It seems I now do this rant every single year when traffic statistics are discussed in web industry news. Last week I posted to my Reality SEO blog that referred traffic numbers are the only statistic that webmasters should be concerned about when looking at their search engine rank. I wrote about this last year after ComScore Media Metrics statistics were released discussing Search Engine Queries generated by each search property.Well now that MSN search has made its official debut, we can see that they put three “Sponsored Sites” links both above and below their organic search results, along with those Overture (Soon to be Yahoo Branded) PPC ads along the right side of the page. Not bad visually, but it appears to be keeping visitors on the MSN search site because they simply are NOT clicking through to highly ranked sites according to closely watched traffic statistics of several sites I monitor for clients.

I’ve been pouring over web stats for a half dozen clients looking for traffic from MSN and it is missing in action. Even though these sites rank well for targeted terms for my clients - MSN is not delivering the traffic at all.This has always been an issue for SEO’s and their clients and we are puzzling this one over, looking for results from those top rankings at both Yahoo and MSN as they seem to retain the searchers no matter how well we rank the sites!

Yahoo has dropped dramatically, with referred traffic that used to amount to over 5% of the visitors to client sites; it has dropped as low as 1.5% of total referred traffic from search engines. After a recent increase in referred traffic from Yahoo search, we were hopeful it would stay high, but it wasn’t to be. Rankings have not declined - Read That Again - Rankings have not declined, just the referred traffic!Google has gone up in referrals from foreign countries, including foreign language sites. We used to see tiny amounts of traffic trickle in from non-English language countries, but Google country sites for Netherlands, Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Mexico and a dozen other language specific Googles have combined to send more non-English referred traffic than the total coming from (English) Yahoo Search!

The search world is getting very odd when great rankings at Yahoo and MSN don’t equal referred traffic. This has always been the case to a degree, but is getting extreme and very disturbing. Google has always sent more traffic, with as much as 85% of referred search traffic coming from English Speaking Google variants in US, Canada, India, New Zealand, Australia, and UK sending more traffic than both the US Yahoo and MSN.What is the value of top rankings in MSN and Yahoo if those top positions don’t bring traffic?

Zippo, none are coming from MSN Search even though we are better ranked in several important search phrases for client sites at MSN than at Google! This is serious and it’s a problem that we must resolve. “Searches performed” statistics, like those exhaustively researched by Bill Platt in a recent article are absolutely meaningless if searchers don’t click-through to top ranking sites! What does this mean?Even though I write a similar article each year, discuss this topic on large discussion lists and mention it regularly in my Reality SEO blog, I have yet to get honest answers from search engine representatives at Yahoo or MSN. I did get a couple of Yahoo Search managers to admit that more visitors stay on the Yahoo site and continue to either PPC ads or to other Yahoo links because “There is more of value to the searcher at Yahoo.” What is of more value to a searcher than relevant search results?

I gave those Yahoos�s access to my traffic statistics and those of clients so they could see that nearly 70% of my traffic and that of clients was coming from Google - Even When Those Same Sites Ranked Highly in Searches at Yahoo! No comment and no explanations as to why, when they generate huge numbers of search queries, that far fewer visitors click-through from Yahoo search results than do from Google search results.One must assume that someone searching for something visits at least a few of the sites that appear in the list of search results, no? They sure do visit from Google in significant numbers - consistently. But both Yahoo and MSN Search are failing to send referred search traffic to sites ranked highly in their search results. Why?

I highly recommend that all webmasters with access to statistics for their own site look seriously at your traffic referred by Yahoo & MSN for search phrases you rank well on. Do YOU have traffic referred by Yahoo or MSN Search for your high ranking search phrases? Why not?

By Mike Banks Valentine
Mike Banks Valentine operates WebSite101.com and performs ethical search engine optimization and press release optimization & distribution online. If you’ve got news you can rank at the top for your search phrases.

Chris Sherman recently wrote about a new study that defines a “golden triangle,” or where Web sites should appear in Google for optimal search engine visibility, in both paid and natural search results:
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The study found that most viewers looked at results in an “F” shaped scan pattern, with the eye travelling vertically along the far left side of the results looking for visual cues (relevant words, brands, etc) and then scanning to the right, as if something caught the participant’s attention…. The researchers called this pattern a “golden triangle” at the top of result pages.
As a professional search engine optimizer, I guess I was supposed to be amazed and thoroughly impressed with this study’s conclusions. As a Web developer and usability professional, I’ll try to present my initial reaction with utmost clarity and sincerity: Duh!
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Eye Tracking and Search Result Pages
The groups that put together this study appear to specialize in search engine advertising, not SEO (define). If they did, they’d know many Web developers create search sections for Web sites. Creating user-friendly, intuitive search pages isn’t as easy as one might think.
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Where will the search box be located? How will search results be displayed? How many characters in the title tag will be included in each search result? Will the description be extracted from a meta-tag description, an actual page snippet, or a combination of the two? How many results per page will display? Will site visitors be able to personalize search result settings? What advanced search options will be available?
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Once the site owner answers these questions, usability testing begins with wire-frame designs on paper. If a client can’t afford usability testing, we tend to go with current usability standards. As always, we measure and test search pages’ effectiveness through Web analytics data.
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Trust me. Usability pros already knew about the golden triangle. Better, they know the hot spots on a variety of home, category, product, news, and other Web pages.
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Eye Tracking and SEM
I might not have been too impressed with the actual data, but I was impressed more search engine marketers are becoming usability-savvy — finally.
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Not sure how end users will respond to an advertising landing page? Eye tracking can help, especially if the design team doesn’t understand how to use colour, typefaces, white space, and animation to draw attention to important elements on a page.
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In addition, search-friendly Web developers will have some extra data before they launch an updated site design.
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Eye tracking isn’t for everyone. It can be expensive and somewhat time consuming, especially when you have to find the ideal number of qualified participants. But it is kind of fun. Every time I put on an oculometer, I feel like Doc in the first “Back to the Future” movie.
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Search Engine Position Obsession
I worry about how search engine optimizers will use the data from this survey. Undoubtedly, they’ll use it as “proof” a top-five search engine position is critical for sales.
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Ever have a client whose site must absolutely, positively be in the number one position on all the search engines? No matter what the site looks like? I have a client with over 900 top search engine positions for targeted keyword phrases in the healthcare industry. These are competitive phrases, with local qualifiers and everything. Of these 900 top positions, approximately 730 are in the top 10.
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With all this search engine visibility, the site generates thousands upon thousands of qualified leads and millions of dollars in sales, right? Wrong. The site generates very little income. Here’s why.
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The content hasn’t been updated since 1998, nor has the design been updated to accommodate newer browsers. In addition, the primary decision-maker has an unusually small computer monitor. When the Web development firm suggested a more user-friendly layout that fits easily on a 800 x 600 monitor, this decision-maker saw horizontal scrolling in the new design and vetoed further development.
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A site can have hundreds, even thousands, of natural search engine positions and still get little or no return on investment (ROI). Many Web sites get plenty of search engine traffic and don’t get a good ROI. That’s why SEO’s main focus of should not be positioning.
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Another client doesn’t have many top search engine positions. Only a handful of keyword phrases actually rank within the top 30 search results. After reviewing the site statistics, we determined the site receives over 30 percent of its natural traffic from search engines, up from less than 5 percent in the previous year.
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When we compare the number of qualified sales leads, with resulting sales generated from search engine traffic in 2004 and 2005, the numbers impress me. Sales leads doubled with only a few top search engine positions? Nine hundred top search engine positions, but still no sales? What does this prove?
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Positioning is not nearly as important as people think it is. This brings me back to the eye-tracking study.
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Conclusion
Eye-tracking, search engine positioning, Web analytics — all this data is important in creating an effective Web site. Let’s keep the data in perspective. Should a business owner whose site already receives outstanding ROI suddenly go after top-five positions as a result of this eye-tracking study? I don’t believe that’s necessary.
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So kudos to search engine marketers for becoming more usability-savvy. But remember: keep data in perspective.

By Shari Thurow

Unlike submitting to search engines, submitting your site to directories and niche portals usually involves a lot more than simply typing in your URL. You often have to start by researching the various topic categories to find the most appropriate area to submit to. Then you generally have to provide some detailed information about your site, its’ content, your company and your contact details.

When selecting the most appropriate Directory category to submit your site to, conduct a search for your main keyword phrase and view the various related categories. Study the sites listed within these categories and choose the category that is the most relevant to or closely related to your site content. Some directories like ODP have specific Category Descriptions you should read before submitting, to ensure you have chosen the most relevant topic for your site.

Another way to choose your category is to search for sites belonging to your direct competitors. It is likely that the category they are listed in will be the most relevant to your site. If your site targets or discusses a specific regional market, you will need to submit to a regional category. For example, if my site was about rental cars for hire in Sydney, Australia, I would need to submit it to the regional Yahoo category and not the general Yahoo rental car category.

I find it useful to submit a slightly different description of my client’s sites for each directory submission. That way, I can gauge which descriptions are more effective in terms of encouraging people to click and also which directories are providing my clients with the most traffic. Many directories feed their database results to other engines and directories, so if I have a description unique to each directory and I see that description pop up on other search sites, I know it is the result of that original directory submission and immediately recognize the value of that original submission.

Remember that directory editors don’t care about your site’s ranking in their search results. If they are reviewing a site submission that contains an obviously keyword stuffed title and description, they are unlikely to find it appealing or beneficial for inclusion in their database! Always make sure your submission details are relevant, interesting and accurate. Try to highlight your site’s benefits for the visitor and unique content that makes it stand out from others in the same category. If your site sounds just like a cookie-cutter version of others of the same topic, there is no incentive for the editor to include it.

Submitting to the Yahoo! Directory
There are a couple of sites where you want to take extreme care and do advance research when submitting your site. One of these is the Yahoo! Directory. The way you submit your site to Yahoo! can make or break your site’s ultimate ranking in the Directory and if you’re not careful, could also cost you USD $299 for nothing.

With Yahoo!’s huge market share and popularity worldwide, I believe it’s vital that your site is listed in Yahoo!’s Directory. The best way to get listed quickly is by paying the fee for Express Submission. Yahoo! Express is an expedited fee-based site suggestion service for web sites submitted to the Yahoo! directory. A member of Yahoo!’s editorial staff will look at your site, consider your suggestion and respond to you within 7 business days.

Important: Payment does not guarantee inclusion in the directory, site placement, or site commentary. It only guarantees that Yahoo! will respond to your suggestion within seven business days, by either adding or denying the site.

The secret to obtaining excellent results via your Yahoo! submission is to choose the most appropriate category and include a carefully-crafted description that contains your main keyword phrase/s without being too verbose. For those of you offering a Yahoo! submission service to clients, be sure to charge a generous admin fee for your expertise in researching the category and writing the description for your client � a successful Yahoo submission can pay dividends for your client for years.

Example of a successful site description for Yahoo!:
ABC VIP Adventures - offers tailored adventure travel and vacation packages to New Zealand including day tours, exotic corporate trips, luxury travel packages, kite surfing, and extreme sports.

Example of an unsuccessful site description for Yahoo!:
ABC Travel - we are the best! We are the only company to contact for your vacation. Call now!

The latter does not use the actual company name, plus it contains lots of hype but no keywords and few clues as to what the site is about. In this case, the Yahoo! editor would have to visit the site submitted and come up with their own description and it’s doubtful the edited description will be something the submitter would be happy with.

Submitting to Open Directory
Another Directory where submission is critical is the Open Directory. DMOZ is run entirely by volunteers and your site submission must be hand-reviewed by one of these volunteers before it can be considered for inclusion. DMOZ is extremely under-staffed (I know this because I’m a DMOZ editor!) and it can take 6 or more months before your submission is reviewed � you must be patient. When submitting to DMOZ, make sure you follow the directory submission guidelines above and prepare to wait, wait and wait some more.

Procedure to follow for a successful DMOZ Submission:
1) Submit site
2) Wait for 3 months
3) Follow up email to category editor
4) Wait for 3 months
5) Escalation email to category editor above your category
6) Wait for 3 months
7) Ask for assistance in the Open Directory Public Forum
8) Wait for 1 month
9) Escalation email to DMOZ senior staff & post to various forums seeking help

Rules of Submission
1) Do it once: Despite the hype, there is never a need to resubmit to a search engine or directory unless your site is dropped entirely (which is a very rare occurrence).
2) Do it properly: Be very thorough when submitting, especially to directories. Take the time to research and locate the most appropriate category for your site.
3) Be brief: Don’t waffle on about your site in the description field. Get to the point and describe your site in a short sentence or two.
4) Be accurate: Don’t try to trick potential visitors by using vague or misleading descriptions about your products or services.
5) Be relevant: There is a fine line to tread between relevance and keyword optimization when creating your site descriptions for submissions. Try not to cross it by using descriptions over-stuffed with keywords.
6) Be humble: “Best Web Site in the World!!!!” is not going to convince anyone and may earn you the wrath of search engine editors.
7) Be patient: Search engines and directories can take up to 6 months to index and list your site. Re-submitting won’t help things and could result in your site being shoved to the bottom of the review pile.

So that wraps up the directory submission process. It can be time consuming, but taking a little bit of time and care with your submissions can pay dividends for your site for years to come.

By Kalena Jordan