ISULONG SEOPH

Ask anybody who calls themselves SEO whether reciprocal linking is good or bad and you’ll get almost instantaneously a “it’s bad” response. Yes, reciprocal linking is considered bad. I’m not talking one or two reciprocal links. It’s somewhere around tens to hundreds of links.

Try getting 100 reciprocal links and search engines will flag you as link farming. But what about those big network blogs. Say, B5 Media or Gawker Media. Visit one of their member blog and take a look at their sidebar. Count how many links to their other member sites/blog are there. Is that link farming?

They’re all interlinking with each other. They’re reciprocal links. Now wonder, it’s easy for them to get to PR 7. But should they be penalized? Of course. Are they? I don’t know. Now, if they can get away with it with their uber popular blogs, maybe we can too. Hmmm. I would like to experiment on this one.

I have a couple of sites listed in DMOZ. I was ecstatic when I learned one of my site was approved for listing in DMOZ. Two other sites follow, thereafter. Even my personal site is listed in DMOZ even though I didn’t remember submitting it for listing in the popular engine.

Does DMOZ still has that X-factor that made it hugely popular and most sought-after web directory? Google has recently took away Pagerank from their homepage. I’m not sure if it’s the same story with their inside pages. Not that pagerank is all that important. Google could still be giving them special treatment sans the pagerank but it’s the pagerank that sells them most, followed by exclusivity.

To satisfy my curiosity on how link/web directories work, I created one. Mix Directory my free human-edited link directory. It’s not very clear to me, however, if link directories are still being considered by search engines, but being a SEO practitioner (a little), this is all part of an experiment.

I don’t expect a lot of listing in Mix Directory since it only has a pagerank of zero at the moment. I have already sent some link love to it from some of my sites. It’ll have a bit of that green “google dust ” next pagerank update.

There’s only one problem I have with it now. My categories are so disorganized. I’ll be looking for a pre-made category list later and make myself comfortable with my directory program’s admin interface.

I got one of my ads disapproved today. The display URL was different from the destination URL. I forgot about the domains of both URLs must be the same. I am promoting a product from linkshare.

Also, I just lowered the bid of one adgroup due to non converting clicks. Two more days and I’ll pull the ad. I’m learning here.

I started venturing into internet affiliate marketing today. I don’t know if it’s tough luck but today, Google also released a bunch of their online advertising products. One of which is a Cost-Per-Action (CPA) advertising.

You may call it lack of foresight on my side but not being a real SEO/SEM, I’m out of touch with these improvements. I’m doing what most affiliates are doing. Signing up with affiliate sites like CJ or clickbank. Google’s new product compete directly with those kind of programs. It won’t take long before sites selling stuff goes directly to google. Currently they do it through cj or clickbank in order for their products to reach critical mass using adwords. And it’s affiliate marketers who does those.

With google’s CPA program, online retailers won’t be exposed to fraud as much as before when they pay per click. I’m afraid affiliate marketers will be bypassed in the near future.

Last year was the year spent learning new things. Lots of them. This year, it’s time to put in good use all those new stuff crammed inside my head for a year.

We were able to reach the threshold of a SEO project started late last year. For now, we’re facing a blank wall as to what other things to add that’ll give more value to tools our users pay for. We’re starting to go into maintenance mode. I’m beginning to get bored. Only a little though. Not very much.

We’re launching a new site. An offshoot of the previously mentioned project. One of the tools got so much potential to stand on its own. Good. Again, not really. As I’ve said, it was an offshoot. Meaning, much of it is already done. We’re just moving it own domain for it to get it’s own paying users.

After a year of learning SEO from somebody who’ve actually done it and was labelled negatively for it might make you think I know a lot already. Wrong. After a year of learning SEO, I discovered I never learned anything. Every personal site experiment I did SEO for that got positive results were due to unexplained circumstances. I was just being lucky.

Site PR boosts, SERPs climb, traffic increased… All were circumstantial. I did nothing special. It’s the main reason why I’ll avoid joining SEO contests again.

This year, I’ll try to learn affiliate marketing. I think I like selling.

Itutuloy ko ba and sulong? Medyo tinatamad na ako. Marami kasing mga projects na pinagkaka-abalahan. At sa istilo ng pag optimize ko ng site, di rin ako uubra sa mga hustlers ng Philippine SEO scene.

Kunsabagay, madali lang naman ang sumali. Wala namang gagastahing malaki dahil lahat ng domain pwede basta makakapaglagay lang ng linkback sa mga sponsors.

Kung pag-uusapan ang linkback sa sponsors, nahilo ako sa dami ng mga links na dapat ilagay. Aba. Magandang gimik to ah. Magpapa-premyo ng kunyari Php 100,000. May linkback sa 5 sites mo. Tapos kunyari mga 100 sites yung sumali. 5 required x 100 sites = 500 links. Kung bumili sila ng tig $5.00 or Php 250.00 kada link, magbabayad sila ng $2,500 or Php 125,000. Mas mura nga yung magpapa contest nalang.

Teka di pa kasali yung linkbait dyan. Sa tingin ko di nalang ako sasali. Mas malaki ang premyo ngayon kesa dati. Ibig sabihin mas gagalingan pa ng mga sumali ang pag-spam at pag-seo. Sa mga sumali good luck sa inyong pagtuloy sa sulong. Ituloy Angsulong!!!

Teka, bagong contest na naman? Hindi pa yata natapos yung sulong ng SEOPH kaya itinuloy ngayon. Para sa mga Pilipino kulang pa. Dapat talaga manguna tayo sa patag ng spammi… er.. SEO. At parang mas malala ngayon dahil mas konti ang restrictions. O ano sali ka?

Uy lahat pala ng search engines kasali kaya mas malaki ang chance ngayon. Teka. Interesado? Basahin ang contest mechanics ng Ituloy AngSulong dito.

Sali din kaya ako. Isali ko kaya ulit tong Resort Blog. Pero araw ng mga patay ngayon eh. Dami kong pupuntahan. Di pwedeng magbabad sa computer. Baka bukas pagbalik ko.

Marami na palang pumasok na ituloy angsulong entries sa search engines. Parang nahuli yata ako. Masyado kasing busy.