Barry Adams

An Unintended Side-Effect of Google’s Hunt for Bad Links

by Barry Adams May 14, 2012

As you’ll probably know Google has been ramping up its fight against webspam recently, especially focusing on bad links. As a result, many sites that have received ‘bad link’ notifications in Webmaster Tools and/or have been hit with the sledgehammer of a Google penalty are scrambling to get those spammy links removed. In some cases [...]

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Ecommerce Category Pages / Don’t Rely on Google / Free Speech

by Barry Adams May 11, 2012

In a new post for Search News Central I list a few of the aspects that go in to making a successful category page for an ecommerce website: Search News Central: Best Practices for Ecommerce Category Pages Essentially a category page is a transit point, a fleeting stop between arrival and destination. Its purpose is [...]

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The problem with Google’s feature creep

by Barry Adams May 1, 2012

As of today, Google has started showing credit card affiliate links in its (UK) search results. Do a search for ‘compare credit cards’ on Google and chances are you’ll see a box below the ads, and above the first organic result, with some credit card deals on which Google earns an affiliate commission: There are [...]

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Reclaiming (not provided) / Author Rank Hype

by Barry Adams April 24, 2012

For State of Search I explored a way to reclaim some of the keyword data that was lost when Google implemented SSL search. With some clever Google Analytics filters and custom reports it’s fairly easy to correlate (not provided) keywords with known keywords, and thus reclaim some of your lost metrics: State of Search: Yet [...]

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Google’s ‘free internet’ hypocrisy

by Barry Adams April 16, 2012

A Google co-founder advocating a free & open internet, whilst his own company is among the most ferociously secretive and possessing a voracious information appetite, is more than a little ironic. View my “Google’s ‘free internet’ hypocrisy” rant on Storify.

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SEO Debates / Click2Rank Interview

by Barry Adams March 28, 2012

In my latest article for State of Search I argue against arguing about SEO – or at least a specific type of ‘meta’ argument about SEO: State of Search: The Source of All SEO Debates These meta arguments are about whether SEO equates to spam or not, whether a tactic is white hat or black [...]

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SEO Hype / Google’s Schizophrenia / Online News

by Barry Adams March 14, 2012

A big list of updates this time, as lots has been published in recent days. For State of Search I wrote a much-needed post calling for less hype and hyperbole in SEO, and more celebration of the basic stuff that, while not sexy and cutting edge, still delivers results for clients: State of Search: Hype [...]

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Google Data Accuracy / SEO Dojo Radio / Niche Linkbuilding

by Barry Adams February 22, 2012

In my latest post for Search News Central I dig in to the data Google provides us with via Webmaster Tools and the AdWords Keyword Tool. I find some major discrepancies between data sets, especially where search volume is concerned: Search News Central: Does Google Tools Data Really Add up? Most of us have by now [...]

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The TopSEOs Scam / SEO and Quantum Theory

by Barry Adams January 24, 2012

For State of Search I wrote a rant against TopSEOs, a notorious scam intended to deceive potential clients with regards to a SEO company’s quality. I call on the SEO industry to stop lending implicit support to such deceptive practices and to take a stand: State of Search: TopSEOs: Kill The Hypocrisy, It’s Time To [...]

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