Test your trivia and geography knowledge with Google SmartyPins

Are you good at tying together your trivia and geography skills? You have 1,000 miles -- spend them well.SmartyPins by Google.Google

If you're into trivia, and you know where most places are on the map, then Google's new SmartyPins game is sure to entertain you. The geo-trivia mashup game runs on the Google Maps platform and allows players to spend 1,000 miles trying to mark the correct location to answer each question.

Head to this link to access the game.

Categories in SmartyPins.Google

Before you click Start to begin a new game, you can decide if you want random questions, or if you want to get asked information about a specific category. We all have our specialties, right? Your choices will be Featured Topics (which has a submenu), Arts & Culture, Science & Geography, Sports & Games, Entertainment, and History & Current Events.

Answering a question in SmartyPins.Screenshot by Nicole Cozma/CNET

The first question will automatically load on the left-hand side of the screen, and to answer you have to drag the map pin to the correct location. Luckily, the map will start somewhere near the area you need to go, keeping you from moving across the entire globe. You'll probably have to zoom in to find some of the smaller cities and places, too. Once drop the pin, the name of the place it's on will display, and provide a button for your to Submit your answer. (You can still move the pin after you drop it.)

Bonus miles are awarded for answering a question within 15 seconds. If you need a hint, you can forfeit the bonus miles to see one right away.

A wrong answer on SmartyPins.Screenshot by Nicole Cozma/CNET

As you progress through the game, Google will award you with pins. So far, there's bronze, silver, gold, and diamond. Each time you pin the wrong location, SmartyPins will tally the total miles between the place you selected and the correct location, then deduct them from your total. Once you run out of miles, you lose.

Google will let you share your score with friends on Google+, Facebook, and Twitter, while also encouraging them to give the game a try.

While this game is not an entirely new concept, it's still something fun to do if you want to brush up on your geography and trivia.

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Microsoft flips switch on new webmail encryption

Microsoft has pulled back the curtain on its implementation of tougher encryption standardsfor Web-based email and some cloud services, the company announced Tuesday.

In the works for more than six months, Microsoft has now activated Transport Layer Security encryption (TLS) for its webmail services at Outlook.com, Hotmail.com, Live.com, and MSN.com. This means it will be significantly harder for email originating from and being sent to a Microsoft account to be spied on, as long as the connecting email service also uses TLS.

Matt Thomlinson, vice president of Microsoft's Trustworthy Computing division, said that this work is part of a "comprehensive engineering effort to strengthen encryption."

"This effort also helps us reinforce that governments use appropriate legal processes, not technical brute force, if they want access to that data," he said.

Although Thomlinson didn't specify the origins of this work, Microsoft's heightened encryption efforts follow an October 2013 report that the NSA had been spying on Internet giants in a program called Muscular. The report was based on documents leaked by one-time National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden.

Microsoft's move also comes just a few weeks after a well-publicized Google webmail report that painted Redmond in less than flattering colors. Google scored Microsoft, along with Comcast and Apple, as webmail providers with inadequate levels of encryption to protect their users' email.

Comcast and Microsoft representatives told CNET at the time of Google's report that their companies were in the process of implementing TLS for their webmail services. Apple did not return a request for comment.

Microsoft also has activated Perfect Forward Secrecy encryption (PFS) for its cloud storage service OneDrive. The OneDrive website, OneDrive mobile apps, and OneDrive syncing tools will now all use the tougher PFS encryption standard, which protects user confidentiality even when an third-party is eavesdropping on the network.

Finally, Microsoft has opened a "transparency center" at its headquarters in Redmond, Wash., where governments can review Microsoft source code for "key products" to confirm that no hidden backdoors have been added to the software. Microsoft has not revealed which of its products will be available for review.

CNET

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One Very Simple Email Marketing Trick that Even Big Brands Aren’t Using

Last week, I was in Vegas for MarketingSherpa’s Email Summit – a high-profile conference aimed at businesses looking to improve their email marketing.

While some of the advice was definitely aimed at big brands with big audiences, there were plenty of tips that apply to anyone with an email list.

I wrote about what I learned in a post for Zen Optimise (Twelve Brilliantly Simple Email Marketing Tips from MarketingSherpa’s Email Summit 2014), but I wanted to share just one very simple yet really vital tip here:

Make your “snippet” text compelling.

What’s snippet text?

It’s the first few words of your email, which appear alongside the subject line in many email clients, like Gmail. I’ve indicated the snippets in red below:

Here are the snippets themselves:

South by Southwest’s email snippet reads “Having trouble reading this email? View it in your browser. Faceboo…”

genConnect’s email snipped reads “If you’re having trouble viewing this email…”

This is such a wasted opportunity. Why not use the snippet to encourage people to open your email? The myWaitrose email does the best job of this, with:

“Waitrose £5 wines plus how to make Delia’s pancakes…”

(And I don’t know about you, but the words “having trouble reading this email?” or similar aren’t exactly encouraging ones…)

There are plenty of ways to create better snippet text. Maybe your template has a box to include a sentence or two on the top left hand side. Maybe you want to change the way you begin your emails.

It’s up to you. Just be aware of what readers are seeing … and how you can use it to your advantage.

Have you got a great example of a compelling snippet from an email in your inbox? Share it with us in the comments!

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Black Hat vs White Hat SEO: What You Need to Know

You’ve probably noticed that the internet can be a bit like the Wild West.

Newbies ride into town regularly – often with high hopes of getting rich quick. Perhaps you’re one of them (or perhaps you can at least remember those days).

“Snake oil” salesmen make outrageous promises about how their product can solve all your problems (usually with a heavy dose of yellow highlighter, and a few fake countdown timers).

And just like in the West, there are goodies and baddies – “white hats” who obey the law and “black hats” who break it. In fact, you may well have heard of “white hat SEO” and “black hat SEO” already.

Online, Sheriff Google lays down the law – and you definitely don’t want to get caught doing something you shouldn’t.

So let’s take a look at what you need to know.

What’s SEO?

SEO stands for “search engine optimisation”. It’s the practice of getting your website or blog to rank highly in search engines – particularly Google, which dominates the market.

Sometimes, you’ll also hear “an SEO” used to mean “a professional search engine optimiser”.

Black Hat SEO

Black Hat SEO is SEO that goes against Google’s rules. It results in a website that Google won’t want to promote because no-one will want to read it.

Black Hat practices include:

• Paying another site to link to yours.
• Creating keyword-rich links using dodgy techniques, such as trackback spam.
• Participating in link exchanges with sites that have nothing to do with yours.
• “Scraping” other people’s content to use on your site.
• Using hidden text that readers can’t see but search engines can (e.g. putting lots of keywords in white text on a white background).
• Getting your site linked to from link farms.

(You can find a fuller list of Black Hat practices here.)

Basically, if a technique sounds too good to be true, it probably is. You can’t automate the process of building links to get hundreds overnight.

White Hat SEO

White hat SEO plays by the rules. It results in a website that Google naturally wants to promote, because it’s full of great content and easy for readers to engage with.

White Hat practices include:

• Creating high-quality content for your blog.
• Using WordPress or another solid CMS (content management system) for your site, so it’s well structured.
• Writing great guest posts for other blogs, putting the relationship (not the backlink) first.
• Using Google Webmaster Tools to fix any problems with your site.
• Crafting clear, direct titles for your posts that use the same keywords readers would use.

It might seem like a no-brainer to you that White Hat SEO is the way to go … and we agree.

Black Hat SEO may lead to some quick results … but these will be swiftly followed by a huge drop in traffic when Google catches you. (And bear in mind that Google’s algorithms are getting cleverer all the time.)

As Daniel explains in Business is a Marathon, Not a Sprint, you should focus on the long-term, not on short-term results.

By using White Hat practices, you’ll be sure of building a site that stands the test of time. You won’t have to worry about Google updates knocking you down the rankings, and you’ll also find it easy to engage in other kinds of marketing – like using social media – because you’ll have something truly valuable to offer your readers.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this too: are you actively using SEO techniques to get more traffic to your site? And have you ever used Black Hat methods (perhaps unwittingly) – or are you firmly on the White Hat side?

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Facebook Likes, Shares Don't Impact Google Search Rankings

Eric Enge, president of Stone Temple Consulting, has done a groundbreakingstudy on the impact of Facebook Likes and Shares on SEO, specifically Google, as well as what role profiles play on content shared via status updates.

While there has been a lot of speculation over the years about whether Facebook activity is a factor in Google's rankings, there's been no real hard evidence either way. Enge's new study changes that.

Enge did two separate studies on the impact of Facebook. The first dealt specifically with Likes while the second dealt with Shares.

Facebook Likes 'Not in the Picture'

After creating two different web pages on three different domains, he had friends and Fiverr users drive likes to each of the pages. Despite each of those pages being liked nearly 900 times each, Google never crawled are indexed any of the six pages. So Google clearly is not using Facebook likes to discover or index new content.

There are couple reasons why Google doesn't seem to be using Facebook Likes when it comes to discovery and indexing. While Googlebot can execute the Facebook Like script, it has no idea which people Liked it. When looking at links, for example, Google is able to assign trust to the links based on who is doing the linking. But when it comes to Likes, Google is unable to assign a similar kind of "score" based on who is doing the liking because it simply doesn't know. Therefore it can't determine that one page may be liked by very influential people while a second page is liked by only fake Facebook profiles.

"Likes are simply not in the picture," Enge said. "The only data Google can possibly get is the number of Likes on a page if the page has a Like widget on it, but they have no idea as to who has Liked the page. For that reason there is no value to that information to them. I think it is pretty conclusive that they don't use it for discovery, indexing, or ranking."

Facebook Shares 'Inconclusive'

Google indexing based on Facebook shares was also tested. They asked over 50 people to share different sets of pages, however each page only ended up being shared about 10 times each, although some of the shares were made by fairly high profile people in the industry, people you would expect would have a bit more influence for ranking factors.

Again, although the sample size was fairly small in terms of the number of shares, Google didn't crawl or index the shared pages either. However, the results could possibly have been different with a larger sample size.

"The data on Facebook shares is less conclusive," Enge said. "It suggests that Google does not use it for discovery, indexing, or ranking. I believe that this is in fact true, but others can choose to point out that we don't have a comprehensive data set here, and they would be right. However, our conclusion (that they don't use shares) is also consistent with what Google says about Facebook signals as a ranking factor."

Crawling & Indexing of Facebook Profile Pages

Profile pages are also looked at for potential ranking factors. Google has the ability to crawl public profiles and see who your friends are when crawling the mobile version of Facebook.

To get more Friends shown, you need to scroll the page down, and when you do that, Javascript executes that pulls some additional Friends up and displays them. As you scroll down more, more and more Friends are loaded. It is possible for Google to get the entire Friends list in an automated way, but they probably don't because of the nature of the Javascript. There is no separate version of the page for users without javascript.

However, on the mobile version of the Facebook site, there is a clean link on the Friends page to "show more friends". This is a simple text link and it is not scrolling dependent. We can't conclusively decide that Google is pulling this data, but clearly if they are motivated to get this data they can. For that reason, for purposes of this article, we will assume that they do!

While there's no clear-cut evidence whether Google is or isn't doing this, the opportunity is there, which also means that it is potentially beneficial for users to be friends with high profile users, and those with strong profile pages in Facebook.

One interesting thing was that Enge also discovered that Google has indexed a large number of Facebook posts – 1.87 billion to be exact. So next they looked at those with high PageRank profile pages, from people linking to their profile page, to determine the frequency that those higher authority users saw their post content indexed. However, while the results showed that some of their posts were being indexed, the percentage of content indexed from the profile page was in the neighborhood of 60 to 70 percent, depending on the age of the post.

On those profile pages, images seem to be the least likely by far to be indexed by Google, while links and text did very well. Videos vary depending on the age of the post, and while they were ahead of images, they were far behind to both link and text. But even for these prominent profile pages, Google doesn't seem to be crawling every single thing on the page and indexing it, but there doesn't seem to be a specific reason for the inconsistency.

All the data collected was made available publicly for full disclosure purposes and can be viewed in the spreadsheets here.

Conclusion

While Google has the ability to use Facebook influence in their algorithm, there doesn't seem to be any evidence that Google is using it to discover, index, or rank any content on the web at this time.

This shouldn't dissuade people from using Facebook for marketing purposes, because shares and updates clearly can deliver traffic and exposure.

But from an SEO perspective, you don't need to worry that you need to share every new piece of content on Facebook in hopes you rank higher. Of course, Google being Google, they could change the role of Facebook in the algorithm at any time, but right now there is no influence by using Facebook strictly for SEO value.

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Content Marketing for Small Business: The Five Ws

No matter the size of your business, you're often going to come across the same types of issues and have the same overall goals. Plus, content still has identical meaning and rationale, and you can employ necessary strategies one and the same.

As a smaller business, you want to be able to define your audience and create content that's going to be meaningful to them. Just because you might be one of the smaller guys doesn't mean you can't learn from what the bigger sites out there do as well.

Think about it: if you're a smaller site, you have a serious advantage and ultimately have it easier. You don't have to jump through all of the hoops that larger sites do in order to get your content out there and encourage your followers to take the plunge into your business offerings.

When I used teach back in the day, I would educate my students about the five Ws (who, what, where, when, why, and how) and why they should consider them in everything they read and write, and this notion goes hand-in-hand with content marketing.

You should always be cognizant enough to create the right type of content for your website. Larger sites are obviously going to have a lot more content to deal with, but it should always be significant no matter if you have only a few pages or whole horde that are more intricate and detailed.

Why Are You Doing Content? What do You Want it to Accomplish?

When creating content for your business, you want to think about why you're doing it above all else, otherwise you might be putting something out there that doesn't have meaning to your readers. What good is that doing?

It seems easy to make the statement, "I'm doing content to better my site and my business." Of course you are, but the greater answer isn't quite as simple as you may think.

When it comes to the what, you should find out what your customers are most interested in and build upon that, using your content marketing as the core of it all.

Next: Think About Who, Where, and When

Before you put any content out there, you want to be sure that you know who your following consists of. Otherwise, how are you going to create relevant content that your followers want to be a part of?

This is why you want to understand what your customers need and want, and you can in turn present these answers via your content.

What methods and channels are you going to use to promote your content? For instance:

• YouTube
• Twitter
• Facebook
• Podcasts
• Instagram
• Tumblr
• E-mail campaigns
• Guest blogging
• Slideshares

The when consists of deciphering ideal times to get your content out there to your audience, so try out different times of the day to see what gets the best reaction and push your content out there more than once.

Take into consideration that some of your followers may be all over the country (or even the world), so promoting your content at different times during the day will increase your chances of getting a better response.

How About the How? Be Creative and Proactive

When many people think about content, blogging comes to mind. However, diversifying your content will only make it more entertaining for your visitors, in turn keeping them happy, coming back, and referring your site to others.

Content such as videos, infographics, slideshares, podcasts, interviews (you can search these out using services such as HARO and Profnet), guest blogs, images, testimonials, and even whitepapers are excellent approaches to content. This is the substance that you want to consider presenting – the more diverse, unique, and relative, the better. The other thing you can do is think BIG, even if you're a smaller site.

Think about the big content that can help you to achieve the results that you want in the long-run. As Dr. Pete from Moz explains, driving big content and big ideas (and more than one at that) can help you to increase your endurance in the industry and give you a huge opportunity that you may not have even realized was there. Don't be afraid to get out there and come up with some big ideas – you never know where they might take you.

Include your content in all of your social media, and be diverse! Include unique types of content. There are ways that you can be informative and interesting while also being a good read for your followers.

Make sure to keep track of your content. It's not something that you can just let sit and brew, so keep your eyes peeled on its productivity and ensure that you're being relevant and while adhering to industry changes as they happen.

Don't Create Mediocre Content

Make your content good and make it tangible.

Before putting any content out there, define your voice and your brand. Ensure that you are being clear to your followers and relaying your business exactly how you want to be received. You should always evaluate your content so that you can interpret if that's the way you want to approach it as you move along the circuit.

Concentrate on Your Competitors

While you are more than likely to worry about your website and want to pay attention to what your visitors want to read, you should always have a leg up on your competition as well. Taking a look at what they're doing on a regular basis is going to, believe it or not, be even more valuable than looking at your own site metrics.

Use analytics tools to take a look at what your competitors are doing and you can follow suit with certain tactics when and if necessary. Keep in mind: looking at what the bigger sites are doing can be helpful, as well.

What About Your Content and Hummingbird?

When it comes to the future of SEO and your content, the new Hummingbird algorithm is all about relevance while also being fast-moving and detailed. In addition, it's about having a conversation in our natural language – you can type as if you are speaking to Google, and even do just that by speaking your search. Hummingbird is about relevance and knowing what you are actually searching for and the true, actual meaning behind it.

For instance, Hummingbird is paying attention to every single word in your query rather than just the statement as a whole, and you can make your content adhere to this pretty easily. Keep with the style of the conversations that we have every single day.

Completing the 5 Ws

All in all, it comes down to covering your bases with your content strategy and following the five Ws. Do everything you can to get your content out there – good content, that is – and follow its traction. Even if you're a small business, it doesn't mean you can't think big in your content and overall business strategy, so go to it!

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Internet Marketing 101: How To Get Testimonials

As I mentioned on this post, one element that virtually any sales page should have is a list of testimonials. That is, people who bought/used the product in the past and liked it.

Getting those testimonials is not always straight forward, so here are some strategies you can use for this purpose:

1. Don’t Use Fake Testimonials

I’ve seen people around the web encouraging you to create fake testimonials while you don’t have any. I don’t agree with this approach. First and foremost for the ethical aspect. Second because often it will be possible to identify your fake testimonials, and the result could backfire.

2. Ask Beta Testers

On the sub-title of your testimonial section you could say something like “Check what some people who already used our product had to say about it…”. Notice the “used” instead of “bought”. In other words, this means you could invite beta testers to try your product for free and ask them for a testimonial, and since you are not claiming the testimonials are only from people who actually bought your product it would be fine. If you want to be 100% transparent you could even mention that the testimonial is coming from a beta tester.

3. Explicitly Ask Users

Rarely customers will come to you with an spontaneous testimonial. In other words, you need to explicitly ask them if you want some. You could email them 30 days after the purchase, for instance, or include a paragraph on the page where they will be redirected after the purchase.

4. Give Them an Incentive

Writing a testimonial takes a bit of time, and most people are lazy. If you give them a small incentive, therefore, the number of testimonials you’ll get could skyrocket. The incentive could be an ebook or a mention on the blog of your company, for instance. Just make it clear that the incentive is a “thank you” gesture for the time the client will take to write and send the testimonial, and not a bribe to get him to write only positive things about your product.

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Seven Ways to Get More Comments on Your Blog

Is there tumbleweed blowing through your blog’s commenting section? Do you write post after post, hoping for a response … only to get silence?

Maybe there are other signs of readers (like pageviews, tweets, Facebook shares, and so on), but what you really want is some feedback and conversation.

Here are seven ways to start getting more comments:

#1: Make Commenting Easy

Have you ever been put off commenting on a blog because you had to jump through hoops to do so? If your blog requires readers to sign in or complete CAPTCHAs in order to comment, try using a simpler commenting system where they can just leave their name and email address.

#2: Leave Room for Readers to Respond

In-depth posts are great, but they can sometimes leave readers feeling that there’s nothing left to add. To encourage comments, write a post that’s deliberately incomplete. By that, I don’t mean you should suddenly stop half-way … but you should avoid trying to cover every aspect of your topic. (List posts with an odd number of items can be good for this.)

#3: Invite Readers to Comment

This works well with #2: make sure that you explicitly invite readers to comment. That could mean writing something like “Do you have a tip to add? Let us know in the comments.” Don’t see this as asking for or begging for comments … you’re simply inviting readers to join in the conversation.

#4: Develop Relationships with Other Bloggers

Get to know fellow bloggers in your niche, especially any who have a blog at around the same level as yours (so don’t just concentrate on the A-listers). If you comment on their blogs, there’s a good chance that they’ll comment on yours too. These relationships are hugely valuable in so many other ways as well — these blogging “colleagues” might tweet your posts, or link to you in their blogroll.

#5: Always Reply to Comments

If you are getting comments, try to reply to them promptly (within a day or two, rather than weeks later). It’s discouraging for readers if they ask a question and have to wait ages for a reply — and other readers looking at the comments may be put off leaving one.

#6: Remove Spam Comments

Unanswered comments are off-putting, but spam comments can be even worse. If your comment section is riddled with spam, readers may well think that you don’t even read the comments. Use a plugin like Akismet to stop spam before it even hits your blog, and remove any spam comments that do creep through.

#7: Email a Blogging Friend

Finally, if you still don’t have any comments, get a fellow blogger to help break the ice: sometimes having just one or two comments can encourage many more. Email someone who you know well (perhaps you’ve met in real life, or you’ve talked on Skype) and ask if they would leave a quick comment on a specific post. Make sure you return the favour!

Have you found a great way to get more comments on your blog … or do you love one of the ideas above? Let us know your thoughts below!

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Noindex Your WordPress Search Pages

A couple of weeks ago I logged into my Google Webmaster Tools account (if you don’t have one I highly recommend it) and I noticed under the “HTML Improvements” section there were dozens of pages with duplicate title tags.

Upon examination I discovered that the duplicates were normal posts and WordPress search pages that contained that same post as the first result (thus causing the title tag of the search page to be the same of the post).

The solution is pretty straight forward though: you just need to apply a noindex attribute to the search pages, telling Google that it should not store those pages on its index.

Apart from fixing the duplicate title tags problem this should also improve your overall SEO, as search pages are usually low value ones under Google’s eyes, so the fewer you have of those indexed, the better.

The easiest way to achieve this is by using a plugin. Robots Meta is one that does the trick, and it’s light-weight. If you want something more heavy-duty consider WordPress SEO, by the same developer (Yoast).

Curiously enough All in One SEO Pack doesn’t do that. If you know how to code, though, you can edit a single line to add the noindex to search pages.

As for checking whether or not you have the problem, simply perform a search on your blog, open the source code, and look for a tag like this one on the head section:

If you can’t find it, then you probably need a plugin to fix that.

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Five Types of Image to Use on Your Blog

Does your blog need a bit of visual sprucing up?

It’s a safe bet that you know images on blogs are generally a good idea: they add visual interest, create white space, break up the text, and may even offer useful information.

But have you thought through all the different types of image you can use?

#1: Photos

This is what many bloggers think of first: an eye-catching photo, often sourced from Flickr under a Creative Commons license.

There’s no denying these work well and can draw the reader into a post. If you want help finding photos you can use for free, this post has great pointers.

#2: Screenshots

If you’re describing something technical, a screenshot can make it much easier for readers to understand the process. We used the one above in yesterday’s post on WordPress’s Screen Options.

Screenshots can also be useful when linking to other blogger’s posts: instead of a straightforward link, you could take a screenshot of the post title and use that, as Tim Soulo does in 29 Brilliant Posts You Have to Read Before I Call You an Internet Marketer.

#3: Advertising Banners

This might seem an odd one to include, but advertising banners are a form of image too – and they can help add colour and interest to your site.

If you’re reading this on the Daily Blog Tips site rather than in your email, glance to the left; the sponsors’ banners jazz up the sidebar. We also use Google ads at the start of posts.

#4: Logos

Using the logos (or headers) of sites you’ve appeared on or conferences you’ve spoken at can be a great way to showcase your credentials. This is how I do it in my sidebar on my site Aliventures:

You can also use logos when you write a round-up post or link to other bloggers’ sites; it’s a nice way to add visual interest.

#5: Product Images

If you’re writing a review, it’s often useful to include an image (even if it’s just of an ebook’s virtual “cover”). For instance, if we reviewed ProBlogger’s ebook31 Days to Build a Better Blog (aff), we’d use this:

Many manufacturers and sellers will have product images on their sites, and it’s usually OK to use these in your review – though do ask them if you’re unsure.

What types of image do you use on your blog? Have we missed out any important categories? Add your thoughts in the comments below

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Free Links – 18 Ways To Get High Quality Backlinks Instantly

Building high quality links involves grueling efforts most of the time, may it be through search and mainly in building it. The most effective ones are usually content based (tedious) and sometimes need approval from the owner of the site you’re trying to get a link from, such as guest blogging, article marketing, resource request, blog commenting and the list moves on.

But the good news is, particularly to those who are just starting their link building campaign, is that there are many high quality and authoritative sites/pages out there that you can get links from for free and instantly. And here are the nominees for the best “easy free backlinks” you can get for your website.

Site Profiles

• Aboutus.org

o    PR – 6

o    After making your site’s profile you can email them to request for dofollow links to be allowed on your page.

o    Anchor text for your keywords are allowed

o    Fast crawl rates

o    Gains Pagerank when backlinks are built to link to it.

o    The page can be done in just 5 minutes.

• Alexa.com/siteinfo

o    PR – 8

o    Dofollow link of the URL of your website

o    No need to build a page, just search your domain name through Alexa and once you find it, build 1 backlink to direct crawlers to your site’s info page in Alexa, then eventually reach your website to pass through trust.

• Wikipedia

o    PR – 8

o    Nofollow link but passes massive amount of trust and authority to your site

o    Fast crawl rates

o    Making a company profile page through Wikipedia may only take you 10 – 20 minutes. Just sign up there and write something unique, professional and concise about your website.

Web 2.0 Profiles

• Youtube

o    PR – 9

o    Dofollow link of the URL of your website

o    Fast crawl rates

o    Passes through high volume of Pagerank juice when it gains PR

o    If links are built to your Youtube page, it’s possible to reach PR 5 – 7

o    Profile page can be done in just 3 minutes, you can also choose to upload some videos to make it livelier.

• Squidoo

o    PR – 8

o    Dofollow Anchor text link pointing to your site

o    Fast crawl rates

o    Lensmaster page ranks easily on SERPs (very advantageous for branding)

o    Passes through Pagerank, authority and trust rank.

o    You can make a Squidoo Lensmaster page in just 2 minutes, just fill up the necessary details and you can then include an anchor text link to your site (using your preferred keyword) through the bio section.

• Twitter

o    PR – 9

o    Nofollow link of the URL of your site that’s capable of passing trust.

o    Can easily rank for your brand’s name on search engine results’ top page.

o    Gains high Pagerank if external links are built for it.

o    Has fast crawl rates and is good for your site’s page indexation.

o    Sign up for a Twitter account and include your site’s URL on your profile, then that’s it.

• Facebook Fanpage

o    PR – 10

o    Nofollow URL link of your website.

o    Can quickly rank on SERPs for your brand name.

o    Fast crawl rates and good for page indexing.

o    Easily gains PR along the process, as long as the page is active and has external links pointing to it, however it’s not capable of passing through Pagerank but do pass trust and authority to your site.

o    It’s easy to build one and will only take you a few minutes to complete all the necessary details for your Facebook Fanpage.

• Stumbleupon

o    PR – 8

o    Allows nofollow anchor text link on your profile (you can choose your desired keyword)

o    Fast crawl rates and can help boost your targeted keyword to rank on SERPs.

o    Highly trusted by search engines and can help increase traffic to your website.

o    Signing up and making your Stumbleupon profile can only take 2 – 3 minutes of your time.

Web 2.0 and RSS Feed Submissions

• Digg

o    PR – 8

o    Fast crawl rates and can help your site get indexed fast.

o    Nofollow link to your submitted article/page, but helps in generating traffic, especially if it gets aggregated by interested users. Note: it’s best to submit high quality contents to make this really work.

o    Submitting your site/blog entry to Digg only takes less than 2 minutes.

• Yahoo Answers

o    PR – 8

o    Find a relevant question to the niche of your site and answer it. Include your website’s URL along the answer as the reference.

o    Have super fast crawl rates, that the link you’ve built can be crawled in just hours.

o    Nofollow attributed URL hyperlink, but passes through large amount of trust to your site.

o    Finding a question and answering one will only take 3 – 5 minutes.

• Yahoo’s MyBlogLog

o    PR – 7

o    Allows dofollow links to your site (URL and/or Anchor text).

o    Has fast crawl rates and automatically syndicates your blog’s feed.

o    Setting up for an account is easy and only takes a few minutes, which will include making your profile and submitting your RSS feed.

Social Bookmarking Profiles

• Connotea.org

o    PR – 8

o    Allows dofollow anchor text links pointing to your site, and also allows as many backlinks as you want to be saved using your preferred key phrases.

o    Links you submit can be viewed publicly, which means it’s accessible to search engine crawlers.

o    Moderate crawl rates, so you need to build at least one link to it.

o    Signing up and adding of links can be done within 2 – 3 minutes.

• Folkd.com

o    PR – 7

o    Have fast crawl rates and can fetch up your bookmarked pages within 24 hours.

o    Dofollow links and usage of targeted keywords as anchor texts are allowed.

o    Overall task only takes 2 – 3 minutes to finish.

• Spotback.com

o    PR – 5

o    Anchor texts for your keywords are allowed, and links built through your profile page are also dofollow.

o    Gives do 2 dofollow links instantly, where one is the anchor text version of the bookmarked page, and the other one is the site’s domain name.

o    Crawl rate is average, so links pointing to it are needed to ensure that they get indexed by crawlers. *Note:Pinging your social bookmarking profiles is also a good way to let search engines know and visit them.

o    This task takes 2 – 3 minutes to finish, including signing up and URL submission.

• MyLinkVault.com

o    PR – 5

o    Dofollow link attribute and use of anchor text of your targeted keyword are enabled.

o    Links you submit are viewed publicly, so search engines are able to reach them, however you need to build links to them to make sure crawlers can reach and have your main site indexed.

o    Creating an account and building your site’s backlink through Mylinkvault.com only takes 2 – 3 minutes.

• A1-webmarks.com

o    PR – 5

o    Dofollow attributed links.

o    Allows keywords as anchor texts.

o    Can place as many links as you like.

o    Moderate crawl rate, but doesn’t necessarily need backlinks to have it indexed, since mine was automatically crawled by search crawlers and got indexed on its own.

o    Overall task takes 2 -3 minutes.

• Wagg.it

o    PR – 4

o    Dofollow links and can use your targeted keyword as anchor text.

o    Gives 2 dofollow backlinks instantly (the anchor text link and the domain name)

o    Slow crawl rate and it’s advisable to build links through it to get indexed.

o    Overall task takes 2 -3 minutes.

• Oyax.com

o    PR – 4

o    Allows usage of keywords as anchor texts, and they are dofollow as well.

o    You can also place a dofollow link (only URL) on your profile’s main website section.

o    You can add as many anchor text links as you like.

o    Fast crawl rate, but I suggest that you still build links to it.

o    Signing up and submitting your URLs will only take 2 – 3 minutes on this task.

Final Blow

Once you have built all these pages from high quality and authoritative websites, you can then interlink them, instead of building artificial links through other networks just to have them indexed. You can also make a page/post (like what I’m doing now) that will contain all of those external links, to make certain that your links from these sites will be counted by search engines.

One day is enough to build and invest on high quality – but free links – through all of the given websites. But the important thing is that you do make your links look valuable not just to search engines, but to real people as well. Guarantee that the description that you’ll be using for your site’s links are powerful and confident; always remember that “quality always wins the search engine game”.

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