Mike Arnesen

Optimize the Planet!

SEO

Author Rich Snippets: The Best Thing Since Popcorn

SEO

I just put up my latest blog post at SwellPath. The topic, configuring Author Rich Snippets to show up in Google, is something I’ve been infatuated with since I learned about it. Google’s aiming to put more and more focus on people (authors) and less focus on websites as their own entities. That fascinates me and I also think it’s the direction the searchable web needs to go in.  [Read more…] about Author Rich Snippets: The Best Thing Since Popcorn

The Google Over-Optimization Penalty: Why SEOs Shouldn’t Worry About It

SEO

Relax. Quality SEOs Don’t Need to Worry.

The web community is all abuzz with the news that Google is planning to penalize (in some way) sites that are “overly-optimized” for search engines. As any SEO blog will tell you, Matt Cutts of Google Web Spam fame, revealed at SXSW that Google has been working on a way to penalize sites that are too optimized for search. They plan to roll this out in the coming month(s).

As a result of this announcement, my Twitter feed is flooded with “Hold the phone SEOs. Your day is done!”. While I’m not by any means going to ignore any change in Google’s algorithms and web spam systems, I don’t believe the new Google over-optimization penalty is a concern for quality SEOs. Yes, “quality” SEOs. You can call that “whitehat” if you want.

[Read more…] about The Google Over-Optimization Penalty: Why SEOs Shouldn’t Worry About It

Looks like the blog is due for a new post

SEO

Yep, but probably not today. Not sure that my small readership will mind the additional wait much. I do think about updating on a near-daily basis though, so never fear! A new post will be upon us soon enough.

Hidden Text?

SEO

Hidden text on websites has long been on of my pet peeves. Here’s why:

Hiding text or links in your content can cause your site to be perceived as untrustworthy since it presents information to search engines differently than to visitors.
– Google

So along those lines, I present you with this. It’s pretty much my reaction whenever I discover massive hidden text on a website. That, or facepalm. [Read more…] about Hidden Text?