Or Gimmick?

What's the deal with all this advice that Google employees like to give us, then? Of all the search engines (and of many companies of Google's size and scope), Google appears to be the most open with its distribution of information, its interactions with its users and its willingness to give us advice.

The SEO Failings of Major UK Highstreet Retailers

So I recently read a post by e-consultancy which looked at 10 things Asda (a huge UK supermarket, part of the Wal-Mart group) could do better online. The post is part of a series where they look at a number of large brands in the UK and how they can perform better online. The series focuses solely on usability though and doesn't actually mention any online marketing. So I thought I'd step up to th...

Our Secret Project: Codename Carhole, is Set to Release on Oct. 6th at SMX East

It's almost here. This is the project I've been dreaming of launching since 2003 and after 12 months of research and development and an extremely large investment (especially for a small company like SEOmoz), we're nearly at the finish line. On October 6th, SEOmoz will introduce a lot of substantial changes to our website, including: A New Design, cou...

Dynamic URLs vs. Static URLs - The Best Practice for SEO is Still Clear

Google's got a blog post out today (and SELand covers it) about how they now recommend that webmasters and site owners DO NOT rewrite their ugly dynamic URLs to be clean and static. What's the reasoning behind this? ...

Dinosaurs and Bunk Beds and Widgets, Oh My!

I've always struggled to understand how widgetbait would be an effective linking strategy for most businesses. Of course, Matt Inman demonstrated how it can work (and fail) for dating websites, which automatically translated in my brain to 'working for markets that are fun and not to be taken too seriously'. But how does it work in i...

Another Trademark and SEO Related Lawsuit: U-Haul vs. Hire A Helper

May It Please the Mozzers, Today I'm discussing a case involving alleged trademark infringement and meta tags. It's very dangerous to outrank your competitor, especially if that competitor has limitless pockets and very generic registered trademarks.