I found this by way of WMW, then on Google’s site. Seems AdSense is letting customers run reports showing “invalid clicks”, or as most of us know it, “click fraud”. While this may give some of us a ‘sense’ of security, many others will find fault after fault in the reporting. Here is a clip from Google’s site:

Today, we’re announcing the launch of a new AdWords feature enabling advertisers to have a much more detailed picture of invalid click activity in their account. The metrics of “invalid clicks” and “invalid clicks rate” will show virtually all the invalid clicks affecting an account.

These clicks are filtered in real-time by our systems before advertisers are charged for them. The resulting data will of course differ from one advertiser to the next. In addition, a much smaller number of invalid clicks may also be credited to advertisers’ accounts after-the-fact, as the result of a publisher being terminated from the AdSense program for invalid click activity. These will appear as account-level credits.

One of the most controversial issues related to the topic of click fraud has been estimating how big the problem is. Estimates from third-parties (usually from consultants who have a financial incentive to make the problem seem very large) have been both inconsistent and greatly exaggerated due to their methodologies. Advertisers have always been able to compare their log data with their AdWords charges to calculate an estimate of the number of invalid clicks in their own account. This new tool will make estimating invalid click activity much easier.

Notice the bold print part above. So what they’re saying is, even if you use a 3rd party solution, they won’t believe it. They’re not going to trust the advertiser and they’re not going to trust the 3rd party service, so you’re screwed! I have an idea, offer a neutral 3rd party solution that both sides trust. One that has no financial gain or benefit to pump one side or the other up. Not sure how that would work, but in my honest opinion, this new reporting means nothing. They say “consultants who have a financial incentive to make the problem seem very large”, yet, isn’t it a financial incentive for Google to make the problem seem very small? Hi Pot, meet Kettle.

Being a Dallas Mavericks fan, I was thinking of the Mavs and their preparation for the NBA Finals. I realized their strategical and mental planning was not complete and well thought through. Had they continued their hard work even when the winning was happening, when the tough times popped up, they could have easily gotten through and eventually taken home the championship.

The biggest task to in building a text link advertising campaign is strategical and mental planning. Our client services department analyzes your keywords/phrases, builds traditional text link ads, rotating text link ads and even billboard page ads. Once these items are developed, and the monthly budget is acquired, the client services dept. will begin completing and launching your text ad campaign. We continue to research and plan these campaigns for the future, even if they are performing at high levels.

I know this is a bit goofy, but I was just thinking of how our NBA team flopped in the finals and started realizing LinkWorth operates like a true NBA champion. Go Mavs and Go LinkWorth!

If you read anything on another post regarding Internet Explorer, you might understand that I do not use IE much anymore. Obviously there are some things that I just can’t get around without IE, but for the most part, I’ve converted to Firefox. Firefox flexibility is one that just cannot be overlooked and the ease of adding extensions puts it far above all others in my book.

I like to try new extensions from time to time, especially if they are in the world of seo and/or development, so I would like to share two must have Firefox extensions if you are into search engine marketing or search engine optimization. These two extensions can help in link building research to spot sneaky coding and also quick site stats.

SearchStatus

The first one is called SearchStatus. It is offered by a company called Quirk which appears to have three offices around the world. Once this extension is installed, you will, by default, see three items in your lower right browser window; Alexa ranking scale, PageRank ranking scale & Quirk’s logo, which is a blue “Q” with a circle around it. The features on this extension are probably the best I’ve seen for this type of industry and I give high regards to the makers for a job well done. Feel free to visit their website to get the latest info on this extension, but I will go through and highlight many features here.

The Q icon offers several options when right-clicking on it.

The “options” selection will provide the ability to place the icon/images in various places of your browser. Don’t worry…if there is a particular place you want to put it, they’ll give you the option!

‘Enable PageRank‘ is the next option. Check this and the PageRank status will appear. Uncheck it and it will not show. (Simple enough). If the PageRank status image is active, you can right-click on it to get additional Google features:

‘Show as Text‘ – This is the google command to show a website as only text. It will remove all images, css, scripts and so on. It will show you the basics of the page revealing hidden text and hidden links.

‘Show Cache‘ – This will give you Google’s cache of the page you are sitting on. Pay attention to the cache date to see if it was indexed recently. If it’s been over 45 days, the site could be penalized.

‘Show Related Links‘ – This is Google’s list of sites they feel is related to your site in one way or another. Some have said it’s best to have links on these sites back to you, but most of the time it’s a time wasting view.

‘Show Backlinks‘ – This will give you a list of sites Google knows about that link to the website you are viewing. Most of you know this is ‘link popularity’, one of the most important factors in doing well within your respective search results.

‘Enable Alexa‘ – Just like PageRank, check to see, uncheck to remove. This is the first scale for Alexa I’ve come across. It is just like PageRank, except blue (like our LinkRank). You can mouseover the scale to get the exact Alexa ranking. Right-click on the Alexa ranking and get these addition features:

‘Show as Text‘ – The same feature as on the PageRank. Shows the page and text only.

‘Show Traffic Details‘ – This will give you in-depth traffic info for the requested domain. The Alexa traffic numbers have always been a topic of controversy, but people still like to see their own and others. Especially if it is good. Don’t read too much into anything that is not in the top 20k. It’s just impossible for any one source to know exact traffic details of every site.

‘Show Incoming Links‘ – This is like Google backlinks, except it is all links that Alexa is aware of. These numbers are usually pretty low.

‘Contact Info‘ – This can be a useful tool if you want to see who owns the domain quickly.

‘Categories‘ – Just a show of what category the requested domain falls into. Might help determine if a publisher site is within your own realm.

‘Related Links‘ – similar to Google’s, just gives you sites it feels are somehow related.

‘Highlight NOFOLLOW Links‘ – This is a great option that will show you which links on a page are set by the webmaster to not be indexed. Saves the trouble of having to sift through code to see if the tag is added on a given link.

‘Meta Tags‘ – Opens a new window and details all of the META information on that page.

‘Show in Archive.org‘ – it shows what archive.org has on the site. You can see the progression of the site..if any.

‘Show Whois‘ – similar to the contact info, it will show you the listing in whois database.

‘Show robots.txt‘ – want to see if a site is blocking pages from being indexed? Use this option. It will tell you how a site allows information to be read by the search engines. Not everyone will have this file, so don’t be surprised to get a 404.

‘Show Keyword Density‘ – this is a simple breakdown, like our own density tool, of keywords on a page and the rate at which they’re shown.

‘Highlight Keyword‘ – just like a CTRL-F. (Page Find)

‘Show Indexed Pages‘ – Nice option that will show you the indexed pages by each engine or all at once. Rather than having to go to each engine and type the command or run a tool for each engine, the “All” selection does is a great time saver!

‘Show Backward Links‘ – Again, see backward links by engine or all once.

So this is the breakdown of SearchStatus. I guess I went ahead and detailed everything currently on it. Just be sure to check the owner’s site for the latest build and features. Thanks Quirk for such a great tool!
Web Developer

The second extension is called Web Developer. It was developed by Chris Pederick and he has done a great job. This is a toolbar extension that has ‘many’ options available. The idea of the toolbar and its features is to give the web surfer power to enable and disable different parts of a website/webpage. Cookies, CSS, Forms, Images, View Source, Tag Information, Outline Abilities, Browser Resizing, Validation Options and flexibility. One of the best features is in the “Options” tab where you can add your own or other tools to the ‘TOOLS’ tab. There are too many options to go through on this toolbar, so the best thing to do is visit Chris Pederick’s Web Developer page and read his published info. Another great extension to add to your Firefox browser.

Have a Firefox extension that would rival these? Let us know.

As a person that likes to test and try out new software versions, curiosity got the best of me on this one. I read that a new beta version of Internet Explorer was available for download and install, so when I had the time I quickly downloaded a copy and ran the installation. As you might imagine, with it being a Microsoft product that tangles itself with Windows, it takes a while to setup. It almost felt like a brand new version of Windows was being installed.

Finally everything finished and it was time to give it a go. At first glance I instantly noticed the new tabs feature obviously taken from Firefox. I also noticed that the visual aspect of everything in the browser window seemed to be very smooth. This gave me a quick “false” feeling about my new install. Then the fun started. I navigated to one of our support pages and was given an IE template page telling me that I was trying to access a “phishing” website!! That led to 15 minutes I will never get back filling out a report with Microsoft explaining why our website is not what they say it is. This meant that anyone that had the new version of IE would be falsely told that our site is a site that runs in an illegal form, which is complete and utter slander. Luckily they were quick to respond and supposedly remove it from whatever list it was on.

The next issue I found was the relationship between IE and Outlook. Just like everyone else, every other email consists of hyperlinks that I must click to do whatever function necessary or visit a website that can download free invoice tools for my business. Prior to the upgrade, I click the link and a new browser window opens to the url. After the upgrade, I click a link and everything is put on hold (frozen) unless I either end the process or I get a windows error. If the windows error pops up, it is followed by a “Save As” windows explorer window like I’m trying to save something. After wasted time looking for a way to change the default browser, I have finally succumbed to highlighting the url, copying it to my clipboard and pasting it in a Firefox address bar. It has completely ruined my simplicity of email link clicking.

As if I didn’t have enough issues, the next day I was doing some accounting work in Quickbooks until I attempted to do one of our very vital weekly duties only to be told I was using an incorrect version of Internet Explorer. I thought it must have been a mistake, so I tried again and received the same message. So I tried restarting my computer and again, the same error message. This new IE version has now limited my abilities in our accounting software to where I have to move to another computer to complete them.

There have been other small issues I have come across that don’t warrant anymore time spent on them, but they are annoying enough to make the IE 7 Beta version a complete bust. I’m sure this time next year it will be updated with a lot of kinks worked out, but at this time in the ballgame, heed my warning. . .DON’T DO IT! There are many nice things that I see potential in, but the negatives far out weight the positives at this point and for someone that used IE more than any other browser, I have been forced to use it only if I have to. The uninstall might sound like a logical move, however, if you have ever uninstalled major Windows programs before, you might be familiar with the hell it “might” cause.

Microsoft software engineers. . .PLEASE release a more stable version quickly!

Cliche’s are a staple in normal every day business chatter. Once in a while a phenomenon will come out of nowhere that leaves the cliche violator speechless.

The cliche in question is occurs when you are requested to carry more than you can physically hold or you are given too much work that would be considered work required by more than one person,

“I ONLY HAVE TWO ARMS!”

The child below has been given the gift of 3 fully functional arms:

The amazing thing about this child is the discussion of removing the extra appendage. The most important part of the child is it’s health. If his health is great, then it moves into a moral standard. Some have discussed the advantage one might have with an extra arm versus someone with only two arms. This might be a gift to this poor child and the doctors want to remove it based on making him blend in with everyone else. Again, this all falls on the health risks involved, but if there are absolutely no health risks with his extra arm, this could be something that makes him stand out and be something extraordinary. You need to Check this out for top doctor’s suggestions and their reviews.

We wish the child and his family the best and hope the right decision is made.

Many search engines query and use DMOZ.org listings/descriptions for their own results. If you have had any kind of dealing with DMOZ, more than likely there is one or two horror stories included that strikes a nerve. Still today, being listed in DMOZ is a vital step to getting better visibility in the search results. Even Google themselves mirrors their directory after the listings in DMOZ.

One of the engines that use DMOZ site descriptions for their own search results is MSN Search. More times than not, webmasters are not happy with what search engines show for their own website and although there are some obvious things we have control over to set things straight, MSN has created another way to tell them to stop using the DMOZ description in their search results.

If you are not happy with what MSN is showing as your description, more than likely it is directly from what DMOZ has listed for your site. You can now add the following META tag to tell MSN not to use the DMOZ description any longer:

< meta content="NOODP" name="msnbot" />

If all of the engines begin to adopt this tag, then the proper tag would be:

< meta content="NOODP" name="ROBOTS" / >

Of course, other simple tasks to do that can change what search engines show in their results would be to update what is showing between the < TITLE > tags and also what is in the < meta name="DESCRIPTION" /> tag. Some engines also will pull the first bit of text that shows on your site, so making your first sentence something that is descriptive can help.

These days there are usually several ways to skin a cat, so covering all angles will usually ensure you get the results desired.

With LinkWorth on the verge of releasing new products in the near future, we have come to a point where it makes sense to listen to our customers and take their feedback into consideration. We have spoken with a couple of you about this one section and we would like to get as many of you as possible to provide feedback.

This pertains to the actual locations in which the text link ads are published. At present time, there are:

1. Home Page Link Location
2. Sub Page Link Location
3. Site Run Link Location

The issue is, advertisers have no selection of the geographic location on the page, only that they want their text ad on the page itself. With our upgraded locations, this will be an included option allowing advertisers to put their text ad on what page and what location on said page. Partners can also have the ability to spread things out and offer a little more.

What we would like from you, our customers, is to answer the poll on the right side navigation, or you can vote here. The answers will help us in development.

[poll=<1>]

More than ever, businesses need to offer their products and/or services online. If you are already there, it’s a no brainer. If you are still wondering if it is the right move, read this story just released. . .

WASHINGTON (AFP) – More than one billion people in the world have access to the Internet, with a quarter of them with broadband, or high-speed connections, according to a survey.

The report by the firm eMarketer said the milestone of one billion was reached in late 2005, and that nearly 250 million households had broadband connections.

The firm estimates that of these people, 845 million use the Internet regularly.

The United States is still number one in terms of numbers of Internet users with 175 million, and broadband households, 43.7 million.

In terms of regions, however, Asia-Pacific has the largest number (315 million) and is the largest broadband center containing nearly 40 percent of the world’s broadband households.

Latin America was the fastest growing broadband region worldwide, achieving 70 percent subscriber growth, the survey found. But it had just 70 million people online.

Europe had 233 million people online and 55.2 million broadband households. China had 111 million users and 34.1 million households with fast connections.

The report was based on a number of industry surveys and data from the International Telecommunication Union and Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development.

Based on this story, being online and multi-cultural is the best way to maximize your earning potential. It’s rather astonishing to see that the United States is trailing in terms of broadband users. Of course, I’m sure a lot of the Asia broadband users are American’s that moved their email marketing business abroad to release themselves from the crackdown of email laws being enforced by the US government. 🙂

For those beginning to experience the advantages of our Rotating Ads, the acronym MURA might be of interest to you. Lets not confuse the MURA with the current running SURA, but they are almost identical. 😀 Ok, enough “acro” talk.

MURA stands for “Multi-URL Rotating Ad”. This is an extension of our current rotating ads, or SURA’s, which stands for “Single URL Rotating Ads”. Since we initially launched our rotating ads, customers have requested a way to change the URL along with each anchor text. At present, unique keywords are rotating with each view but the actual web link/url stays the same, along with the description.

With our new mura product, this is made possible. Rather than rotating anchor text only, it is possible to rotate an entire text ad now. This would entail a new anchor text, website url and description with each page view. Instead of sending visitors to a single page of your website, it is now possible to send them to a different page depending on the anchor text and/or description being used.
To build an effective multi-url campaign, there are many ways to get a great finished product. We will showcase one method called a “segmented MURA”. To setup this up, follow these steps:

1. Divide all of the pages or site(s) you plan to use into a list. (A spreadsheet will work fine)
2. Take each page listed, find 5 to 10 of your top keywords that page is optimized for and list them under the respective page listed
3. Now create a unique description for either each page or for each keyword. The more unique the better.
4. Next, login to your LinkWorth account and create a new multi-url text ad with the information on your spreadsheet.
5. Once the new ad is approved, look for great relevant sites to publish your rotating ad on and watch the magic.

The process of creating the new multi-url ad is almost identical as to the regular rotating ad. Just complete the form under the new button labeled “Create Multi-URL Ads”. If you have questions, please submit a support ticket .

Most of us have come across this or are dealing with it now; redirecting a page. Maybe it is a site update, maybe renaming pages, but the proper redirection methods can mean a great deal with regard to your standings in the search engines. The question of how to do this properly is a common one around here so we decided to post a great “How To Redirect” article we often refer people to at webconfs.com. They have a stellar list of tools that do many tasks.

Back to the redirection tips, here is the article:

301 Redirect

301 redirect is the most efficient and Search Engine Friendly method for webpage redirection. It’s not that hard to implement and it should preserve your search engine rankings for that particular page. If you have to change file names or move pages around, it’s the safest option. The code “301” is interpreted as “moved permanently”.

You can Test your redirection with Search Engine Friendly Redirect Checker

Below are a Couple of methods to implement URL Redirection

IIS Redirect

• In internet services manager, right click on the file or folder you wish to redirect
• Select the radio titled “a redirection to a URL”.
• Enter the redirection page
• Check “The exact url entered above” and the “A permanent redirection for this resource”
• Click on ‘Apply’

Redirect in ColdFusion

< .cfheader statuscode="301" statustext="Moved permanently">
< .cfheader name="Location" value="http://www.new-url.com">

Redirect in PHP

< ? Header( "HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently" ); Header( "Location: http://www.new-url.com" ); ?>

Redirect in ASP

< %@ Language=VBScript %>
< % Response.Status="301 Moved Permanently" Response.AddHeader "Location", " http://www.new-url.com" >

Redirect in ASP .NET

Redirect with htaccess

Create a .htaccess file (if does not exists) in your root directory.
Redirect permanent / http://www.new-url.com

How to Redirect HTML

Please refer to section titled ‘How to Redirect with htaccess’, if your site is hosted on a Linux Server and ‘IIS Redirect’, if your site is hosted on a Windows Server.