Looking around the net for a Yahoo Site Explorer Alternative made me stumble upon a lot of different backlink-checking tool. There were some good ones, there were some bad ones, and then there was SEO Spyglass – which I thought is the closest I can get to retrieve the glory that Yahoo Site Explorer basked me with. I was badly mistaken.
Plump backlink data
Blekko can be a good free replacement for Yahoo Site Explorer but if you’re tired with just the backlinks and want more data (you’re forced to transfer anyway coz Yahoo Site Explorer kicked you out when it closed) SEO Spyglass is where you should allow yourself to be kicked to. And for good reason!
SEO is all about Data
Having to go through all the backlinks you find in Yahoo Site Explorer just to check their PageRank, AlexaRank, backlinks, MozRank, and what have you – takes time. Especially since Yahoo Site Explorer shows you up to 1,000 backlinks. You don’t want to be hassling yourself to check each and every one of those links to get good prospects and ideas.
SEO Spyglass pukes out all these data to you and more – and the best part is a cool and neatly designed report which you can export for your clients! So let’s start with the basics…
SEO Spyglass Gets Data from the Best Resources
I’ve mentioned all the great Yahoo Site Explorer Alternatives on the previous post – and some of the alternatives I’ve mentioned are Blekko and Exalead. These two are search engines. They both also provide data about backlinks. SEO Spyglass uses the both of ‘em to source backlink data from and more.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
SEO Spyglass: An Alternative to Yahoo Site Explorer
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
How To Stop Temptation When It Starts
“I’m only human, made of flesh and blood, a mere man…”
One way or the other, you’ve probably heard this song; on the radio, on your ipod, someone singing along… In one circumstance or the other, you may have also uttered this phrase in one of the trying times of life. “I can’t do it, I’m only human!”
This article is inspired by the book ‘Winning the War Within’ by Charles Stanley.
He quoted in his book a passage that struck me: “Opportunity only knocks once, temptation leans on the doorbell.”
Wouldn’t you agree?
Think of just one temptation that you’re really having a hard time resisting: the latest Iphone, that so-worth-it dress, Facebook! Have you ever felt it calling you? Yes? That there seems to be a voice inside your head that says, ‘Well, I can afford it, not that I need it badly, but I want it!’, or ‘What’s so wrong about spending a few hours on Facebook?, or these are just minor issues, why bother, correct? Then this article is just for you.
Friday, November 25, 2011
Alternatives to Yahoo Site Explorer
Yahoo Site Explorer has raised the white flag. Bye, old friend. What now? Well, we look for other alternatives of course! It would be so good if we could get a free alternative to Yahoo Site Explorer since YSE is free. So I looked up some of the free backlink checking tools out there and I’ve listed some of them down. But first, a little scrutiny over Bing.
Bing webmaster tools doesn’t help
Because we usually use Yahoo Site Explorer not for our own backlinks but to check out other website’s backlinks – either for analysis, competition backlink trolling, backlink quality check, and so on and so forth. Bing webmaster tools only makes this data available to the owners of the website themselves by asking everyone to install a piece of code – verifying if you are the owner of the site.
I really don’t know why Bing made this move but it’s clearly unwise. The most obvious reason is that they saw the millions of users of YSE everyday and told themselves “Hey, why don’t we get that traffic into using our Bing webmaster tools?” So they shut Yahoo Site Explorer down. Selfish and sucky move.
It’s especially sucky because I’m using it too! And some of my tools are using it too! Bing has just become a very unattractive brand to me.
So I started looking elsewhere
Obviously, I didn’t go to Bing webmaster tools as Bing most probably had hoped (and I’m sure plenty other SEOs didn’t go to Bing as well). I started looking for alternatives that will give me the data I used to gather from Yahoo Site Explorer. Here’s the easy breakdown of the alternatives to Yahoo Site Explorer that I found:
Blekko
Blekko will definitely rise in popularity. A lot of search engines already knew the shutdown of YSE and yet only Blekko stood up to try and eat up the market that YSE has, in the aspect of its free and quick backlink-spying capabilities. Let’s face it people, it’s a NEED to look at other website’s backlinks. This need has a strong demand – especially for SEO specialists. And that demand has to be met. Blekko’s bandwidth must have spiked up in the shutdown of Yahoo Site Explorer.
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Lean and Fab Side Effects | Lean and Fab
Does Lean and Fab have side effects? Have people ever claimed that they got sick with Lean and Fab? Well you can say Lean and Fab has its set of side effects – let’s take a look at some:
Lean and Fab can make you lazy
It’s no wonder that Lean and Fab can make someone lazy. Lazy to go swimming, to go to the gym, to play basketball and to do exercise. This is because Lean and Fab can make you lose weight without having to do the rigid and tiring routine of exercise. It can both be a good thing if you are already lazy in the first place. But it can be a bad thing if you are someone who loves to go exercise and is discouraged to do so because of the amazing effects of Lean and Fab.
Lean and Fab can make you lose too much weight
Of course, popping the prescribed amount of Lean and Fab pills in your mouth 30 minutes before every meal will make you thinner and lose weight. If you have a target weight, Lean and Fab can exceed that. Not everyone wants to be thin – some people wants a little meat here and there. If you’re one of those people and you’re not careful as to how much weight you’re already losing with Lean and Fab, you better watch out and be mindful RIGHT NOW!
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
What Most Love Stories are Missing
Sometimes you meet someone, a great person. You’d like to know her more. You get the tingles – and for a while you zoom off having the romance you’ve always dreamed off. Why is it then, that after a time too soon, you find yourself crushed and heartbroken? What went wrong? Or maybe you’re asking “What was missing?”
This entry was inspired by Joshua Harris’ book “Boy meets Girl” Yes I know I’m really late in my Joshua Harris readings but it seems as if God has put this book in perfect timing for me – and perhaps for you too!
The Kite and String
Try to think of romance as a kite. It’s a kite that catches the wind and tenaciously heads for the sky. Often that kite thinks to itself “If this bothersome string would just let go of me, I could really fly high.” But we all know that isn’t true, is it? Without the string holding it in the face of the wind, the kite would quickly come crashing to the ground.
That string is wisdom. That string is also what most romantic love stories are missing because of the tenacious emotions that come zooming of when we’re “in love”.
Wisdom is the string that tugs downward, holding romance back so that it can keep on flying gracefully as it was designed by its Creator to do. There is a real tension between the string and kite. That tension also keeps the kite protected from crashing itself down. It is a healthy tension.
Thursday, November 17, 2011
About Link Building
Was teaching about Link building this week to a new batch of linkbuilders and I figured I should make an About Link Building post for any new linkbuilders out there who wants a one-stop resource to guide them. I’ll be focusing on the different linkbuilding factors, linkbuilding methods and linkbuilding results.
Linkbuilding Factors
There are certain things that I look for when checking a link out – and you should too. Here are the factors that count when you’re looking for links
PageRank
This is a metric used by Google to rate the quality and quantity of backlinks of a specific page. When you’re checking a link out, make sure to know what the PageRank of that webpage where your link is coming from. The higher the PageRank, the more PageRank juice it can give you.
Relevance
Read the content of the webpage and you’ll see what it’s about. If you’re trying to get a link from that page, make sure that the content surrounding your desired link is relevant to the page you’re getting it for. If the page is about dog training and you’re going to point it to a plumbing website, things just won’t work out – and your link will most probably get minimal value.
Quality of Articles
There is what we now call “thin content” – which rose to popularity since the Google Panda update. Consequently, there is also what we call “thick content”. The difference between the two is not the quantity of words as if it’s a book. The difference is the quality – which can be enumerated down to at least three nitty-gritty factors:
Usefulness: Are people really getting something valuable out of your content? Are they linking to it because it’s great?
Time on site: Are people really reading the content?Are they bouncing off?
Social Engagement: Are people Retweeting/Liking/+1′ing (if there is such a term) the content?
Anchor Text
Are you looking for anchor text with exact match? Or are you already going to settle for a relevant one? Remember, Anchor text is the biggest signal to a search engine about what the link is about. Having the right anchor text still proves to be one of the best factors around when it comes to links.
Anchor Title
Whenever you mouse-over a link, the anchor title appears in the form of a tool-tip text. Usually, this is left blank. An anchor title helps the search engines too, in regards with what the link is about.
Dofollow/Nofollow
You can check if a link is a nofollow link by using plugins such as SEO Toolbar (for Firefox users) and SEOQuake (for Chrome users). A dofollow links is ALWAYS better because it passes on PageRank which helps your rankings directly. A nofollow link, on the other hand, influences your TrustRank – which does not directly help you but has its SEO perks in some other way.
Number of Outbound Links
If the webpage has too many outbound links inside it, then you’ll probably be just another face in the crowd. The PageRank juice being passed on to you has been minimized by all the other links going out of the page. You should be mindful of the number of outbound links (AKA external links) when looking for webpages/websites to get a link from.
Link Placement
Where your link is placed definitely affects the link. The Click-through-rate (CTR) is almost always higher when a link is in the header or in the upper body of the content – which increases its value as a link. I have a resource about link placements and where you should put your links which you should check out.
Click-through-rate (CTR)
The number of people clicking your link tells Google that your link probably has good relevance, proper anchor text, and perfect placement. High Click-through-rate (CTR) links passes more PageRank juice because of its value to the end-users (if you didn’t know, end-users mean human beings).
Traffic
Is the website drawing in a good amount of traffic? The link that you’re going to get can only have so much visitors as the page it’s on. Knowing if the site has a good amount of traffic can influence your link’s Click-through-rate (CTR).
Linkbuilding Methods
Knowing these factors, let’s move on on how to apply them and what the different link building methods are. There are basically two kinds of methods/approach to linkbuilding: Artificial and Organic
Artificial/Manipulative
These methods deal with processes that can instantly get you links without having to go through much or any human interaction. An artificial linkbuilding approach can fetch you links almost anytime you want it.
Blog Commenting
I think this is the most common way to build links artificially. There are millions and millions of blogs out there with millions of specific niches. Some of those blogs are dofollow, while most of them are nofollow. Leaving a comment in a blog should be a mutual act – the blog owner benefits because of a direct interaction / user engagement that occurred, and the commenter gets a link and some recognition. Unfortunately, it’s no longer the case for most people.
Blog commenting is a simple act of leaving your name, email address (usually for Gravatar purposes), and website to leave a ‘Sean was Here!’ kind of footprint – and getting a link to the website you specified for the blog owner to check out. Most SEOs however, use blog commenting for the website backlink alone.
Directory Listing
This used to be the popular way of getting more visitors. I would compare it to Yellow Pages (which I think it was modeled after) in the offline world. Most directories give out links like no tomorrow. If you’re a website and they have a category for you, you get a link as soon as you sign up. Again, not all directories are like this – but most of them are. There are very few directories left still hold good reputation with the search engines.
Some people still swear that they get rankings through directory listing but I don’t quite believe it. I once read that directories are now considered link farms – and it makes sense considering how directories have no real content except for lots and lots of links and their brief descriptions.
Monday, November 14, 2011
Five Effective Ways to Say "I'm Sorry"
I’m sure that there was a time in your life when you have offended someone and you didn’t really mean it. Your emotions heighten, you feel some extent of remorse, you soften up and then the hardest words come out of your mouth. “I’m sorry.” The offended person turns to look at you with tear-filled eyes and tells you “I don’t believe it.” What do you do then?
This entry has been inspired by Gary Chapman’s book “Things I wish I’d known before we Got Married”
When you’re out of Words
Sometimes “I’m sorry” doesn’t cut it and I’m sure you’ve had your shares of when that happens. There are several reasons behind why some people don’t accept your apology. But to sum it all up, it’s mostly because you have a different Apology Language. It is something to help you be sincere to the person you’re apologizing to. You can be REALLY sincere but the other person will not see it that way. These apology languages helps you to reach out your sincerity to the person you’re apologizing to.
A Form of Dialect?
You might not know it but there are different means to communicate love to a person. I’m sure you’ve heard of The Five Love Languages. A study by Dr. Gary Chapman also suggests that people also have different means to communicate an apology to a person.
1. Expressing Regret
This apology language expresses itself in such a way that the person you offended should know how much you understand your offense. This apology language is an emotional one and you should express to the person you offended how much you regret your actions that hurt him/her.
Sometimes people want to know that you understand the extent of his/her pain and regret inflicting it – in order for them to more easily accept your apology. Expressing regret usually starts with the words “I’m sorry” and then it should go on to explain to the offended person how you think you’ve offended him/her.
If this is the apology language of the person you’ve hurt, what that person wants you to know is “Do you know how deeply you’ve hurt me?” Any apology that falls short of this will not make the cut.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
How Google+ Pages Affects SEO
Google Plus is growing at a high rate. Since its implementation in June, initially on an invite-only basis, it has collected 50 million users; this is a 16th of Facebook’s users. On November 7th, Google Plus began allowing businesses to host profiles (i.e. pages), whereas before, it was only individual user profiles. Google Plus is another means, like Facebook and Twitter, for businesses to get the word out about their brand, products, and services; Google Plus’ new business pages means a lot to the world of search engine optimization.
(Heads-up: You can Check out SEO Hacker’s Google + business page and include us in your Circles )
Before explaining how Google Plus pages will affect SEO, it is important to have a general idea of how the +1 button works. Google Plus users can, “+1 the things around the web” that they “like, agree with, or want to recommend to others.” According to Google, when users click the +1 button, they are publically showing that they approve of the brand, product, service, cause, etc.
Sharing +1s is done in the following mediums:
- Users’ personal recommendations.
If a user chooses to do so, they can share their +1 of websites, business pages, and Google search results and ads with one or more of their circles and contacts.- Anonymous recommendations.
When anyone is on a website or page that has a product, service, etc., viewers can see how many times said product, service, etc. was +1ed. Additionally, +1 recommendations now show up on some Google search results.
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Web 2.0 Link Building for Branding | SEO in Simple Terms
The web is getting better and better at serving users. There are so many websites transitioning to a web 2.0 model of user experience and functionality – and now there is what we call web 2.0 linkbuilding. It’s nothing too complicated – let me show you how.
Web 2.0 linkbuilding has much to do about filling out your profile in web 2.0 websites – especially the ‘links’ and/or ‘websites’ part. Here are some of the sites where you can build your profile/brand in:
(Warning: These pages and links should be used for building brands – not for the sake of just building links. If you want to build links for ranking, this is not the way to go This list is derived from Jason Acidre’s list albeit updated)
Site Profiles
- PageRank – 6
- After making your site’s profile you can email them to request for dofollow links to be allowed on your page
- Anchor text for your keywords are allowed
- Fast crawl rates
- Gains Pagerank when backlinks are built to link to it
- The page can be done in just 5 minutes
- PageRank – 8
- Dofollow link of the URL of your website
- No need to build a page, just search your domain name through Alexa and once you find it, build 1 backlink to direct crawlers to your site’s info page in Alexa, then eventually reach your website to pass through trust
- PageRank – 8
- Nofollow link but passes massive amount of trust and authority to your site
- Fast crawl rates
- Making a company profile page through Wikipedia may only take you 10 – 20 minutes. Just sign up there and write something unique, professional and concise about your website
Web 2.0 Blogs
Posterous
- PageRank – 7
- Allows dofollow links to your site (URL and/or Anchor text)
- Has fast crawl rates and allows you to autopost on different other blogsites such as TypePad, Livejournal, Tumblr, WordPress.com, Blogger, etc…
- Setting up for an account is easy and only takes a few minutes, which will include making your profile
Friday, November 4, 2011
Why Quitting Should Never be an Option
Quit – a four letter word that could stir up all kinds of emotions and trigger recall of so many memories; to a mere listener, maybe sadness, sympathy but to the recipient and speaker, depression, emptiness, hopelessness.
Love – a four letter word that could stir up all kinds of emotions and trigger recall of so many memories; to a mere listener, maybe happiness, excitement but to the recipient and speaker, joy, fullness, acceptance.
Isn’t it interesting
How powerful both these 4 letter words are? And how remarkable the difference in reaction it brings to the recipient of the word? In 2 Corinthians 13, the Bible teaches us what love is and how it should be. Verse 7 says, “Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” Do we still see much of this these days? Do YOU practice this?
I didn’t…
Unfortunately, I didn’t practice perseverance, in many occasions. Not that I blame my past but I’ve felt left behind by people I love or worse, unprotected even in their presence. I have stared at them living life daily patronizing the person/s that have hurt and scarred me the most. And so, instead of self-pity, I learned to ignore, to be indifferent.
I felt not fighting for myself, my feelings (quitting) would just make things easier. I thought being indifferent makes you stronger, and quitting spares you and the other person the pain of resolving conflicts.
As I entered a relationship with a God-centered man, together, we enrolled in a marriage seminar class in less than 5 months of being together. We learned how to better avoid and resolve conflicts through the classes and also the book Fit to be Tied by Bill and Lynne Hybels. It was a big news flash for me, requiring a lot of adjustment and understanding. And sometimes, I still find myself doing what I used to… saying ‘I Quit’ but deep down, I don’t really mean it.
“Love ALWAYS protects”. Not just when you feel like it or when things are nice and sweet. ALWAYS.
Do you protect your mom or dad with how you answer them, your gestures and even facial expressions? Do you protect your friend with your responses each time someone gossips about him/her? Do you still hope and pray to God to change your heart to what He desires for you when things don’t go your way? Do you ask your Maker to make you more patient and enduring to your boss/teachers?
