Search Engine Optimization

Search engine optimization scams are common and all-too-often prey on the people that can least afford to be scammed. These seem like cheap alternatives to legitimate SEO activities, so budget friendly to those with small budgets, but here is an explanation of why you should try to avoid their traps. Most of us have seen them, they are the emails that say things like:

"Guaranteed top page placement in search engines!"
"Exchange links with my website to help your website place higher!"

These scams are predicated on sound search engine marketing principles, but they leave out some very important details that cause them to result in very little value for your organization.  I will explain my own personal theories on these scams, but first, a brief overview of the basics of what these scams are based on, search engine optimization:

As a non-profit, whether you are an institution or an education-related organization, you provide a socially oriented service to the community that gives you a stature and an awareness that many co

This message was recently posted in Google Analytics about a data error they experienced. It is not likely to affect most institution analytics accounts in the long-term, as most are not collecting e-commerce data, but there may be a short term delay in information reporting. Here is the message from Google:

If I were to ask you to look up something on the Internet, where would you start? Google? Yahoo? Ask.com?

If you are unfamiliar with search engine marketing, this may be the quickest way to clear up what tends to be the most confusing aspect of all - the difference between organic searches