The Search Ninja

The Nature of Leadership

• Leadership, like power expresses itself in its effects. It cannot be experienced directly.
• Leadership is an innate quality that is developed through experience.
• Leadership is an innate quality that can be refined by applying technical learning.

The Effects of Strong Leadership

• Leadership is demonstrated by facilitating effective and inspiring interactions with a diversity of people
• Leadership is strongly rooted in flexible thinking and adaptable behavior.
• Leaders inspire loyalty, honor and passion in those they lead.

The Character and Manner of a Leader

• Leadership is not the product of applying “systems” or techniques of trendy “managerial psychology”.
• Those who claim to be great leaders are generally also trying to convince themselves.
• One does not become a great leader by hanging inspirational posters.
• One does not become a great leader by reading books on leadership.
• Those who are obsessed with being recognized as great leaders; never are.

I’ll apologize in advance for beating this horse which is very much dead and gone, however:
After reading some highly visible misinformation about PageRank recently I would like to offer a few points of clarification on the Larry Page brainchild:

For more info read: Google PageRank and Related Technologies (PDF)

As some of my more astute readership may have deduced; My second tenure with Pole Position Marketing has drawn to a close. And while I was somewhat saddened to go I have left behind a lasting legacy in the form of research, infrastructure and many satisfied clients.

Short History…
My relationship with Pole Position Marketing began about 4 years ago, when I was hired to do link research for the company as its second employee. The three of us: Stoney, my good friend Brendan and myself worked out of Stoney’s home-office. At that time Pole Position Marketing was called Pole Position Web. We quickly moved into a real office space and for the next year Stoney and I worked together developing and refining the business operations, corporate image, brand identity, job roles, etc. I watched the small-time operation develop into a respectable SEO business.

GreenBUILT…
In the summer of 2005 I left PPM to pursue my own endeavors under the banner of GreenBUILT Research & Development.

Round 2…
I went back to Pole Position Marketing for a second term back in October of ‘06 when Stoney contacted me to discuss possibly working together again. After some discussion I rejoined the PPM team and was able continue and complete my work there. Last month PPM and myself parted ways once again, however this time I am able to say that I have truly completed my work there. The only regret I have is not having had more time to work with my apprentice, Rob (a.k.a. Rob “Bass” - The Right Hand with the Master Plan. ). But he will do just fine if he continues to apply the first two laws of learning Second Generation SEO:

1. - All SEO information is essentially worthless.
2. - If you want to learn SEO, don’t look to SEO resources to help you.

Most publicly available information about SEO is absolute shit.
News is no exception: Aside from being inordinately voluminous (literally hundreds of goings-on per day are reported), SEO news is very predictable and generally comes in one of three varieties:

Gossip: SEO’s talking about other SEO’s (or the search engines).
Which can be further sub-divided into two categories:

• Inflammatory remarks designed to spark a heated (and extensively reported) conflict.
• Nauseating flattery from SEO groupies, pseudo-SEO’s or SEO brown-nosers.

Ego: SEO’s talking about themselves: how successful they are, discussing high profile clients, or comparing themselves to more popular SEO’s.

SEO’s love to talk about themselves.
The SEO’s soap-box is actually more of a podium,
a very large podium; with a comically oversized microphone…

Sensationalism: Outside people talking about SEO and (usually) casting a negative light on the industry

In the tradition of Geraldo’s “Satanic Panic” campaign of the late 80’s and early 90’s, modern Internet news outlets of all types love to portray SEO as the seedy under-belly of marketing, who’s squalid cast would fit nicely in a police lineup of pimps, thieves and drug dealers

I recently read an Australian news story which featured the following sub-heading: “The recent misfortune of a search engine optimisation firm has lifted the lid on shadowy tactics in this controversial industry”

An alleged “SEO guru” stated, (under the condition of anonymity) that most SEO firms are unethical. Other anonymous “experts” chimed in pointing the finger of shame at SEO’s such as those that operate the maligned SEO firm discussed in the article. Bravo!

I know that I’m going to sleep a little better knowing that the self-appointed moral-vanguards of the SEO industry are silently helping the media to uncover the evils that lie writhing beneath the flimsy professional exterior of the search marketing industry.

If todays top SEO’s really are doing well for their clients, they don’t have a clue why.

read more | digg story

Your results:
You are Hulk

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Quiz

In a bold and festive (April Fools) gesture, the Dark SEO Team appears to have hacked Matt Cutts blog. You can click the image below for a full screenshot that I took just minutes ago.

A cool little ajax tool that furnishes quick stats about your site’s popularity according to various sources.

read more | digg story

With the release of Stoney’s Destination Marketing piece I started to think about some of the SEO jargon that gets invented and proliferated throughout the search marketing community. Some of the SEO speak you hear is slick and clever; rolling off the tongue and snapping like a whip at anyone within earshot.

PPC, SERPS, ROI

There are also some not-so-crack-o-the-whip terms that have been concocted by SEO’s as well. We don’t need to rehash them here or pick on anybody, but I’m sure we can think of a few that fit this category.

Here I’m going to detail some of the SEO Jargon & Acronyms that I myself am quick to use; be they creations of my own or of my local colleagues who are, with myself, the co-rulers of SEO here in Reno (Bow Down Sucka!).

• Term: Destination Marketing
• Description: Destination Marketing is the product of a family of philosophies on search marketing that reflects the way we do SEM for our clients at Pole Position. It is based around the simple yet profound idea that websites should be built up as true Internet destinations; offering unique value within their niche and thereby securing loyalty, reputation and success.
• Credits: Stoney deGeyter

• Acronym: AXP
• Definition: Access Probability: A family of technologies that I developed to serve as accurate performance metrics for search marketing campaigns.
• Credits: Jason Green

• Acronym: KRP
• Definition: Keyword Ranking Performance: PPM’s embodiment of the AXP core formula.
• Credits: Stoney deGeyter

• Term:The Little Death
• Description: Non-indexing or temporary index drop caused by a temporary server outage or other “act of god” that prevents a web robot from finding your site or causes a web robot to ignore your site. “Now Ya See It… Now Ya Don’t”
• Credits: Jason Green

• Acronym: S.I.R.E.
• Definition: Search Index Reverse Engineering: The name of an ongoing project which began in 2004 that seeks to understand primary search engine mechanics through innovative re-engineering techniques.
• Credits: Jason Green

• Term: SEOnce (see-on-s)
• Description: A combination of “SEO” and “Science”. This term is used to describe some of the more questionable research techniques and resulting conclusions crafted by some SEO’s who are very much unqualified to do so. Search engine psuedo-science. Alternative use: “SEOntific”
• Credits: Jason Green

• Acronym: SEO2g
• Definition: 2nd Generation Search Engine Optimization: The theory and practice of an evolved SEO methodology which is based upon a solid understanding of web IR resulting from valid research.
• Credits: Jason Green

• Term: Inquirio Magnus
• Description: A nick-name that I half-jokingly like to flatter myself with from time to time. It means “The Great One of Search”.
• Credits: Jason Green

• Term: SEOBoss
• Description: Stoney’s new nick-name which is boldly written on the vanity plates for his 69′ Charger
• Credits: Stoney deGeyter

There are many more, but I’m tired of typing and so that will have to do.

I saw the boss briefly today and got a little bit of info about the SEMpdx SearchFest at which he presented on keyword research. According to the already emerging coverage of the event, Stoney’s presentation stood out to the attendees and is being met with praise. I would like to congratulate him on nailing what I already knew would be an excellent presentation.