Importance of image optimization was explained a lot of times by many web marketing experts (Example: Search Engine Watch, Web Analytics World, or SEOBook) but most webmasters still ignore basic rules to optimize images and attract get traffic from image searches like Google Images, Yahoo! Image Search, or Bing Images. Honestly, I wasn’t a big fan of image optimization for search engines because I was just lazy to tag (add “alt” tag) and write descriptions for each image. In August I decided to test how image optimization can improve my traffic. I spend all day applying image optimization and SEO strategies to images in my library. This week I took all data and it kind of impressed me.

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 Today another person asked me how to get YouTube video on Google Search, make optimization, and improve rankings. It actually suprised me because I had the same question in the past. YouTube is another website and Google treat YouTube like any other site. Some people are saying that Google prefers to rank YouTube better because YouTube is part of Google network… it is not true. In fact, Google does not give any preferences to it’s own sites, for example, search for a keyword ”translator” and you’ll see that Yahoo Text Translator appears higher than Google Translator. YouTube rank high on Google (and other search engines) becasuse it is the best video sharing network and one of the most popular site in the world with billions content pages.

Snippets to different 2 chicks 1 cup reactions in Google search results.
 As you see, it is not only YouTube videos but also other networks as well.

 Google treat YouTube videos the same way like any other popular video sharing sites (Veoh, MetaCafe, Revver etc). It creates snippet with video preview for popular videos or regular result preview for less popular videos. It is automatic process and if your video is popular enough it will appear in search results for related keywords. I would say even more, authors of popular and viral videos almost never use any search engine optimization to gain success.
Read more to find how to optimize YouTube Video

In 2006 company hired me to promote their website. Their site was banned from Google index because someone submitted them in 20 000 fake “search engines” and spammy directories. It is regular penalty for spamming Google index and submitting links in “link farms”.  We worked more than 2 month without any success and decided to contact Google support or customer service directly. It was almost impossible to find email, contact information, or submission form on Google site.

Browsing Google Help Center we finally came to submission form where people can ask a question or share feedback. I wrote short email to explain and apologise on behalf of the company for “black hat” SEO. Moreover, I explained mistakes, gave examples of bad websites and link farms who linked my client. Also, we wrote a little bit about company and people who work there. Next day we received letter from Google which was saying: “sandbox doesn’t exist”, “we never discriminate any publisher”, “your site disappeared because of Google technical issues”. The same day site appeared back on Google with 96 indexed pages, in less than an hour Google index another 250 pages. Week later entire website with 360 pages was listed and ranked well on Google.
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Google is working to create content payment business model for publishers who will be able to charge visitors to read content and offer subscriptions. “Google believes that an open web benefits all users and publishers, however, open not mean free.  We believe that content on the Internet can thrive supported by multiple business models — including content available only via subscription” the company said in a document to the Newspaper Association of America.

New system will allow to charge visitors from penny to several dollars using Google Checkout and other payment platforms within a year.
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 Google Maps turned into powerful tool for local businesses and companies. It generates not only traffic but quality leads and many business owners already noticed that more consumers find them browsing Google maps. Every day more people use cell phones with Google Maps application, notebooks, and gadgets which allow not only to get directions but to find local businesses as well. More iPhone applications appear which allow finding what around you and where to shop. Google Maps presence can increase amount of leads or work and conversion funnel helping to convert existing leads into sales.

 In example above you can see car dealer from Massachusetts which got 158 visitors from Google Maps to their site. Call tracking showed that 17 phone calls came after people saw listing on the maps. 7 walk-in customers said that they were using Google Maps.  Leads improved dramatically after dealership owners reviewed Google Maps listing and made adjustments in Google Business Center by adding photos, more information about business, and detailed description.
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Article by Lisa D. Myers Get Special Price” to Appear in Google Maps, Now! captured my attention. Lisa wrote about company from Norway which offered her friend to submit business in Google Maps. As we know, Google doesn’t offer any featured, paid, express, sponsored submissions but some companies still use shady tactics trying to sell free service to business owners who are not too savvy in technology and web marketing. Working in advertising industry for many years I saw a lot of examples when companies with big names try to cheat and add “extra” services to their bill. It raise my eyebrows and make me laugh when some sales agent call or come to my office trying to sell me something with hopes that I still live in 1986.

The most unique and sometimes funny tactics I met:

We’ll keep meta tags on your website for $1000 / month!

Yacht dealer from New England hired me to help with SEO and I noticed right away that website doesn’t have meta tags. I called their CMS (content management) provider, apparently multinational company, and asked why meta tags is missing and there is no way to access FTP or add them through their content management. Representative on the phone told me that it will cost $1000 / month to activate meta tags option on a website. Holly crap! How come I never came up first with this “genius” idea”!
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 Search engine submission lost it’s importance in web marketing since search engines became faster and can index new website or page incredibly fast. It is useless to use Google submission form because it still takes days and even weeks to index a website. Many webmasters found that link building and participation in social networks guarantee indexation in several hours. In many cases it is enough to submit new website or page in several sites like Digg or Stumbleupon and site will be indexed.

 Many people are getting confused between two terms: search engine optimization (SEO) and search engine submisison. Search engine optimization is a process to improve a website in search engine results and get better traffic from search engines. Search engine submission is a process to list your site on peoplular search engines like Google, Yahoo, or Bing.
Read more to find how to get listed fast…

Google “sandbox” is a term webmaster use to describe Google punishment. Many web marketers are skeptical about “sandbox” and Google itself denies form of punishment called “sandbox”. It still creates a lot of discussions in SEO forums and webmaster communities to explain website partial removal from Google index or sudden drop in rankings for specific keywords especially when site was over-optimized or “black hat” SEO applied.

Signs which tell that website was placed in Google”sandbox”:

If you open a new website and become build links very aggressive especially for popular keywords you site can appear on Google for a little while but suddenly loose all positions for all keywords except when you type full domain name. It happens when webmaster submit site in thousands directories overnight, use submission software, build links with the same anchor over and over again, spam in forums or blogs.

Google can also move site to “sandbox” if you use link farms or build links from fake blogs / sites hosted by free hosting providers. Example: many blogs on Blogger which was created to link your new website.

Unlimited link exchange or link buying process could lead to “sandbox” punishments as well especially if link building software or networks were involved.
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 Some webmasters use tricky ways to attract attention of searchers and increase click rate through organic results. Some spammers who sell dating eBooks still use Meta Tags to add junk which can appear in Google SERPs.

 Take a look on the listing of some dating website:

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Search Engine Roundtable and Darrin Ward blogged about site links in Google Adwords. As you can see, Staples listed on Google sponsored and organic results with sitelinks.

Sitelinks appear not all the time and only for big brands and companies. Most likely Google is testing new feature with handpicked participants. If you type Walmart.com or BestBuy.com for example, it appears as regular link in sponsored results.