Earlier this year at the Google I/O conference, Google announced a product with limited fanfare they’ve titled “Google TV.”  Moments later, thousands of tech heads started spinning up with ideas of how, exactly, Google was going to conquer the cable industry and bring content delivery/management back to the user!  Unfortunately, most of our heads are still spinning.

As far as most can tell, the nitty-gritty details have yet to be worked out.  We know there’s going to be software (Google TV) that will work with current hardware (TV’s, set-top boxes, cable boxes/DVR’s), and stand-alone hardware (Google TV box?) that will also work with that same hardware.  How Google is going to manage to get all that hardware and software to play nicely is still murky (it sounds to me like it’ll be similar to trying to get Philly fans to be nice).  Despite all the uncertainty, or perhaps because of it, I think Google TV could change search dramatically.  Like the iPad in its pre-release and possibly current state, I believe the platform holds enormous potential to smash through some of the stale industry norms and ambiguous search evolution rhetoric, if utilized correctly.  Nay says you?  Consider the following:

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Earlier this afternoon, we hosted our weekly #seo411 Twitter chat.  This will be our last Twitter chat before it is replaced by SEO4U, and we’re ending our series with a topic that is a very common concern among website owners: how to incorporate SEO into a website redesign.  In case you missed it, here’s a quick recap…

Q1: What SEO efforts should you benchmark before starting a redesign?

The most common response was RANKINGS!  @Jstatad suggested collecting keyword rankings for all listed pages- not just the top-ranked ones.  Other great responses included inbound link counts, keyword referral information, and various Analytics metrics analyzing traffic patterns.  All these things can change with a new website design, so it’s important to grab a benchmark.  Thanks to @JanetDMiller, @AvelynAustin, @derekedmond, and @tim_eschenauer for these answers. Read the rest of this entry »

Change is a good thing. #seo411 is evolving to meet your needs by answering your SEO, PPC and social media questions. In early September, we will launch SEO4U which will take the place of the #seo411 Twitter chat as it exists today. Instead of asking you the questions, we want to hear how we can help you. The Search Mojo team will review your questions and provide responses to assist you.

We’ll share more specifics as the launch date approaches, but until then feel free to use #seo411 any time to share SEO news, start a chat or ask questions. Trust me – we’ll still be monitoring it, using it ourselves, and will be ready to chat with you.

If you’ve never joined in on a #seo411 chat before, you should check out the great things our participants are sharing. Here is a Twitter list and TweepML list if you’d like to follow all of our participants at once.

We appreciate all of our #seo411 participants and have really enjoyed the conversation with you all. Now it’s your turn to determine what YOU think is important and what YOU want to learn about. We’ll be listening. Find us @SearchMojo.

We’ve all been there. Time to redesign your website. But while you’re redesigning your site, you also don’t want to jeopardize your existing search engine rankings. So how can you ensure your redesign won’t negatively impact your SEO efforts? Here are Search Mojo’s top ten SEO tips to consider when doing a website redesign:

1. Run a benchmark report.
Before your new website goes live, be sure you clearly understand where you currently rank by running a benchmark report for your current keywords and rankings. You’ll use this report after the launch of the newly redesigned website to understand if you’re maintaining your rankings through the redesign launch.

2. Evaluate your technologies and program accordingly.
If you’re using Flash or Javascript in your new site, that’s no problem — unless you’ve got important text, graphics, or links embedded within the Flash movie or Javascript code. If you do, be sure to use the <noscript> tag to reflect that content outside of Flash or Javascript respectively so that search engine bots can index that content. Read the rest of this entry »

We label generations to classify monumental changes, trends, and significant milestones in history. Those born during the birth of the home computer, the rise of video games, Star Wars and Motley Crue can typically be classified as those who lie in Generation X. But wait. What about Generation Y?

Interestingly enough, most Generation Y children (including me) grew up submerged in the realm of social media and online information sharing. I remember how sparkly MySpace layouts, the highly coveted position on one’s top 8 and the brief life inspirations and quotes that drowned Xanga pages easily became an excuse for me to plead “10 more minutes” before going to sleep. According to a study from the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project and Elon University’s Imagining the Internet Center, “Generation Y Millennials will continue their current habit of sharing large amounts of personal information online as they age.” Of course there are positives of such behavior; creating bonds, friendships, and networks, and even introducing a bit of html coding when changing one’s backgrounds and main font colors. However, this openness has larger negative effects hidden beneath the sparkly surface.

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