It is no wonder Yahoo is the number two search engine in the world. Early in October I started a new website called NameBait.com. The purpose of this new site is to cover the world of domain names and my fascination with it.

I run a WordPress blog on that site and have set it up to generate and update an XML site map automatically with each new post. Once the site map has been updated, each of the major three search engines is pinged to let them know of the update. Google drops by within minutes, if not seconds, to take a look at the new site map and to index the new page(s). Yahoo on the other hand may go several days without stopping by.

I am aware of the whole sandbox concept and understand that we are talking about a brand new site. Keep in mind though that the sandbox is typically attributed to Google and yet they make the best effort to check out the new content. Thank you Google. It is clear to me why you are the number one search engine.

I will say one nice thing about Yahoo even though it is more of a backhanded compliment. Yahoo has at least come by the site. Even though they are always way behind Google, at least they still play in the game. MSN and Ask have not even been by yet this month (November). Nice work guys. Now I am not saying I have great content or that what I write is groundbreaking earthshattering stuff, but it is interesting that you can see why some companies lead and others follow. All that just by checking log files.

I just noticed this morning that PageRank updates have occurred for a couple of my sites. I just thought I would mention it in case anyone has been waiting on an update.

My updates.
ChildInsure.com – From 2 to 3
ChildInsure.com Blog – From 0 to 2
InfoBriefs.com – From 2 to 3
MySpaceLayoutDirectory.com – From 2 to 3
SmokinSevens.com – From 0 to 2

Thanks Google. I appreciate the love. Do you have any more where that came from?

Domain names are a key aspect of the SEO mix. As such, I have been digging in to the world of domaining lately and have started a new domaining blog at NameBait.com. Go check it out and see what you think.

I have been developing some awesome SEO resources at TechnologicalMarketing.com. The purpose of TechnologicalMarketing.com is to study the application of technology to marketing. This can include anything from Podcasting, SEO, AdWords, etc. Come on over to the site and join in on the effort.

Hello to all of you readers. I have created a new audio course called SEO for Dummies. It is a great course for those of you looking for ideas on SEO and want to know what SEO can do for you. The tips in this audio course are what separates the SEO experts from the amateurs, so download your copy now!

To get your free copy of the course just email seofordummiesaudio@getresponse.com. This will then send you a confirmation email to verify that you want to download the course. Upon verification the location of the download file will be sent to you at your email address.

I came across a good article this morning titled Promotion World: RSS Feed Tips to Help Search Engine Optimization. It is definitely worth reading for those of you who are looking for new and innovative techniques for your search engine optimization strategy. RSS feeds are a great way to drive traffic to your site and differentiate your site from everyone else on the web in your keyword market. If you are interested in an example of a RSS feed, you can look at the one set up for this blog. Follow this link to see the RSS feed for KansasCitySEO.com. I have included an excerpt from the article and encourage you to look into it further.

From “Promotion World: RSS Feed Tips to Help Search Engine Optimization”. “RSS feeds are a great communication medium, and when properly managed, web feeds can bring in significant Internet traffic. RSS feeds should contain compelling themed content with episodic titles that are united in common broad theme. Use RSS feeds as an online marketing and search engine optimization tool.”

Here is a snippet from a Yahoo article regarding Google’s selection as the search engine for Myspace. This puts two powerful web companies together in a partnership that is worthy of notice for you search engine optimizers out there.

“NEW YORK (Reuters) – News Corp.’s (NYSE:NWS – news) Fox Interactive Media on Monday said it selected Google Inc. (Nasdaq:GOOG – news) as MySpace.com’s search system in a multiyear search and advertising deal that also covers some of Fox’s other properties.” Full Google and Myspace Article.

Today’s post does not have a whole lot to do with SEO, but it is a web development reminder that should not be forgotten. In the past, web developers were aware of screen resolution when developing websites. As an unspoken standard, most web developers used 800×600 as the rule of thumb for laying out their website. Then screens got bigger and wider and developers have relaxed on the 800×600 standard.

This last weekend I spent some time on someone else’s machine and they were using the 800×600 resolution setting and we were scrolling left and right on the webpages of some high profile websites. Apparently those sites have forgotten that not everyone runs one of the higher resolutions and they have made it more work for their visitors who use 800×600. Don’t be one of those sites.

Today’s SEO tip is something that you can do on your website to help gain your visitors’ trust, which in turn helps to capture more sales and leads. What is the tip? Include a picture of yourself and/or your team on your website. This helps your visitors put a face with the name and it lets them know that there is a real living and breathing human behind your website.

If you would like an example you can take a look at my poor attempt at a picture on the main page of my Kansas City SEO site and on several pages of my child insurance site. It is probably time to update the picture, but at least you can see what I mean. It doesn’t have to be too much, but your visitors will appreciate your efforts. It may even give them a little something to laugh about and that is not all bad.

Tonight rather than talking about a “how-to”, I am going to pose a scenario to you readers and see what you think. I have not tested the use of eBay for SEO purposes, but I imagine that inexpensive auctions could definitely drive some traffic to your website. You could offer an informational product for $1.00 and include links to further information and images related to your product on your website.

I am sure this is not a new thought, but I wonder if links from eBay auctions count towards your Google PageRank. I can see where they might not because the auctions run so fast that it is hardly relevant for Google to query those pages. On the flip side though, if the pages get crawled then these links would probably be counted toward your site’s incoming link total. Does anyone have any experience with this? If so, please post comments and lets get a discussion going.