We had an incredible special day, for which my wife and I are grateful.

The post Just Married appeared first on Eduard Blacquière's Search Marketing Blog, written by Eduard Blacquière.

The copy & paste problem

If the source people copy would be right, this wouldn’t be a problem. But that’s not the world we’re living in. Unfortunately this copy and paste behavior leads to a good chance of misinterpretation an awful lot of times.

What I’m missing is criticism. What’s the context of what you’re reading? What does it (not) mean? I’m no saint here either. In the past I’ve been guilty of this copy and paste behavior myself as well. It seems a natural pattern of people learning SEO.

But let us all stop copy and paste stuff that people say or write down, even be it Google’s Matt Cutts himself. And let us start questioning and thinking ourselves about what we’re hearing or reading. For example Google’s Reasonable Surfer patent.

Google’s Reasonable Surfer model

In recent weeks the SEO community got all wound up with a new patent from Google: the Reasonable Surfer model. As always ‘search engine patent spotter’ Bill Slawski found it and wrote a great post about it.

But a lot of people did just simply copy and paste Bill’s conclusions from Google’s Reasonable Surfer patent. And all people seem to take this as the truth.

Unfortunately I rarely see people questioning these things.

Questioning the Reasonable Surfer patent

Therefore I was happy to found out that David Harry wrote an awesome piece questioning Google’s Reasonable Surfer model.

Don’t get me wrong. I think it’s a really valuable insight into the algorithms of Google. But one major reason to question it for SEO’s sake is that the Reasonable Surfer model was filed back in 2004, which is 6(!) years ago…

So go ahead and and read David’s post: The reasonable surfer; makes for unreasonable thinkers.

And start questioning the stuff you hear and read yourself.

The post The (non)sense of Google’s Reasonable Surfer model appeared first on Eduard Blacquière's Search Marketing Blog, written by Eduard Blacquière.

Just like the first edition of SES Amsterdam last year, I’m presenting the results of the market research I conducted on the Dutch search engine marketing market.

My slides are in Dutch, but the illustrations might give you an idea what I’m talking about

The post My SES Amsterdam 2010 presentation appeared first on Eduard Blacquière's Search Marketing Blog, written by Eduard Blacquière.

There have been written a ton of articles about how Google works, but most of them are explanations from people outside of of Google. There’s nothing wrong with that, because those people are likely to be unbiased. But those people do not have the complete picture.

How Google’s search engine works

Google is giving basic information on how their search engine works. But on a rare occasion people are allowed inside Google’s headquarters to see a glimpse of how Google works.

This month Wired journalist Steven Levy has been allowed to join the Google Search Quality team. They are responsible for the development and improvement of Google’s algorithm: the heart of Google’s search engine.

Wired managed to get some inside information and comments on how Google works. I highly recommend reading the article which extensively describes how Google’s search engine works:

“How Google’s Algorithm Rules the Web” (wired.com)

The post How does Google work? appeared first on Eduard Blacquière's Search Marketing Blog, written by Eduard Blacquière.

The main reason would be my new job, in which I enthusiastically invested a lot of time since I started last December 1st.

So I am struggling to find the time for writing. Both on this blog and my Dutch blog (EdWords.nl), as well as other blogs I write for. I apologize for the quietness here and hope you’ll understand.

But please know that I’m actively using my Twitter account to post stuff I find interesting and worth sharing. So please head over to http://twitter.com/EdWords and let’s stay in touch!

And thanks for still being here

The post Quiet here? Follow me on Twitter appeared first on Eduard Blacquière's Search Marketing Blog, written by Eduard Blacquière.

Starting December 1st I will be joining my buddy and great SEO Joost de Valk and other talented and skilled people at OrangeValley! (Dutch site)

Developing SEO

I will be responsible for developing the SEO services alongside their on-site optimization services like web analytics, multi-variate testing and conversion optimization.

I am really looking forward working with a great team and developing an unique and high quality SEO proposition!

Thank you, Outrider!

I had a great time at Outrider, where I had the luck of learning from and working with a lot of talented people. I like to thank everybody at Outrider and within the GroupM network for this experience! Thanks for all the opportunities!

On my Dutch blog EdWords.nl I wrote an extensive post why I left, what OrangeValley is and what I will be doing there. Of course it is in Dutch

http://www.edwords.nl/2009/11/19/mijn-volgende-uitdaging/

The post My next challenge appeared first on Eduard Blacquière's Search Marketing Blog, written by Eduard Blacquière.

Except for the post I just wrote (“Why there is no Europe with Search Marketing“), my last posting here was 6 weeks ago. So you I owe you an update!

First of all, great you’re still hanging around here

Micro blogging

For the record, I have been blogging actively for the past couple of weeks and months. Well, Micro blogging that is (on Twitter as you might know).

There you will find me sharing articles and other Search related stuff at least once a day!

SEO Course

The main reason why I have not been posting a lot on this blog (and on my Dutch blog EdWords.nl as well), is because I have been writing an SEO course (for Dutch home study provider LOI).

And because I have a full-time SEO consultant job already, I have written the SEO course in the evenings and weekends. So you might understand the time to write blog posts regularly has been rare.

A bright horizon

But the good news is that the SEO course is finished, so I will have more time to start writing my thoughts down again! (I’ll let you know when the SEO course is available)

However, on the short term I am still busy with some new challenges (on which I’ll update you later), so don’t expect a weekly update here immediately

Thanks!

So for now I really appreciate that you are still subscribed to my blog or that you took the time to read this. Thanks!

The post “Where have you been?” appeared first on Eduard Blacquière's Search Marketing Blog, written by Eduard Blacquière.

Search Marketing in Europe is one of those cases where it’s not so easy. Why not, you ask? The answer is because there is no Europe when applying basically any type of marketing strategy.

Search is pull driven

Why is this important? This is important because it outlines the central and key approach of search engine marketing. Search stands out as one of the most pull driven media.

Therefore, search engine marketing is most effective when you adapt to your target market in the best possible way.

The people who search have the power. They express their intent and tell you what they want. It doesn’t get easier than that. Adapt to that intent of your target market best, and you’re a winner.

If you want to market your product or service to Europe, and if you approach Europe as one target market, then you will fail. You will fail because you won’t be adapting to local language, culture, law, religion, etc.; and that is exactly what search engine marketing is all about.

Case: SEO in Western Europe

Based at Outrider’s Amsterdam office, where we work for both local and international clients, I am facing this challenge daily. For example, we are doing SEO (Search Engine Optimization) for an international client in Western Europe.

Just like Mikkel describes in his article, there are a couple of countries in Western Europe which are close to each other and seem to be alike. There are even countries like the Netherlands and Belgium or Germany and Austria where people speak the same language. But mind you, there can still be huge cultural differences between those countries, let alone differences in law and religion.

For example, our client wanted to do link building in several countries. While the coordination is done centrally – the clients headquarters are in Amsterdam – we used the local expertise of our SEO consultants in every country. We made each country develop their individual link building strategy to adapt best to the local market. Eventually, this resulted in a successful overall link building strategy with local expertise being key to the success.

Translation is Not Enough

As you might already conclude from the stated differences, translating your web site to the local language is not enough. You need to adapt to the local culture, law, etc. to get the most out of the SEO efforts.

Therefore, we have used our local SEO specialists in the countries. They know their local market best, and combine that with their SEO expertise, aligned with the overall SEO strategy.

The Results

In the end, it’s all about the results. The differentiated approach works best when targeting Europe, because search engine marketing works best when it’s differentiated. And that ensures the best results for our clients.

Is it worth the effort? Definitely! Countries in Europe are among the countries with the highest internet broadband penetration. Therefore, it’s not uncommon to reach 1 million search visitors monthly, even in smaller countries like the Netherlands.

Of course the U.S. cannot be targeted as just 1 market, but the differences in language, culture, law and religion are even bigger in Europe. Do you want to expand your products or services to Europe? Adapt to the local markets as best as possible and you will succeed. You’ll see it’s definitely worth the effort.

The post Why there is no Europe with Search Marketing appeared first on Eduard Blacquière's Search Marketing Blog, written by Eduard Blacquière.

Especially with their new search engine like homepage. Can Google keep up with them or not? Will Twitter beat Google at its core? At least it is keeping the industry busy.

Google into real-time search more than ever

Of course Twitter still has a valuable database of tweets and conversations which Google and other search engines do not have. But do not make the mistake thinking that Google has lost the real-time search game. They’re into it more than ever.

Yesterday the Omgili blog highlighted how you can tweak Google’s new Search Options to filter results by minutes and even seconds. That seems close to real-time search, doesn’t it?

Read the rest of this post at SearchCowboys: “Can we stop the real-time search debate now?“.

The post Can we stop the real-time search debate now? appeared first on Eduard Blacquière's Search Marketing Blog, written by Eduard Blacquière.

He names 2 learnings out of this graphic which I think we all should remind ourselves frequently:

• There will always be shifts in media
• One format never supersedes another

At first sight this has nothing to do with Search, but understanding this shift in media definitely helps understanding the development and future of Search.

The post There will always be shifts in media appeared first on Eduard Blacquière's Search Marketing Blog, written by Eduard Blacquière.