Comments on: SEO is Important — But Not at the Expense of Your Visitors http://www.geekestateblog.com/seo-is-important-but-not-at-the-expense-of-your-visitors/ Thu, 18 Mar 2010 03:34:35 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: New sport http://www.geekestateblog.com/seo-is-important-but-not-at-the-expense-of-your-visitors/comment-page-1/#comment-146879 New sport Tue, 02 Feb 2010 17:30:50 +0000 http://www.geekestateblog.com/?p=938#comment-146879 Hello I am very impressed with this blog, thanks for sharing.<br>I will stop by soon ... Hello I am very impressed with this blog, thanks for sharing.
I will stop by soon …

]]> By: New sport http://www.geekestateblog.com/seo-is-important-but-not-at-the-expense-of-your-visitors/comment-page-1/#comment-146869 New sport Tue, 02 Feb 2010 17:29:39 +0000 http://www.geekestateblog.com/?p=938#comment-146869 Hello I am very impressed with this blog, thanks for sharing.<br>I will stop by soon ... Hello I am very impressed with this blog, thanks for sharing.
I will stop by soon …

]]> By: Eugene Oregon Homes http://www.geekestateblog.com/seo-is-important-but-not-at-the-expense-of-your-visitors/comment-page-1/#comment-30952 Eugene Oregon Homes Mon, 01 Sep 2008 05:59:59 +0000 http://www.geekestateblog.com/?p=938#comment-30952 [quote=Justin]Also, you do have to be careful not to link to excessively to competition with anchor text that will rank them higher than you.[/quote] Justin, I try not to link out to competition at all. ;) I agree that it is a good idea to link to sources of value to my visitors and there is plenty of that without linking to direct competition. [quote=Justin]Also, you do have to be careful not to link to excessively to competition with anchor text that will rank them higher than you.[/quote]

Justin, I try not to link out to competition at all. ;) I agree that it is a good idea to link to sources of value to my visitors and there is plenty of that without linking to direct competition.

]]> By: Justin Smith | Denver SEO Expert http://www.geekestateblog.com/seo-is-important-but-not-at-the-expense-of-your-visitors/comment-page-1/#comment-27687 Justin Smith | Denver SEO Expert Thu, 28 Aug 2008 05:08:09 +0000 http://www.geekestateblog.com/?p=938#comment-27687 That's good stuff Drew. Thanks for sharing. It's a hard balance, because you want to always be driving traffic back to related articles, but you're totally right... if you're just linking internally all the time, it's going to be terrible for usability. I would just caution to not link out just for the heck of it. You need to really think in terms of what is going to be the most valuable for your visitor. Also, you do have to be careful not to link to excessively to competition with anchor text that will rank them higher than you. So, I suppose if you could keep those rules in mind, you'll create a great user experience and still be able to rank. It's weird to me how much of a chimera SEO has become in the real estate industry. That’s good stuff Drew. Thanks for sharing. It’s a hard balance, because you want to always be driving traffic back to related articles, but you’re totally right… if you’re just linking internally all the time, it’s going to be terrible for usability. I would just caution to not link out just for the heck of it. You need to really think in terms of what is going to be the most valuable for your visitor.

Also, you do have to be careful not to link to excessively to competition with anchor text that will rank them higher than you.

So, I suppose if you could keep those rules in mind, you’ll create a great user experience and still be able to rank.

It’s weird to me how much of a chimera SEO has become in the real estate industry.

]]> By: Maximizing Your Active Rain Blog for SEO | GeekEstate Blog http://www.geekestateblog.com/seo-is-important-but-not-at-the-expense-of-your-visitors/comment-page-1/#comment-27491 Maximizing Your Active Rain Blog for SEO | GeekEstate Blog Wed, 27 Aug 2008 23:32:18 +0000 http://www.geekestateblog.com/?p=938#comment-27491 [...] If you maintain a blog on Active Rain, you’ll probably find this post by Justin Smith from the Real Estate Tomato valuable (and yes, I still don’t think you should put SEO ahead of your readers). [...] [...] If you maintain a blog on Active Rain, you’ll probably find this post by Justin Smith from the Real Estate Tomato valuable (and yes, I still don’t think you should put SEO ahead of your readers). [...]

]]> By: Drew Meyers http://www.geekestateblog.com/seo-is-important-but-not-at-the-expense-of-your-visitors/comment-page-1/#comment-25747 Drew Meyers Sun, 24 Aug 2008 18:12:56 +0000 http://www.geekestateblog.com/?p=938#comment-25747 Whether or not a link is "followed" has zero impact on the user experience. It's simply a notation to the search engine crawlers as to whether or not to pass SEO juice to that link. This is a pretty simple issue -- Zillow follows links to our partners who provide us content, and we expect the same in return from those who use zillow content on their own sites. Whether or not a link is “followed” has zero impact on the user experience. It’s simply a notation to the search engine crawlers as to whether or not to pass SEO juice to that link.

This is a pretty simple issue — Zillow follows links to our partners who provide us content, and we expect the same in return from those who use zillow content on their own sites.

]]> By: San Diego Homes http://www.geekestateblog.com/seo-is-important-but-not-at-the-expense-of-your-visitors/comment-page-1/#comment-25333 San Diego Homes Sat, 23 Aug 2008 16:39:24 +0000 http://www.geekestateblog.com/?p=938#comment-25333 Drew, Drew, Drew. While Trulia says they are fine with no following their widgets, Zillow changed their TOS and is going to the trouble of notifying people that they cant no follow Zillow's stuff, now you tell us not to place SEO ahead of the user experience, but that is exactly what you are doing. Drew, Drew, Drew.

While Trulia says they are fine with no following their widgets, Zillow changed their TOS and is going to the trouble of notifying people that they cant no follow Zillow’s stuff, now you tell us not to place SEO ahead of the user experience, but that is exactly what you are doing.

]]> By: Internet Marketing for Real Estate » Week in Review Overload http://www.geekestateblog.com/seo-is-important-but-not-at-the-expense-of-your-visitors/comment-page-1/#comment-24573 Internet Marketing for Real Estate » Week in Review Overload Fri, 22 Aug 2008 19:34:17 +0000 http://www.geekestateblog.com/?p=938#comment-24573 [...] The future of SEO may require being your own middleman, according to O’Reilly. Hat tip to Drew Meyers. [...] [...] The future of SEO may require being your own middleman, according to O’Reilly. Hat tip to Drew Meyers. [...]

]]> By: Drew Meyers http://www.geekestateblog.com/seo-is-important-but-not-at-the-expense-of-your-visitors/comment-page-1/#comment-22994 Drew Meyers Wed, 20 Aug 2008 17:40:24 +0000 http://www.geekestateblog.com/?p=938#comment-22994 Jeremy- I think you're right that it depends on the type of site that you are running. Zillow is a media company that makes money via advertising, so our goal with the home page is to help people discover interesting content on zillow. I agree with your point about internal pages. And on that topic, I should note zillow drives over a million clicks per month to our listing partners from Zillow home detail pages. Jay- I 100% agree with you -- everyone should put that quote right above their computer as they blog. Jeremy-
I think you’re right that it depends on the type of site that you are running. Zillow is a media company that makes money via advertising, so our goal with the home page is to help people discover interesting content on zillow. I agree with your point about internal pages. And on that topic, I should note zillow drives over a million clicks per month to our listing partners from Zillow home detail pages.

Jay-
I 100% agree with you — everyone should put that quote right above their computer as they blog.

]]> By: Jay Thompson http://www.geekestateblog.com/seo-is-important-but-not-at-the-expense-of-your-visitors/comment-page-1/#comment-22756 Jay Thompson Tue, 19 Aug 2008 22:56:42 +0000 http://www.geekestateblog.com/?p=938#comment-22756 Great post Drew. I've often said, "write for your readers, not the serch engines". That doesn't mean search engines should be ignored, but Google employs some pretty smart people, and it's remarkably good at figuring out what your site is about. My favorite line from Google's Webmaster Guidelines: "Another useful test is to ask, "Does this help my users? Would I do this if search engines didn't exist?"" Great post Drew. I’ve often said, “write for your readers, not the serch engines”. That doesn’t mean search engines should be ignored, but Google employs some pretty smart people, and it’s remarkably good at figuring out what your site is about.

My favorite line from Google’s Webmaster Guidelines:

“Another useful test is to ask, “Does this help my users? Would I do this if search engines didn’t exist?”"

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