Mystery of the Viewstate Variable - Does It Really Affect SEO?

One of the more interesting questions that has emerged recently in the world of SEO is the mystery of the Viewstate variable. This handy little invention of Microsoft's twisted mind allows form users to recapture data they had previously typed in a form in the event that they hit the back button after already submitting the form. It's another way to get the functionality of session IDs (another search engine headache..lol). If you want to know more about the what the Viewstate variable is and why it is used, check out the Wiki article about it or this article. But the price you pay for this nice little feature can be large, literally. Many Viewstate variables can grow to be HUGE, some of which over 100K. And that has prompted many SEO professionals to become concerned about its potential effect on SEO. But will it really have any affect on your search listings?

There are really two main issues at the heart of potential SEO problems for the Viewstate variable:

1) The size of the variable can prevent the search engines from indexing some or all of the page.

2) The size of the variable pushes content down on the page, which makes it less important in the eyes of the search engine.

Let's look at each of these issues a little more closely to really understand the concerns.

The first issue really stems from Google's old "Best Practices" in which they used to recommend that Web masters make Web pages less than 100k because that is all they indexed for any given page. Thanks to technology advances, Google now indexes more than 100k. I have seen up pages of more than 500K indexed in Google and I am sure they do much more than that nowadays. Yahoo also has a the ability to index much more than 100k. So from that perspective, it is unlikely (although still theoretically possible) that you Viewstate variable will prevent search engine crawlers from indexing your content because of a file size issue.

The second issue is a little more problematic to draw a conclusion from. The thing is, although many SEO professionals including Rand Fishkin and Bruce Clay (scroll down half the page and read Bruce's advice on Tables which has a direct correlation to this issue) subscribe to the theory that keyword prominence is important to SEO rankings, it is not clear if the engine would view the Viewstate variable as being equivalent to text and / or whether or not the search engines would view the prominence of the content any differently if it was preceded by the Viewstate variable. In other words, it may just ignore it, in which case the page content is pretty much equivalent with or without the variable as far as the search engines are concerned. And from a logical point of view, it makes a certain amount of sense. However, when it comes to Google and SEO in general, assumptions based on logic don't always pay the bills...lol.

My philosophy about SEO has always been to eliminate as many unknown variables in the process as possible. And while I may have convinced a few people based on these observations that the Viewstate variable has no effect on SEO, it is virtually impossible to set up a controlled test to determine the effect absolutely. And so, because the potential for issues exists, my opinion is, don't leave it to chance. Or in this case, don't leave it to Google to decide if the Viewstate variable harms your search rankings. There are also some reports of problems with implementing Viewstate variables as it pertains to SEO (**note in this thread, Joe Brinkman of DotNetNuke proposes another possible solution). The other point I would make in justifying a change to the Viewstate variable to make it more SEO friendly (as well as PPC friendly) is that with big sites, this variable can have an affect on your load time and overall site performance. So it bears looking at even if you decide not to change it, to at least optimize the variables it stores.

So now that we have determined that we are concerned about the SEO effect that the Viewstate variable might have based on its default implementation, what can we do about it? We have four options:

1) Get rid of it (in other words, turn the Viewstate variable off).

2) Move the Viewstate to the bottom of the page. Another article about moving the Viewstate.

3) Make it smaller. You can use Viewstate decoder software to understand what variables are being passed and then eliminate the unnecessary ones. This can be very effective as the default setting for Viewstate is often times more than necessary.

4) If you are really technical, Peter Bromberg explains how you can move Viewstate to the server. ** Special disclaimer, I have never tried this personally but based on Peter's credentials and the content of his article, I believe this would be a good solution.

In the world of SEO where there are over 100 variables (according to Google) that can affect rankings, its always a good idea to eliminate as many potential problems as possible. It's also a good idea to not only optimize your site for rankings, but for users as well. And that means having as short of load times as possible. And with that in mind, I recommend using one of the four solutions presented here to make sure that the Viewstate variable is causing you problems you can't see.

SEO Content Strategy - The Importance of the "Application Page"

I'm back! lol. Sorry about the long delay since the last post but business has been going crazy around here and it's been hard to find time that wasn't dedicated to clients over the last two weeks. But no more excuses, lol.

Today I wanted to talk about content. Everyone knows (or should know) that sustainable search engine listings are based on compeling content. There are a number of different categories of content that are commonly used on most Web sites. These include "products", "services", "industries served", "support" or "help pages". But one category of content that is often missing from sites is "applications". And the reason that this category of content is so important is that it tends to be the most keyword focused.

When people are searching for your product or service, they often times do not know that they want your product or your service, or even your company. What they do know is, they have a problem. And that problem is often times associated with a specific "application" of your products or services. So for example, let's pick on Black and Decker, one of the most prolific tool manufacturers in the world. This is a great looking Web site that is broken into well thought out categories. It's easy to find any tool that you are looking for, assuming you know what tool you need. But what if you don't know what tool you need. By building content around a do it yourself section of the site that focuses on the most common applications of their tools, Black and Decker could target thousands of additional keywords including "deck building", "kitchen remodeling", "home improvement" as well as other relevant words that would have a high propensity to result in both sales and targeted branding.

A good example of a site that does "applications" well is Home Depot. Check out their "Know How Section". You can see they have the content to target those thousands of keywords that we were talking about. Only problem, they haven't even optimized their page titles yet! Doh! Well, you can't win em all I guess, but I still bet Home Depot gets more searches for related keywords to that content than Black and Decker does. And more importantly, they are serving their customers better.

Content that addresses the primary needs of your customers not only causes an increase in conversions and helps your site to become a more trusted resource with users, it also allows you to target some of your most important keywords through organic search. One of the most effective SEO strategies ever invented is a steady stream of keyword focused content based on keyword research. And looking to "applications" of your products or services for those keywords is a winning formula.

Google Now Crawling Forms to Find "Invisible Web"

Google announced today that they have started to experiment with filling out forms to get access to data that they currently can't see. Unfortunately there are still a lot of potential variables that can prevent your content from being indexed but it is a step in the right direction. Don't skip the noscript tags for your drop down menus just yet though. This experiment is so far confined to a limited number of trustworthy sites, and, remember that the no script tag is still good for accessibility for users without Java script. So while this is good news for searchers in general, I don't think it really changes much of the optimization process. Especially if you want to have a consistent pattern of indexing. One interesting note is the confirmation that Google does scan Java script and Flash for links, although again, to ensure that Google sees what we want it to see, existing optimization techniques should still continue to be used.

Shady crazy guy tries to trademark SEO

Good thing Sarah Bird was paying some attention to pending filed trademarks at the US Patent and Trademark Office and found someone named Jason Gambert trying to file a trademark for the word: SEO. The trademark is actually near it's final stages of getting approved and Sarah blogged about it on SEOMoz.

SEO, the acronym for Search Engine Optimization is so widely used just like saying you are a consultant and you offer consulting services. You can't just trademark "consulting" since it is not something that originally belongs to you to identify your product or service as part of it's brand. Although SEO may not be a dictionary word, it is still an acronym that is commonly used since the late 90's for Search Engine Optimization. It is a generic service that is almost like a verb in some ways.

Now some dude, named Jason Gambert attempts to register SEO as his trademark with his main premise as SEO is his process and it is not a service. After several declined statements from the US Patent and Trademark Office, he still shoots back and somehow convinces the trademark office to reached near the final stage. Right now it is openly published for opposition.

What will happen if Jason Gambert does get to register the word SEO as his trademark?

We can't tell the future but what he can do is file a cease and desist order to every company that uses the word SEO and say they cannot use it because he owns the trademark. So far this battle is led by Sarah who already started the filing of opposition which cost her $300 by the way. But if ever this still does not get the attention of the approving lawyers at the Patent and Trademark office, maybe more voices may help. Besides $300 is a small price to pay by any good SEO company.

• Sarah Bird's Story


• Status of Jason Gambert's Trademark Registration of SEO


• Where to File for a Notice of Opposition Sorry I am no lawyer to give specific how-to steps. I suggest consult your company lawyer how to do this.

I felt compelled myself to blog about this and I believe every SEO blogger should blog about it and get more people to tell the US Patent and Trademark Office that SEO is a service, not a process by Jason Gambert. SEO is almost common language to every ad agency and web design/development company today as it is part of their services.

4 SEO Tips for Improving Your Search Engine Optimization Strategy

Having an ongoing search engine optimization strategy is essential for any successful SEO campaign. And there is a big difference between SEO strategy and SEO techniques. I define SEO techniques as the actions that one takes to optimize a certain segment of a Web site. So in other words, having keyword focused title tags, changing 302 redirects to 301 redirects, optimizing content, are all techniques that can be used to optimize a Web site for search engines. How you put together the master plan of utilizing those techniques on an ongoing basis is your SEO strategy. It may seem at first like an exercise in semantics but its important to understand the difference. A person can employ a number of different SEO techniques that can help a Web site attain higher rankings, but if there is no overall game plan as to how these techniques are going to be used in conjunction with one another over a period of time, then there is no strategy. If I were to use a football (American football) analogy, doing SEO would be playing the game of football. Calling plays in a huddle and then running the plays is playing football with a strategy. Not having a huddle and just telling everyone to go get open, is playing without a strategy. You can win either way, but usually your odds improve greatly with a strategy. Football and SEO are the same in that way. So today I would like to give you 4 SEO tips (techniques) to improve your overall search engine optimization strategy.

SEO Strategy Tip #1: Add Internal Links Based on Your Analytics and Long Tail Keywords

Too often in SEO we focus on the big words that we want and we forget the low hanging fruit that can taste the sweetest. By studying your analytics and getting your keyword referrals, you can usually find a number of long keyword phrases that are relevant to your business. Because these phrases are long, they are not that popular with searchers and therefore the competition to target these phrases is much less. So for example, if you sell dog food, you might find that you start getting hits for "discount dog food in san diego" because your business happens to be located there. So you go to Google and find that you are currently ranked #6 for the phrase and it gave you two visitors last month. Now because you are smart, you have set up your analytics to measure conversions (sales) based on keyword referrals. If you are not smart and haven't done this yet, stop reading this post immediately and go fix that because it is a major problem with your business. Seriously.

(Back to the analogy) So looking at your conversion data you find that both clicks resulting from "discount dog food in san diego" converted into sales. So obviously it behooves you to rank #1 for that term. And the good news is that because that term is not that competitive, you can probably improve your rankings by adding a little bit of internal link text! Usually a few links for non competitive terms really makes a big difference in your ranking. So the first thing to do is to go to the page that is ranked for that phrase and make sure that the phrase appears at least once in the body of the main content. If it doesn't, figure out a way to add it without detracting from the readability and professionalism of your content. Now, go to Google and use this command to search:

site:www.yourdomain.com "discount dog food in san diego" (or whatever your keyword is)

This search command will show you all the instances of the phrase that already exist on your site. Change those occurrences of the phrase to link text pointing back to the page that already ranks for the term. If you don't have any results from the Google search, it's time to evaluate what other pages on the site you could add the phrase to manually and then link it. This is a very effective technique if you do it CONSISTENTLY. So part of your overall strategy should be to have time every month when you do this.

PS. This also helps with site usability :)

SEO Strategy Tip #2: Produce Content Based on Keyword Research on an Ongoing Basis

The biggest problem I see with most SEO initiative is the lack of resources dedicated to producing content on a consistent basis. And more so, producing content that is keyword focused. Whether its Web site content, articles or blog entries, your Web site should be producing content that is relevant to your readers on an ongoing basis. And there is no better gauge of what is relevant to your readers than the keywords that they are using to get to your site. Additionally, internal site search analytics are essential to understanding what your audience is looking for, and perhaps having difficulty finding. Give your users what they want and you will be successful. Your SEO strategy must include producing content on a consistent basis that is driven by keyword research. If not, your falling behind your competition even as we speak (um, read..lol).

SEO Strategy Tip #3: Blog

The advantages of blogging from a branding, authority building, content producing and networking perspective are too numerous to mention in this short article. From an SEO point of view, one of the biggest advantages to blogging is the number of links that you can generate in a fairly short amount of time. And I don't mean blog comment links (from do follow blogs) or profile links (make sure you customize your LinkedIn Anchor text to your Web site) although there is some merit in utilizing both of those in your overall link development strategy. But the primary advantage really in terms of linking is that bloggers link much more frequently than traditional Web masters. If for no other reason than they generally produce more content. But also the blogosphere has a little different culture than the World Wide Web in general and most bloggers are prone to linking within their content and their blog rolls when the content they are linking to justifies it.

Additionally, by promoting your blog in social media sites like Digg or Mixx, you can connect with like minded bloggers who are likely to link to your content (if it's good enough). Having a blog allows you to participate on the Internet in a completely different way than having a Web site. And if you do it right (make a great resource), you will find that it becomes one of your best link development tools. And it can also become one of your most important content creation tools as well.

SEO Strategy Tip #4: Make the Most of Your Existing Links

Many times companies come to us and they already have thousands and thousands of links. Rather than go out and look for more, sometimes the best use of time is to optimize the ones they already have. One of the things I typically do is gather all the back links I can find for a Web site and then evaluate what opportunities might exist to augment the most important ones with keyword focused ALT text. Many times these are links that the company already controls because they own sister sites or have related divisions under a different business name. Sometimes because of the size of some of these companies, the Webmaster for one division or international section of a company won't be in communication with another. And that's a gap that we bridge. Sometimes it's as easy as seeing which trade shows a company sponsors and asking those shows to add appropriate ALT text to an image link. Sometimes it's sending an email to a Web master thanking them for the link and asking them to add a keyword or two to the existing anchor text if possible. The point is, there are usually a number of creative ways to take better advantage of links you already have. Part of your SEO strategy should be to evaluate those opportunities on a consistent basis and then take action.

I hope these 4 SEO strategy tips help you to not only improve your overall search engine optimization campaign, but inspire you to start thinking about your overall strategy and stick to it consistently. In SEO, slow and steady doesn't always win the race, but it's usually in the top 3 ;)

Come Join and Have Fun at an SEO Company!

Just look at our previous blog post we had on April Fools Day. We indeed are having fun! But just because we do this, that doesn't mean we don't work and it's all play. We work hard because we have a lot of work on our hands and maybe you can help out with the work we do.

If you have the hard core skills in business or management and is thrilled to work in the online media space, you might want to join in the fun! We are currently looking for the following to start ASAP:

Business Analyst
Project Manager

These jobs are based in the cool and sunny San Diego, California. This is a full-time job with a complete line of benefits. Get to work with our team of experts in Internet marketing and web development that has delivered solutions for top brand clients such as Sony PlayStation, Hasbro, Cisco, Caterpillar, RailEurope, and many more.

Visit our job opportunities page for more details.

Photo Credit: Glenborough, LLC - 610 W. Ash, San Diego

April Fools Day Strikes Again - The Tin Foil Treatment

Here at BusinessOnLine, we work hard and play hard. And sometimes we prank hard. This is an old school style prank that was really well done today. Candyce is still recycling the tin foil as we speak :) Happy April Fools Day! TRUST NO ONE :)