In the world of literature the saying. “An apple does not fall far from the tree”, can be said when it comes to link building. Links are a crucial part of attaining high search rankings, but you must be very careful about whom you link. The links that surround your website must be relevant to the content that actually exists on the site itself. Carefully acquired links earn you points and boost your site ranking in the search engines.

There is a general air of question around what Yahoo has up their marketing sleeve. Looking at some recent blogging around the subject. There are some varied ideas on what Yahoo has planned to generate profits from all their vested interests.

Aaron Wall mentions the recent lay-offs - 30 people fired with a rumoured 2000 to follow, in his post about branding ideas. What is this about? There has to be something to the plans laid out for the brand by co-founder and CEO Jerry Yang. Are they trying to raise the half a billion to purchase social media giant Facebook, by shedding employees? Search Engine Journal say that Yang has suppressed any plans for what they call the “Yahoo Branded universe”, and the long-time highly popular search engine brand will focus their efforts on the revenue generating ‘in-search` advertising platform.

We`ve all made our personal resolutions to live healthier, lose the weight, drop the smoking and eat at least five different fruits a day. But now it is time for all business- to-business (b2b) SEO marketers to make resolutions for their marketing campaigns.

SEO marketers should make their first resolution this year to ensure that communication between their client and their customers is top notch. Open those channels with blogs, articles, and viral campaigns with feedback opportunities. It`s time to finally do the hard work and commit to creating good user experiences for your client`s SEO platform. Blogs need to be updated and content needs to written.

If a tree falls in the forest and there is no one around to hear it, does it make a sound? Similarly, if a webmaster hides text under images using the z-index and no one sends it to the Google spam report team, is it unethical SEO?

For those less in the know, the Z-index is the 3rd dimension in a web page that the programmer uses to declare which content sits on top of what. And yes, some less than ethical SEO`s actually place images and other content on top, to hide keyword rich text beneath, in a cunning yet perilous attempt to fool the search engines and users simultaneously.

The term “search usability” has a variety of meanings and has become a broad term to describe a selection of things. However, the term has lost a lot of it`s meaning and has become misunderstood with each expansion.

Professionals in Web design/development, SEM (Search Engine Marketing) and SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) use the term in the wrong context. They use it in presentations to clients and in conferences, although they don`t seem to know what it means either.

I read quite a lengthy, in depth article on the importance of key word research in understanding site visitors better. The point it, it seemed, was that it contained different information to all the other articles and blogs and pieces written about “traditional” key word searches and the “basics”.   It stressed the fact that the most important point about key word research is to understand the site visitor. This is so that you can tailor your site to suit them and lead them directly to what they are looking for.

It`s been an ongoing battle for some time now, and as Randfish mentioned in a post on this topic, most people are still completely unaware of the difference between sponsored and paid links. There seems to be so much confusion and uncertainty that these discussions appear to be going around in circles without much resolution.

It`s a fact that the more links a site has, the more relevant Google believes the site is and thus the higher the site will rank when someone performs a search. Higher rankings mean more traffic, thus more online sales.

In South Africa if you create anything physical, whether it is an article or artwork, it automatically falls under the copyright law, and the artist has rights or ownership of it. However, it is not the same in other countries.

With the Web being created and majority of the content coming from the USA, it is best to understand the law from their side. In USA law, the artist does not get automatic copyrights to his piece, but has to apply for it. This applies to web design and content writing.

It`s so important to team up great content with great titles, yet so many people fail abysmally at the latter.

Great headlines inspire great content so it`s a knock-on effect; your headline is a promise to prospective readers. Its job is to clearly communicate the benefit that you will deliver to the reader in exchange for their valuable time.

Understanding what type of headline is appropriate to a specific context is the key to writing captivating post titles that will get your writing read.

There is the saying that beauty is only skin-deep. But what is the point of having a beautiful / hi-tech exterior with a boring / dull interior?

On the other hand, have you ever spent a marketing budget on well-designed brochures only to leave them in the closet and forget about them? What is the use of a modern, stylish website that appeals to your target market but is never seen be them? Just like nature, it`s all about balance. It`s important that your design and marketing compliment each other.