The Internet offers a wide variety of SEO tools, targeting just about every aspect of business and personal life. There are so many, however, that figuring out the best and brightest can be quite the laborious task. Don’t stress out! Webrulon is here to turn lead into gold. We’ve scoured the net and collected the absolute best of the best SEO tools.

Here is how the list works. We picked the best SEO tool that does a certain thing, wrote a short description, and then placed similar yet also good tools underneath it. This way if the one we chose as the best doesn’t suit your fancy you’ll have another option waiting in the wings. Enjoy!

Now, onto the list:

* Ranking Checker by SEOmoz.com

This SEO tool is perfect for you OCD bloggers out there. It allows you to check your rankings for up to 5 keywords per day. It’s absolutely free and the tool also archives all of the searches for easy access. Just sign up for a free SEOmoz account and you are good to go. It even lets you download the archived rankings as a CSV. Cool!  So add up five daily words times thirty average days in a month and that’s a whopping 150 monthly searches.

Similar and also useful:

Keyword Research Tool – Webmaster toolkit

Keyword External Tool – Google Adwords 

* MultiRank Checker by iWebtool.com

In the old days if you wanted to check the Google Page Rank and the Alexa Ranking for many search terms at once you’d be forced to spend all day inputting the information one by one. This useful eliminates that archaic way of doing things and replaces it with a hyper-functional bulk search engine. A great time saver.

Similar but also useful:

Keyword Suggestion Tool – Self SEO 

Competition Tool – SEO Digger 

* Fiddler Web Debugging Tool by Fiddlertool.com

The Charles debugging tool and similar looks are extremely useful. The downside? They can be pricey. The Charles debugging tool alone will set you back at least fifty bucks. Why spend that much when similar and equally functional tools lurk all around the net? Take this one for instance. Fiddler performs the same debugging tools as it’s competitors but with a distinct advantage: It’s free! It’s currently available only for Windows and does require the .NET framework but otherwise, it’s go time. Also, as an added bonus, Fiddler won’t freeze up your computer or browser like some of those Firefox add-ons. Not saying any names. Cough cough. Tamper Data.

Similar but also useful:

SEOpen  

* SEO Analyzer by Sitening.com

Wanna optimizer your site? You could do no better than this handy tool. It gives you a detailed report assessing the components of your website that could use some tweaking. You can even download any previous report as a PDF file for easy perusing.  This isn’t a substitute for a complete SEO analysis, however. Think of it as a great little starting point.

Similar but also useful:

Backlink Watch

Domain Backlinks Checker

* Strongest Subpages Tool by WeBuildPages.com

This tool gives you an organized list of the strongest pages on any web site. This will help you figure out where the most amount of inbound links are headed to and going to. Perfect for analyzing the strength of the competition.  Remember, a lot can be gleamed from what your competitors are doing right.

Similar but also useful:

Top Competitor Tool – Webuildpages 

* Backlink Checker by WeBuildPages.com

Don’t have a backlink checker tool? What are you waiting for. Any successful SEO campaign includes one. This is a great, and free, place to start. Get your linking campaigns in order with efficiency and grace. The patented “Neat-O-Tool” is also perfect for analyzing your competitor’s backlinks.

Similar but also useful:

Competition Analysis Tool – Seoscorecard 

Backlink Analyzer – Sitening  

* Firefox with the Web Developer Extension by Chris Pederick

We all know how flexible Firefox is. It can, however, also be used as a great SEO tool when paired with the right add-on. This Web Developer Extension is one such add-on. Want to remove the cascading styles, be they inline or external? It has you covered. Want to modify or remove javascript components? It can do that too. There are few things this handy application can’t do. Also, did we mention it’s free?

Similar but also useful:

Developer ToolBar  

* SEO for Firefox by SEOBook.com

This is the golden goose of browser-based SEO tools. It just gives so much information in one fell swoop that it’s almost unbelievable. Visited page rankings, search engine rankings, compeitive overviews, cache data, domain age, Yahoo backlinks, and a ton of other stats are all available to you in seconds. It’s easy to use and highly functional.You can even export your information directly from the SERPs to CSV. Not bad guys.

Similar but also useful:

SEO Links Extension 

* Google Analytics / Google Webmaster Console by Google.com

Did you really think we’d get out of this list without giving a nod to the big G? Google have wrapped their Orwellian(In a good way!) tentacles over just about every facet of Internet life. SEO tools are no different. Analytics is a great tool that can give you detailed reports on your traffic. It goes miles above similar tools, offering traffic behavior, funnel information, content visitation, length of stay and much more. The Webmaster Console tool pretty much lets you see through Google’s eyes, offering up information like the crawling rate, crawling speed, backlinks, PageRank etc.

Similar but also useful:

Link Popularity – Backlinks Checker – Search Bliss  

Page Rank Tool  

Alexa Traffic 

* Keyword Selector Tool by Overture.com

File this under “oldie but goodie.” This is one of the oldest keyword tools around. Don’t worry. It’s not quite ready for retirement. Keep in mind that most new-fangled keyword tools used this tool as it’s blueprint. And not all of them are free. This one is.

Google’s keyword tool

Keyword Analysis Tool – Mcdar 

* XENU’s Link Sleuth by Tilman Hausherr

XENU is just a great little spider tool. The benefits of having a spider in your SEO toolbox are legion. This tool allows you to find a site’s endless loops, broken links, redirect detections and a whole lot more. XENU is one of the most functional spiders out there, and it’s free to boot. Also, it won’t leave webbing all over your website like it’s real world counterpart.

Similar but also useful:

Spider Simulator – SEO Chat 

Spider View – Iwebtool 

* Xinu BETA by Miguel Camps Orteza

The name might be similar to the previous entry, but these two tools are anything but. This great SEO tool allows you to gather a ton of stats on any site. These include rankings, out-going syndication, social bookmarkings, validation, backlinks and so much more. It analyzes just about every major search engine(In one page) and it’s free!  It’s also open source so tinker away, you shiny diamonds.

Similar but also useful:

Class C Checker – Webmaster Toolkit 

Link Popularity Check – Market Leap  

* Keyword Density & Prominence Tool by Ranks.nl

This simple yet functional tool lets you crawl through a page and analyze the density of keywords. This works not only for the page’s content but also for any and all tags. Really useful and really free.

Similar but also useful:

Keyword Density – SEO Chat 

Keyword Density & Proeminence – Ranks  

* Visual PageRank by iWebTool.com

Do you prefer gleaming information via an image rather than boring old words? Then this is the tool for you. This lets you check out your site’s pagerank through the magic of the visual image. It’s worth 1,000 words, after all.  This tool allows you to physically see your web page and all of the overlays that page rank for each of your links. It’s aesthetically pleasing as well.

Similar but also useful:

Search PageRank – SEO Chat 

Page Rank Tool  

* GeoTargeting Detection Tool by SEOmoz.com

This free tool helps you figure out if your site is optimized for search engines that operate in different countries. As we all know, all engines are not created equal and some will make your site look dirtier than a sinkful of messy dishes. This is great for businesses that service International clients.

Similar but also useful:

Browser Screen Resolution Checker – Markhorrell 

Screen Size Tester – AnyBrowser  

So there you have it. Did we miss anything? Got any favorite SEO tools you think deserve a shout out? Drop us a line and we’ll be more than happy to check it out.

This story is as old as the web itself. You launch a new website or project. You set up the analytics and expect the hits to start rolling in. After a few days you begin obsessively checking up on it. Over and over. Only nothing is there. You begin to become disheartened and perhaps entertain the notion of tossing your laptop in the river. Sound familiar?

Don’t get excited

Don’t run doom and gloom scenarios in your mind. Don’t automatically assume your anayltics are broken. It must be some kind of a broken html code, right? No, not really.

This scenario plays itself out over and over again all over the web constantly. It doesn’t even have to be a new project, either. Webmasters whose sites need maintenance in the form of XML sitemaps, link building efforts, title tag duplication, or 404 redirection are also guilty of this. The changes are made correctly, then a week later nothing has changed statistically. The rankings sit in exactly the same place. You are left thinking “What did I do wrong?”

Sometimes things just take time. For instance, a major website I work for recently needed some fixing. They had a 404 redirection and toolbar PageRank drop, in addition to a misplaced setting in Google Webmaster Tools pointing to the wrong version of their site. Everything got fixed, but nothing changed statistically. After the fix, there was even a there was a drop in their homepage for their name. This started making the higher ups worried. When higher ups worry people tend to get fired. Someone needs to get in that board room and preach the virtues of patience.

Patience

That homepage drop? It was minimal. It lasted for 2-3 days and then things got back to normal. Things can take up to a week or more to reflect in Google Webmaster Tools. That’s just the nature of the beast. The Internet “feels” instantaneous but not all things actually are.

We live in a society(Internet especially) that thrives on present, immediate returns. Search marketers must make c-level executives happy with their ability to show immediate returns on campaigns. But like the returns on SEO, these campaign returns can take time.

Of course, all of the administrative changes in the world aren’t going to change rankings too much if the content isn’t there. Content is king, after all. It may even be more important than patience, but that’s a topic for another post.

Also, of note, There has also been a recent crack down on over optimized local search listings. Some accounts are suspended or rank poorly just because they are in effect trying too hard. Too many changes at once can raise a flag with the search engines. Thinks of it as a relationship. You don’t want to bring candy to every single date, do you? It could creep them out.

One Month Rule

So here is what I am proposing. Make your changes and leave it. Do something else for a month. Work on social media and link building if you have to. Come back after that month and then see what’s up. If your site is small, feel free to adjust down to just two weeks. I find the smaller the site, the shorter the time it takes for changes to reflect on your analytics.

Just have patience and wait for the statistical algorithms to do their job. It’ll take time but trust in this: It will work.

So remember the next time something seems to be not working in Webmaster Tools or SERPs:

* Double check the code if you have to, but don’t triple or quadruple check it. Also, your oven is off and you locked your front door.

* Remember to breathe. There is always a logical explanation behind everything. Google is just slow sometimes.

* When did you make your last change?

* If it’s less than two weeks, give it more time.

* For major changes, like site redesign and URL restructuring, give it a full month. A full month. Not 24 days.

That’s it. Have patience grasshopper and soon your stats will grow into big, beautiful sunflowers.

Site link strengthening. Is there anything quite as important? Google itself is getting involved. Matt Cutts, an employee at the company, drafted a blog post that shows people how to improve their inbound links. This blog post specifically addresses the problem of 404 pages and making sure they are passing out their linking goodies, as well as not driving away users.

Google is listening. They’ve recently made available a series of tools that show links that lead to 404 pages on your site. This is an extremely handy suite of tools.

Google is a company that has been known to pop their heads in the ground from time to time . Sometimes they don’t even seem to know what is going on in their own Internet. CEO Eric Schmidt recently called the Internet a cesspool and denied help to the people who could help improve the quality of content. However, these recent steps seem to be inching away from that attitude.

These tools should be a basic for all SEOs. Running these reports will help you SEOs get a grasp on just what is going on. They offer a quick way to improve search results, as well. Then you can slap on some 301 redirects and call it a day. Voila, problems solved.

Run this report, and then follow the links back to their source to see what’s happening. A few may not be worth correcting, but the majority will be and can give a major boost to the site.

This used to have to be done manually. One by one. Checking every single link and every single redirect. There were no helpful tools. Thank goodness that has changed. I cannot stress enough how much this suite should become part of your maintenance repertoire.

Not everyone has caught on to this, however. Government sites are a great example. There seems to be no SEO knowledge at all. Search algorithms end up giving them a heads up anyways which can be frustrating.

Some notes

So this suite can be a Godsend to the right SEOs who know how to maximize it’s effects. However, to those that don’t things can still remain, um, hairy.

Eric Ward, a well-known link building expert, claims to have already fixed a link from a PageRank 7 .edu using the tool suite as a guide. It seemed easy and no-frills. It won’t be this easy for everyone, however. At least it won’t always be. There are some hurdles to consider.

When setting aside resources for a link building project, we typically include a set number of hours for all “reclamation” activities. This includes trying to replace faulty links to 404 pages and enhancing additional links pointed to existing pages. This is done by either requesting a change to a more specific (topical) page, or by updating the anchor text to be more descriptive. You’ll now need to set aside additional time to include 404s. No big deal but something to consider.

Two things to consider: the site must have a Google Webmaster central account, and on average, you should figure about an hour of research and negotiation time in order to reclaim each link. It can be time-consuming but only once you get a handle on things. Once you do an initial cleanup, dealing with one or two links later on down the road won’t be a big deal. Good luck, and get to reclaiming!

Want a practical approach to to reviewing and comparing tools that will help you analyze those wascally SERPs?  We all want proper analysis  of our search engine results, right? Well, then read on.

First of all, these tools all work as Firefox add-ons. Be careful, though. You don’t want to install too many or it will severely impede your browsing speed. There’s a reason they call it snail mail. So just try one at a time and you’ll thank us in the long run. Or, just read through the entire post and pick which one intrigues you the most to try first.

1. SEOquake

Insert massive amounts of data under each listing in Google SERPs, including but not limited to:

• Google pagerank, Google index, Google cache date;
• Yahoo! index, Yahoo! linkdomain, Yahoo! link;
• Bing index;
• Dmoz listing;
• Webarchive age;
• Alexa rank;
• Delicious bookmarks;
• Technorati index;
• Digg index;
• Domain IP;
• Link to Robots.txt, Sitemap and Page source;
• SEMrush info (traffic, traffic value, rank);
• Compete Rank,

And lots, lots more, including the ability to sort the results by any parameter.

2. SEO for FireFox

Note, for each listing you’ll see the following data listing:

And, here is what SEO for Firefox brings to the table:

• Google PR;
• Google Cache Date;
• Traffic Value (pre SEMrush);
• Age (Archive.org);
• Del.icio.us bookmarks;
• Diggs (as well as Digg’s Popular Stories);
• Stumbleupon popularity (doesn’t appear to work);
• Twitter search results;
• Yahoo! Links: as well as Yahoo! .edu links, Yahoo! .gov Links and Yahoo! page links);
• Technorati results;
• Alexa traffic;
• Compete.com rank and compete.com uniques;
• Google trends link;
• Number of pages cached;
• Dmoz mentions

Lots, lots more!  SEO for Firefox also allows you to customize the data sets to suit your fancy.

3. Search Cloudlet

This is a really useful tool. It’s great for identifying domains that achieve the lucrative top 100 Google listings benefits. It’s also great for other search engines as well. Install the add-on and run a Google search. The information displayed will allow you to:

1. See the SERPs tag cloud (of the words used in Google search results listings);
2. See the domains returned in Google SERPs (the bigger the font, the more times the domain was ranked within one SERPs);
3. See most powerful top level domains;

All in all, it’s a handy little tool.

4. SERPs Analyzer

This one works as a FireFox search plugin, which is lighter than a full-fledged add-on. It redirects the search to it’s own domain. This may not be the most reliable way to output information but it’s certainly the lightest. For each listing in SERPs it shows the following information:

• Number of clicks the listing generates per month (no idea how the data is obtained);
• PPC cost equivalent per month;
• Yahoo! links and linkdomain;
• Domain Quancast rank;
• Webarchive age

The cool thing about the tool is that it displays the number of unique domains, max. and average Google PR, as well as other interesting data:

Be careful though. Several bugs have been reported. For example, setting Google results per page in preferences didn’t work. It only managed to get more results by directly editing the query URL string (serp_results_per_page=100).

How does Google decide how much a particular link helps your rankings? That one question has plagued link builders since the dawn of  time 2002.

Before we get started on the list, let’s talk turkey. You may have noticed search engines have become more and more dependent on metrics about an entire domain, rather than just an individual page. It’s why you’ll see new pages or those with very few links ranking highly, simply because they’re on an important, trusted, well-linked-to domain. The Internet is changing, and in a way becoming more homogenized. But don’t worry, you can still make money with your site by understanding the nature of search engines and how they judge the value of a link.  Here are 17 examples:

#1 – Internal vs. External

Search engines value external opinions more than internal. This is a simple fact, and it makes sense. If you are in a band and you go around telling everyone how great you are, not many ears perk up, except in annoyance. However, if Spin Magazine begins telling people your band is great, that changes things quite a bit. Search engines work in the same way. Internal links (links that point from one page on your site to another) do carry some weight; links from external sites matter far more.

This doesn’t mean it’s not important to have a good internal link structure, or to do all that you can with your internal links (good anchor text, no unnecessary links, etc.), it just means that a site/page’s performance is highly dependant on how other sites on the web have cited it.

#2 – Anchor Text

An obvious one for those in the SEO business, anchor text is one of the biggest factors in the rankings equation overall.

This, of course, comes with a question. Is “exact match” anchor text more beneficial than simply including the target keywords all hully gully? In a word, yes. We’ve conducted many experiments, much to the dismay of our interns, and we’ve conclusively decided that anchor text that features an exact match is the winner, no contest. However, the engines won’t always bias in this fashion. It seems to me that, particularly for generic (non-branded) keyword phrases, this is the cause of a lot of manipulation and abuse in the SERPs.

#3 – PageRank

Whether they call it StaticRank (Microsoft’s metric), WebRank (Yahoo!’s), PageRank (Google’s) or mozRank (Linkscape’s), some form of an iterative, Markov-chain based link analysis algorithm is a part of all the engines’ ranking systems. So, it’s important. All of the services use the analogy that links are votes and that those pages which have more votes have more influence. Pretty simple, right? Well, sort of. Here is a quick PageRank primer:

1.Every single URL on the Internet is assigned a tiny, innate quantity of PageRank.

2.If there are “n” links on a page, each link passes that page’s PageRank divided by “n” (and thus, the more links, the lower the amount of PageRank each one flows.)

3.An iterative calculation that flows through the web’s entire link graph dozens of times is used to reach the calculations for each URL’s ranking score. The calculation is too complicated to replicate here, either that or it’s magic. It might be magic.

4.Representations like those shown in Google’s toolbar PageRank or SEOmoz’s mozRank on a 0-10 scale are logarithmic (thus, a PageRank/mozRank 4 has 8-10X the link importance than a PR/mR 3. Get it?)

#4 – TrustRank

The basics of TrustRank are described in this paper from Stanford – Combatting Webspam with TrustRank. There will be a quiz later.

If you are long since college age and got tired from just reading the word “Stamford,” then here is a quick primer. TrustRank, basically, says that “good” and “trustworthy” pages tend to be closely linked together. Think PayPal and eBay or something. It follows, then, that the spammy and dangerous stuff is located outside of this safe “center.” By calculating an iterative, PageRank-like metric that only flows juice from trusted seed sources, a metric like TrustRank can be used to predictively state whether a site/page is likely to be high quality vs. spam. So, the lesson? Don’t take candy from strangers. The candy might be laced with spam and phish.

#5 – Domain Authority

The phrase “domain authority” is thrown around all over the SEO world, but a concrete definition remains elusive. Most people use it to describe that wonderous combination of popularity, importance and trustworthiness that is calculated by search engines and based mostly on link data.

Search engines likely use scores about the “authority” of a domain in counting links, and thus, despite the fuzzy language, it’s worth mentioning as a data point. The domains you earn links from are, potentially, just as important (or possibly more important) than the individual metrics of the page passing the link. Our advice? Practice the term “domain authority” for your next SEO gathering but be prepared to hide behind the punch bowl if people get too curious.

#6 – Diversity of Sources

No single metric has more positive a correlation with high rankings than the number of linking root domains. This is also, incidentally, a very hard metric to manipulate for spam. So, that being said, it tends to indicate true, broad popularity and importance. How to rack up those linking root domains? Diversity. Empirical data suggests that a diversity of domains linking to your site/page has a strong positive effect on rankings. Getting a link from an entirely unique domain is more important than getting a new one from a previously linked domain. So get your name out there and start making those contacts. A few of them might turn into new links. Thank us later.

#7 – Uniqueness of Source + Target

Those crafty search engines have a number of ways to judge and predict ownership and relationships between websites. These can include (but are not limited to):

* A whole lot of shared, reciprocated links
* Domain registration data
* Shared hosting IP address or IP address C-blocks
* Public acquisition/relationship information
* Publicized marketing agreements that can be machine-read and interpreted

Anecdotal evidence that links shared between “networks” of websites obtain very little value from search engines. This is particularly referring to the classic SE strategy of “sitewide” links. So, again, diversify those links.

#8 – Location on the Page

Microsoft was the first engine to reveal public data about their plans to do “block-level” analysis (in an MS Research piece on VIPS – VIsion-based Page Segmentation). If you lack the patience to read that long form piece, or are simply out of ADD medication, then read on.

Simply put, internal links in the footer of web pages may not provide the same beneficial results that those same links will when placed into the top or header positions. This is based on of our own experimentation(Gotta keep that intern working) and much empirical data brought to us via Google and Yahoo! This seems to be based on an algrorithim that seeks to dismiss pervasive link advertisement by diminishing the valu that external links carry from the sidebar or footer of webpages. Links from the actual content of the piece, as always, remain the most sought after links.

#9 – Topical Relevance

The search engines have a myriad of tools at their disposal to determine if two pages or sites cover similar subject matter. Years ago, Google Labs unveiled an automatic classification tool that could predict, based on a URL, the category and sub-category for nearly any type of content. This worked for conents in a wide array of subject matters, from  medical news to real estate and back again. Engines may use these automated topical-classification systems to identify “neighborhoods” around particular topics.

However, there are arguments to be had on both sides of the field here. We are of the opinion that if you get a link from a topic-neutral site such as NYTimes.com or a specific blog on an unrelated subject, then they’ll still pass positive value. Perhaps the engines use these classification tools to predict spam, more than passing judgement. After all, it does look fishy(phishy?) if a site that’s never previously linked to anything in the pharmaceutical field, suddenly does so.

#10 – Content & Context Assessment

Sure, topical relevance can provide some useful information for engines about linking relationships. But, isn’t it possible that the content and context of a link may be even more useful to said engine? Of course it is! Content is king, after all. In content/context analysis, the engines attempt to discern, in a machine parse-able way, why a link exists on a page.

For instance, links positioned for editorial content create certain patterns. They tend to be embedded in the content, link to relevant sources, use accepted norms for HTML structure, word usage, phrasing, language, etc. Through a series of pattern-matching algorithims, it’s possible for search engines to analyze the editorial links and determine their value and liklihood they were added authentically.

#11 – Geographic Location

The geography of a link is, obviously, highly dependent on the purported location of the host. However, the engines(Specifically Google) have been amping up the sophistication in their quest to pinpoint the location-relevance of a root domain, subdomain or subfolder. Here are some of the things they look for:

*  The host IP address location
* The country-code TLD extension (.de, .co.uk, etc)
* The language of the content
* Registration with local search systems and/or regional directories
* Association with a physical address
* The geographic location of links to that site/section

If you earn links to a page or site that is targeted to a particular region, that does mean it should help you perform better in that region’s searches. However, if your profile is tied too heavily to one particular region, it may make it harder to perform in other regions. Keep that in mind as you set out to build links.

#12 – Use of Rel=”Nofollow”

Although in the SEO world it feels like a lifetime ago since nofollow appeared, it’s actually only been around since January of 2005, when Google announced it was adopting support for the new HTML tag.

To put it simply, rel=”nofollow” tells the engines not to ascribe any editorial endorsements or “votes” that would boost a page or site’s ranking metrics. It is an attempt to filter out some noise. Linkscape’s index notes that approximately 3% of all links on the web have the “nofollow” tag attached to them.

#13 – Link Type

Google recently announced that they’re not only crawling this third group, but passing link endorsement metrics through them (which has many upset about the reversal in policy about using Javascript as a way to delineate paid/advertising links).  The mega-engine has also, for years, treated the text in an image’s alt attribute similarly to how anchor text is handled in standard text links.

Not all links are created equal, however. We made our tired, forlorn intern run some more experiments and it was decided that straight, HTML links with standard anchor text pass the most value to engines, followed by image links with keyword-rich alt text. Coming in last, however, were Javascript links, which are not universally followed throughout the web. So, to all of you admins out there, for now it’s best to assume the engines just aren’t that good at passing value to the “quirkier” links. Keep that in mind as you design your sites and put an emphasis on straight HTML links.

#14 – Other Link Targets on the Source Page

When a page links out externally, both the quantity and targets of the other links that exist on that page may be taken into account by the engines when determining how much link value will be passed on.

As mentioned way up on topic number 3, PageRank, algorithims from all of the engines divide the amount of value passed by any given page by the number of links on that page. Additionally, the engines may als consider the quanity of external domains a page points to. They do this as a way to judge the quality and value of said endorsements. For example, if a page links to merely a few external resources on a particular topic, spread out all over the content, it will be perceived differently than a long list of links pointing to external sites. One take is not necessarily better than the other, but the engines may pass greater value through one or the other. However, this is subject to the rest of your page/site and the links contained therein.

Also, the engines are going to be looking at who else your linking pages endorse. If they go  for anything shady or spam-filled, the value of your link is going to go down. It’s kind of like being scene with your one friend who always clears the room at parties. Nice guy, but…

#15 – Domain, Page & Link-Specific Penalties

Nearly everyone in the SEO world can agree on one thing, search engines apply penalties to sites and pages. These range from the loss of the ability to pass value and endorsement all the way up to a full on ban from their main index. If a page or site has received the former punishment, then links from it provide no value for search rankings. Beware, though, engines occasionally show penalities publicly but this is not always the case.

#16 – Content/Embed Patterns

As content licensing & distribution, widgets, badges and distributed, embeddable links-in-content become more prevalent across the web, the engines have begun looking for ways to downplay these tactics. It’s not that Google et al. don’t want to give proper value to the pages or sites that employ these tactics, it’s just that they are a bit wary about over-counting or over-representing sites that simply do a good job of distributing their licensing deals.

It’s likely that content pattern detection and link pattern detection plays a role in how the engines evaluate link diversity and quality. If the engines see the same link with the same content on thousands and thousands of sites, this is sure to signal a decrease in endorsement. To say it yet again, diversity is key here. The engines place more stock in a variety of links from a variety of sources featuring a variety of content. It makes sense, after all.

#17 – Temporal / Historical Data

Timing and data about the appearance of links is the final point on this rather long list. As the trusty engines crawl along the web, they see patterns about how sites earn links. They use this data to fight spam, identify authoritative links and to pass endorsement on rising Internet stars.

Of course, what the engines do with these patterns of link attraction is the subject of much debate. One thing isn’t, however. The data IS being consumed. It is being analyzed and it is being used to help algorithims do a better job of showing the best results and reducing the abilities of spam.

This list had a lot of information, but it certainly was not a be-all end-all list. Please feel free to suggest your own additions in the comment box.

Able to leap tall search engines in a single bound! Popular SEO blog  SEOboy has compiled another list of their greatest hits. This list chronicles their most viewed, most appreciated articles. The articles span the SEO-verse and back again as they tackle subjects such as redirecting domains and  link building techniques. Check out the list here.

The kind folks over at SEOMozBlog have cobbled together an unexpectedly hefty tutorial on creating an online video strategy. The article dictates each step of the process in extreme detail,  from visualizing to editing and ultimately promoting. It’s more than worth ten minutes of your time. Head on over and take a look. Your urls will thank you.

Hitwise, an internet research company, has announced that as of 13th of March 2010, Facebook achieved 7.07% of all internet traffic to their homepage, compared to Google’s 7.03%.

But what does it all mean exactly? How accurate are these stats? Do they take things like toolbars and phone usage into account? Social media in SEO is an ever increasing part of successful SEO campaigns, but really could such monetization kill Google?

One thing that must be remembered: This is Google search we are talking about here. Google has been expanding their empire for quite some time and these stats do not take into account Gmail, Analytics or any of the other services the company provides. In short, they are a behemoth.

However, let’s not forget Google’s recent flop of an entry into the  social networking world, Buzz.  Buzz was hit hard with initial privacy issues and is seen as a general flop in terms of its rivals Facebook and Twitter – although of course it is in it’s early days still.

Let’s keep an eye on this in coming months. The future is social, to be sure. But who will be pulling the strings?

Finding good sources for great SEO content can be difficult. Enter Webrulon. We do the work so you don’t have to! Here are three great sites:

Search Cowboys – One of the most professional sites out there. This news resource is written by a team of highly talented writers who know their trade and aren’t afraid to have a sense of humor about it. Highly recommended for a place in your bookmark.

SEO by the sea – Not so sure of this website’s fish and water theme, however the content is so good it hardly matters. This site is big for breaking news and for being a link workhorse. You won’t find a better place online that helps you find you better places online.

Alltop/SEO – The SEO division of the popular Alltop mega-site is a veritable treasure trove of articles, videos and more. In this case, maybe, bigger is better.

An honorable mention, of course, goes to this blog. What? You think we’d let that slide?

Successful SEO campaigns can be like cooking for 250 people at once.  They all have different tastes and at any moment, anything can go wrong. Econsultancy knows this and has offered up their list of nine common mistakes webmasters make when trying to juggle an SEO campaign. It truly is an informative and entertaining article. Click here to read it.