Hobo SEO Blog

I’m just now getting back into the swing of things after a fantastic 3 days spent at Edinburgh SEO Class 2008 with Jim Boykin, Chuck and Matt from US internet marketing firm We Build Pages and some Internet Marketing Ninjas. (more…)

We've recently updated our comments policy and increased the number of comments a visitor has to make to get seo friendly links in comment signatures to reward long term readers and make it a bit harder for dofollow spammers ;) - I told you dofollow spamming wasn't a long term strategy....

SEO Class Edinburgh, Scotland

• Monday, June 23, 2008
• Tuesday, June 24, 2008

I will be presenting a seo workshop at the two-day session SEO Class Edinburgh, now run by Jim Boykin’s We Build Pages and Internet Marketing Ninjas. Guaranteed, if you’re looking to attend the best seo training classes in Scotland this year, this will be it.

In a great lineup you’ll also hear;

• Ammon Johns (Black Knight) independent marketing consultant and search marketing expert (currently at Fresh Egg).
• Brian Turner (iBrian) Director of Britecorp, Ltd., and search engine optimization expert.
• Jim Boykin, President and CEO of We Build Pages and link building expert.
• Lyndon Antcliff of Cornwall SEO and expert linkbaiter
• and QuadsZilla, of SEO Black Hat

These presentations will feature as part of Jim’s Internet Marketing Ninja program. (more…)

The irony of obsessively searching for what’s the best way to do something often leads to the same conclusion; (more…)

NOTE – Our DIY SEO guide has been updated: Find out more at Google Search Engine Optimisation Basics – Idiots Guide

Blackhat SEO Quadzilla (who I look forward to meeting at SEO Class Scotland) has boldly published his views on the whole SMX / Black Hat SEO Conference thing going on in the states as reported by Search Engine Land and I think kicked off by Lisa Barone highlighting the ‘fact’ SMX featured questionable seo tactics, not advanced white hat seo strategies.

Quadzilla – There’s no Such Thing as Advanced White Hat SEO

Want to sum up white hat SEO? It boils down to:

1) Site Architecture – Can be learned in 4 hours or less.
2) Analytics – Can you install a javascript and log in?
3) PPC – Even though we used to call that SEM . . .
4) Content – which is better handled by copywriters.

Alas! The Emperor has no clothes. There are no advanced white hat SEO techniques.

…. as ‘white hat seo’ (I suppose – gotta be as I help out clients) people might think I would argue but I’m inclined to sort of agree with this statement – at least I get the point that is being made although there is a bit of a kafuffle at Sphinn. It’s not that advanced seo I am using everyday to get results for people. (more…)

I hate unexpected pop-up windows. So recently when a client wanted some sort of pop up on their site to highlight a product, after discussing options and my views, we decided to trial the free Pageear PagePeel Banner, a slick sort of pop up window plugin that opens when your visitor hovers over the ‘peel’ at the top right of this page, for instance.

NOTE – While it’s cool – I don’t use this plugin any more…. (more…)

I thought it would be cool to track some of the better group seo interviews on the web. It’s useful to check out what experienced seo think of different seo techniques and factors – and examine where disagreement lies and why! (more…)

Andy Beard & Dave Naylor wrote interesting posts (see what I did there) about blog comments and specifically whether or not you should nofollow blog comments in an attempt to build a site that Google trusts and therefore allows to rank for competitive terms

We used to be a one comment dofollow seo blog. Now we remove nofollow from links only when the author has joined in on a few more posts and only if the site we’re linking to passes the smell test.

I just wanted a bit more control of comments for experimental purposes and Hobo Linky Love provides that, but I am committed to creating a blog that passes juice in some way while being conscious I am not linking to a bad neighbourhood.

But if you are starting out, and willing to build a decent site, I’d suggest and encourage you to remove nofollow from comments using Linky Love. It’s fine for visible blogs with a decent readership to proclaim ‘nofollow comments!’, but for the rest of us, dofollow increases your chance of getting the conversation going (so what if it increases the amount of human spam – it’s worth it.)

The more I read Dave’s post actually I think he is kinda turning into Google’s FUD Machine lol – perhaps it’s worth experimenting by nofollowing all my links?

(more…)

So Joomla week ends on the Hobo blog, and we’ve created a beginners guide to Joomla SEO.

If you’re creating a Joomla site, apart from creating useful content, intelligent website structure and getting links to your site with your primary keywords in them, consider these 7 on-page / on-site seo tips for Joomla; (more…)

Joomla Duplicate Content Issue

Joomla, like most if not all content management systems, creates duplicate content management issues. The sh404sef plugin alleviates some of these issues, but not all. (more…)

When China made its bid for the 2008 Olympics, government authorities promised improvements in human rights. Seven years on, China remains a country that executes, tortures and silences its citizens. Amnesty International on Human Rights In China.

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