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Hendrik Speck
Biography
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ONLINE MARKETING, INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE AND SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION
Online Marketing, Information Architecture, and Search Engine Optimization offers a brief introduction into the history and strategies of online and direct marketing; discussing the fundamentals of marketing, advertising, online business and ecommerce; evaluating online media, properties, audience/ circulation, and affiliations/ relationships; optimizing information architectures and document structures; and teaching how to improve search engine rankings, maximize site traffic, and attract targeted traffic.
The course will explore the general system architecture and anatomy of search engines, including crawling, indexing, and searching. Students will learn about information retrieval, search engine generations, methods and technologies; focusing on the linkpopularity and authority based PageRank® system by Google, Inc. Lessons will clarify the underlying procedures, algorithms, and implications. Students will design and optimize information architectures and documents addressing the aforementioned concerns.
The course will also cover advanced methods of code, page and architecture optimization and discuss structural, legal and ethical implications. Students will analyze several case studies, investigate and improve the information architecture, page structure, search engine ranking and traffic of several online examples and assignments. Class members will participate in several directories, Open Source projects and online communities. Students will devise and program several related applications and solutions, and prepare a final project that demonstrates the mastery of the methods and technology discussed in the class.
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WEEK 10 - Site and Pagerank® Optimization |
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File Name, Title Length, File Type, Naming Convention
PR Structure, Attributes, Flow, PR Matrix, PR Pyramids, PR Focus, PR Dilution, PR Directory Model, Sitemap Implications
Resource.
SearchEngineWorld. Search Engine World Theme Pyramids.
WebWorkshop. PageRank Calculator.
WebMasterWorld. Search Engine Theme Pyramids and Google.
Reading.
SearchEngineGuide. Understanding and Building Google PageRank.
GOOGLE DANCE AND SEARCH ENGINE UPDATE
Resource.
Google Update History.
Google Dance. Update Checker.
Remark. During the regular monthly update the Google webservers at http://www.google.com/, http://www2.google.com/, and http://www3.google.com/ show different results. The update, or Google Dance, is finished, when the results are the same across all webservers and datacenters.
Google does not have one location for the servers that supply the Search Engine Result Pages, (serps). For reasons of a logistical nature, it is better to have a number of datacentersä spread around the planet. They can be found by entering URI's such as www-in.google.com, www-ex.google.com etc.
Traditionally during the danceä, new serps would not appear in all the datacentres at one time, they would propagateä across the various DC's. This could give a heads-up on what one could expect in the final version. Things changed in the Dominic/Esmeralda updates.
Now, it appears as though Google will use certain DC's for experimental tweaksä of the algo that may, or may not, appear in the final Indexä. Thus, the great interest by webmasters in what they see for the serps in the various datacenters.
Remark. Other Google datacenters include http://www-ab.google.com/, http://www-cw.google.com/, http://www-dc.google.com/, http://www-ex.google.com/, http://www-fi.google.com/, http://www-gv.google.com/, http://www-in.google.com/, http://www-kr.google.com/, http://www-lm.google.com/, http://www-mc.google.com/, http://www-sj.google.com/, http://www-va.google.com/, and http://www-zu.google.com/.
Assignment Two Due.
Assignment Three.
Site Architecture ö Optimization and Theme Orientation.
Design and explain the information architecture of a keyword supported, theme oriented, and PageRank® based website of least 30 pages for three different scenarios:
First Scenario.
Hierarchical, three-level site architecture focusing on the main/index page.
Second Scenario.
Shared, three-level site architecture focusing on the second level pages.
Third Scenario.
Distributed three level site architecture or directory.
Remark. Please consider the implications of document interlinking, (redundant) navigation systems, sitemaps, and search engine robot/spider oriented web design on PageRank®, Keywords, and users.
Question.
What is Authority and what are the characteristics of an Authority Site?
Please describe the meaning of a Theme.
What is a Hub?
What does the term Portal mean?
What is the function of a Bridge Page?
What is a Doorway Page?
What is the objective of a Doorway or Gateway Domain?
What is a Blog?
How does a Google Bomb work?
Describe the meaning of the term Google Whacking.
Explain the meaning of the term Google Washing.
Case Study.
Please compare the PageRank® of several internet and web space providers, including Geocities. Which PageRank have the hosted user web sites at Geocities. Please explain your findings. What are the implications?
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WEEK 11 - Linkpopularity |
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The campaign tracking must include: the page title, the URL, the PageRank®, and the number of backlinks of the targeted website, the name, email, and contact information of the site owner, the date of submission, date of inclusion, and date of contact, the method of contact (email, web, phone), the state of the relationship, contact, reply and escalation level.
Resource.
Linkpopularity.com. Free Link Popularity.
Marketleap. Link Popularity Analysis.
Link Popularity Guide.
Link Tree. Targeted Link Popularity.
Google Toolbar. Free Toolbar. Internet Explorer Only.
SearchEngineWorld. Reciprocal Links and Their Importance.
LINKPROMOTION
Resource.
Alink Reciprocal Link Manager.
Linkpromotion.com. Templates and Promotion Guide.
Arelis. Axandra. Link promotion suite.
The following document provides a list of pages with a high PageRank, this might help for identifying highly ranked sites for link promotion and link exchange campaigns. Knowing the audience and target group is also helpful for identifying the appropriate domain and/or target language. Both factors have a huge influence on Search Engine results.
Resource.
Pages with high Google PageRanks.
Assignment Three Due.
Assignment Four.
Link Promotion
Apply the lessons of viral marketing strategies and conduct a successful link promotion campaign for a given web site. Analyze and document the ranking and competition for specific keywords, compile a list of the Top 50 competitors, Meta tags, keywords, outbound links, and respective email addresses. Request, exchange, and document at least 20 successfully established reciprocal/referrer links.
Required.
Ranking Analysis, competitors, referrer links and documented reciprocal links.
Case Study.
Key Phrases.
Please use any search engine for the following keywords and describe your findings: Powered byä and All rights reserved.ä Is it possible to devise a marketing strategy based on your findings? How would such a strategy look like and what would be the implications? Which other factors would you consider for this type of marketing?
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WEEK 12 - Directories, Editors, Submissions, and Delays |
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GOOGLE DIRECTORY
Remark: Web directories are hierarchical structures organized by subject. All user-submitted Web content is evaluated and classified by staff or volunteer editors who maintain one or more categories. The editors decide if a site will be added, moved between categories, or deleted. Web sites have to be submitted to the most appropriate category or subcategory within the respective directory. Once a site is accepted, it will also appear on other sites that share the same database, thus multiplying the effect. (Search engine relationships.)
Special attention should be devoted to the ethical and structural guidelines and style guides of directories and search engines. Any failure to comply with these rules can lead to the permanent removal of the respective website.
Resource.
Google Directory. (Ordered by PageRank.)
Google Directory. Alpha. (In alphabetical order.)
Remark. Google also mirrors its directory at http://directory-ab.google.com/, http://directory-cw.google.com/, http://directory-dc.google.com/, http://directory-ex.google.com/, http://directory-fi.google.com/, http://directory-gv.google.com/, http://directory-in.google.com/, http://directory-kr.google.com/, http://directory-lm.google.com/, http://directory-mc.google.com/, http://directory-sj.google.com/, http://directory-va.google.com/, and http://directory-zu.google.com/. Other mirrors of the Open Directory Project include: http://dirt.netscape.com/ and http://ch.dmoz.org/
DMOZ - OPEN DIRECTORY PROJECT
Resource.
Dmoz. Open Directory Project. (In alphabetical order)
Dmoz. Mirror. Netscape
Dmoz. Mirror. Switzerland.
Webmasterworld. European Search Engines and Directories.
Remark. Please compare the Google Directory http://directory.google.com/ and the Open Directory Project http://www.dmoz.org. The Google Directory includes and parses the so-called RDF files of the Open Directory Project whenever a new RDF dump is available during the Google Update. The Update of the Google Directory usually happens before the general Google Update
Remark. The following datacenters might provide valuable insight during an Google Update or crawl: http://www-ex.google.com/, http://www-fi.google.com/, http://www-sj.google.com/, http://www-va.google.com/, http://www-dc.google.com/, http://www-ab.google.com/, http://www-in.google.com/, http://www-zu.google.com/, and http://www-cw.google.com/.
Remark. Changing/Adding the IP entry of www.toolbarqueries.com to the TCP/IP host file will show the preliminary PageRank® from other datacenters before the Google Dance is finished. The IP addresses are as follows:
Name: www.google.com - Address: 216.239.53.99,
Name: www2.google.com - Address: 216.239.35.100,
Name: www3.google.com - Address: 216.239.35.100,
Name: www-sj.google.com - Address: 216.239.35.100,
Name: www-ex.google.com - Address: 216.239.33.100,
Name: www-fi.google.com - Address: 216.239.41.100,
Name: www-va.google.com - Address: 216.239.37.100,
Name: www-dc.google.com - Address: 216.239.39.100,
Name: www-ab.google.com - Address: 216.239.51.100,
Name: www-in.google.com - Address: 216.239.53.100,
Name: www-zu.google.com - Address: 216.239.55.100,
Name: www-cw.google.com - Address: 216.239.57.100.
Beware: Google might change these addresses.
Example: 216.239.33.100 toolbarqueries.google.comä (for www-ex.google.com)
[c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts (Windows 2000, WindowsXP) or c:\winnt\system32\drivers\etc\hosts (WinNT)]
DMOZ INFORMATION
Greenbuster, Editor, CatEditAll, (K)EditAll/(K)Catmv/Catmod/(K)Meta, Staff/Root
Resource.
Dmoz. ODP Navigator.
Dmoz. RDF Status check.
Dmoz. Sites with the most listings.
Dmoz. Top listed domains.
Dmoz. Meta-Editor Forum.
Dmoz. List of Meta Editors.
Remark. The following Meta Editors visit the popular Bulletin Board/ Forum Webmaster World http://www.webmasterworld.com/: rafalkä, ettoreä, and chosterä.
Resource.
Dmoz. Feedback form.
Dmoz. Email to the Dmoz staff.
Dmoz. RGB Seeker. Editor Tool.
DMOZ TOOLS FOR EDITORS
Resource.
Dmoz. ODP CatSpider.
Dmoz. ODP URL Spider.
Dmoz.Editable Search[4] Multiple URLs Editor
Dmoz. DmozBar for Mozilla.
Dmoz. TulipChain. Browser, link checker and editor
Dmoz. GooEdit.SiteSpider.
Assignment Four Due.
Assignment Five.
Directories, Dmoz and Zeal.
Apply for editing privileges for non-competitive, non-commercial subcategories at Zeal (Web Directory Results for Looksmart and MSN) and DMOZ, the Open Directory Project (Directory Results for Google, Netscape, AOL and others). Read and understand the guidelines of both directories carefully, submit all necessary information and examples, pass the Zealot/Expert Zealot test and identify and submit valuable, unique content for these categories. Do not spam any category or directory and do not submit pages that you are affiliated with or that might cause a conflict of interest for you. Please consider the fact that the very same page/content may fit into several directory categories and identify the most appropriate one.
Required.
Editor account, password, and 200 quality edits in each directory.
The following three resources help in identifying valuable sites with unique content for Zealots and editors of the Open Directory Project.
Resource.
Visimo Search. Meta Search Engine.
Surfwax. Meta Search Engine.
Kartoo. Visual Meta Search Engine.
WIKIPEDIA
The Wikipedia is a free encyclopedia written collaboratively by users and volunteers. Wikipedia is based on WikiWiki, a content management system, that allows everyone to edit any given article, add further information, and thus contribute to the growing encyclopedia.
All articles are covered by the GNU Documentation License, ensuring, that the content will remain Open Source and free.
Assignment Six. Visit the Wikipedia encyclopedia, and get familiar with the project and its history. Explore the requested articles and information and contribute, edit, or add at least 50 articles or texts.
Case Study.
Directory Editor Behavior, Guidelines and Abuse.
Please analyze the contributed sites of two high ranked Expert Zealots mihir_parmarä (more than 26,000 sites contributed) and vikram_pä (more than 22,000 sites contributed). Why did both Zealots contribute hundreds, if not thousands of pages from: http://www.1upinfo.com, http://www.1uphealth.com, http://www.1uptravel.com, and similar sites? Would the content be considered unique content and where is the content coming from? What are the risks of such activities and what are the possible implications for the user, the directory, the submitter and the editor/Zealot itself?
Case Study.
PageRank of Google Directory, DMOZ, and other ODP clones
Remark. Directory structure and PageRank ö advisory for potential editors
Dirt.netscape.com
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Schedule Week 13-14>> |
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