The SEO world is abuzz with Google’s confirmation that it does NOT use the keywords in the meta keyword tag when determining how a site ranks in the search engine.

In its Google Webmaster Blog, Google states, “Google doesn’t use the ‘keywords’ meta tag in our web search rankings.”

For those of you who don’t know, the meta keyword tag is found in your HTML source code. To find it, open your Web browser and click “View” and then “Source.” This will open a new page where you can see the HTML code. As an example, I’ve shown Yahoo’s! Title and meta tags below:

I’m glad Google repeated their stance about the keyword tag again — because quite frankly, I’m still amazed at the number of people who think that the keyword tag is important.

One prospect called me a few months ago, for example, asking about my SEO services. When I gave him a quote, he choked due to sticker shock and said he had to “get back to me” (re: find a cheaper alternative).

He called me a few weeks later to exclaim, “My site’s optimized! I found someone to do it for me.”

I had to laugh because the SEO “expert” had simply put keywords in the keyword meta tag.

I’ve had other companies say, “We want to rank for this keyword,” and when I say, “Well, you need content to support that keyword” (as in a new page or pages plus links), I usually hear, “Can’t you just put keywords in the keyword tag?”

Short answer: No.

So people, listen up. Google does not and never did look at the keywords in the keyword tag. Period. If you don’t want to listen to me, do pay attention to Google’s Matt Cutts.

When I give presentations and people ask if they should be on LinkedIn or Facebook or both, I tell them that both social networking sites fill a similar function but that the social “rules” are very different.

LinkedIn is like a professional meeting or face-to-face networking function. You know how to dress (no jeans or sexy clothing) and mingle with people.

You know that you don’t pick up chicken with your fingers or talk too much about yourself (the best networkers always ask lots of questions of the people to whom they’re talking).

In short, “business professional” is a mode of behavior and dress that we all know and feel comfortable with.

That’s why many people like LinkedIn — it feels comfortable and familiar.

Facebook, according to the anecdotal evidence I hear, causes anxiety. This is because Facebook is like attending a Saturday BBQ at your boss’s house.

The event itself brings up a whole host of questions for which the rules aren’t clear — especially if you’re in corporate or work for a conservative company:

Which clothes should you wear? For women, this is particularly tricky: can you wear the sexy sundress or should you stay with something more modest?

Can you eat that BBQ chicken and corn on the cob with your fingers — which can become pretty messy — or stick with something safe?

Should you drink?

Do you bring the spouse? The kids? The pet dog?

What do you talk about? Business? Personal? The books you’re reading? What if you don’t read and watch trashy reality TV shows instead? Is that something you want everyone to know?

Now I know many people use Facebook quite well for both business and pleasure — and that they’re able to keep their personal lives separate from their business lives via the judicious use of groups within Facebook.

I also know that people feel quite relieved when I tell them they really don’t have to use Facebook for business.

In fact, many people tell me they use it only to keep up with far-flung family and don’t use it for business — that’s why they use LinkedIn.

And some people even admit they don’t have a Facebook page at all.

Here’s the bottom line with regard to social media: Do what makes you feel comfortable.

Along that note, I decided to delete my Facebook profile altogether.

After reading The Power of Less, I decided it was time to simplify my life, including my online life.

So, I deleted my profile in order to stop worrying about the fact that I had a profile that I virtually ignored.

How do you use Facebook and/or LinkedIn — and how do you feel about each one? I’d love to hear your story.

I’ve been working on a complete Website overhaul for a dentist and noted, while cruising around the Internet, that many dentists across the U.S. use templated or “out of the box” Websites.

For busy dentists, these types of Websites make sense: you get a template with all the pages you need and you simply plug in your content via a content management system (CMS). The CMS even shows you where to add in your name and local keywords, such as the towns from which your patients come in order to help with local search.

The danger with these sites, however, is that they come with “hidden” code. Because the dentist has no clue about HTML or SEO, they don’t know that their source code is filled with stuff like this (name changed to protect the scumbag company):

Copyright 2009 Scumbag, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
This software, source code, HTML, JavaScript, CSS, and all other content and code is copyrighted
by Scumbag, Inc. and may NOT be copied, reproduced, translated, reverse engineered, reduced to
any electronic medium or machine-readable form without the prior written consent of Scumbag, Inc.,
except that you may use it according to our Terms of Use agreement. Terms of Use may be
modified at anytime, and you agree to be bound by such modifications.

As small business owners find, much to their dismay, the scumbag company could construe these terms to say they own your site and your content. Afterall, the copyright is there in the code.

According to my Web designer, Jim Somers at Sonora DesignWorks, he gets calls all the time from companies that learn they don’t even own their own domain names because they went with a Web marketing company offering a “turnkey Website solution.”

In addition to the above copy found in one dentist’s source code, I also found that the scumbag company also included links back to its site via the image alt tags. Nice — for the scumbag company!

Key takeaway for small businesses: You get what you pay for. If you have no clue about Website design, SEO, online marketing or anything else, get help. Don’t settle for the cheapest alternative or a DIY site. You’ll end up paying much more than if you had simply went the professional route the first time around.

I recently moved my office from out of my home and into a professional building. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a long time.

I first started my business (in 1998) when my son was 12 months old. At the time, working part-time out of my home was ideal as it allowed me to spend more time with my son.

As my workload increased, however, it became harder to separate work from my personal life. Then, with the advent of social media and email overload, I experienced too many days when I felt like I was working around the clock and/or chained to my computer.

Moving my business out of my house has given me that “separation” that I’ve craved for a long time. (And quite frankly, not listening to my dogs bark during client calls is a definite plus!)

I thought moving my office would be a simple matter. My husband had my desk, a couple of file cabinets, and a bookcase out of my old office in a couple of hours.

It was the packing up that really opened my eyes to how lost I had become in my office — something that can happen to anyone who has been working in the same space for years.

Your sub-conscious affects your conscious

Once my furniture was gone, I was shocked at how dirty my office really was — even though I cleaned it regularly.

It was in that instant of standing in an empty room that I understood why you must keep your workspace immaculate.

Cobwebs on the ceiling, piles of paper, and lots of unnecessary “stuff” equals cobwebs on the brain — and unclear thinking.

Because I had to empty all my drawers so that my husband could lift the furniture, I took the time to clean out my files. What started off as an “easy” task ballooned into days of going through piles of paper.

I realized that although my files *looked* organized, they were anything but. I ended up recycling five bins of paper.

Even better, I culled four drawers of files down to one — and ended up throwing away YEARS of hard copy writing samples (all of which were covered in dust due to sitting on shelves, which tells you something).

I also realized I no longer needed many of my books and called Got Books, who carted away seven cartons of them. (Whew!)

At the end of the day, it took me a week to clean out my office, files, and assorted items. It was a lot of work but well worth the time and effort.

My new office is immaculate and pared down. For the first time, I’m able to use my entire desk because it’s not covered in piles of magazines, printed reports, and other junk.

And, I now have a good view of where I’m going . . . because my view is no longer obstructed by years of detritus.

Have you moved your office and/or done a total clean out? If so, what lessons did you learn?

I write a monthly real estate newsletter for my client, ForeclosuresMass.

Each month I have to find real estate experts to interview on topics ranging from property management and rehabbing to marketing and financing.

Of course, the first place I begin my search is with Google. And, many of the top results for my search terms include articles submitted by “experts” to article submission sites.

After clicking through to these articles, however, I’ve learned that many times you can’t contact the people behind the articles. One day I spent close to two hours trying to track down an “expert” whose name was on all kinds of articles (which were actually rather well done).

Alas, I could not find him — not on any real estate Website, Facebook, LinkedIn, or via Google search on his name and town. I realized that his articles were simply a means to get people to his e-commerce site — and even then, you could not contact him. (Which then made me wonder what he was hiding.)

Suffice to say, I now skip over articles when they appear in the search results and have learned how to cherry pick the real experts — those that have real Websites that include contact information.

I bring up this topic because my last blog post, about saving money on translations, has garnered a number of comments. I wondered if the post is appearing for search terms. I checked, and yes, it’s at the top in Google for “saving money on translations” (I’ve seen it at #1 and #2).

The listing directly below it is to an article on the Ezine Articles site.

Those people who promote submitting articles to sites like Ezine Articles state that it helps you get top search engine listings. True enough.

However, a well-written blog and/or Website can get you the same results – with the additional benefit of driving people to content that resides on YOUR site versus content that resides with thousands of other “experts” on another site.

Having the same article appear on dozens of sites dilutes the value of the content as it’s no longer fresh or original. (And, I’ve found, too, that those blogs and ezines that re-use the content often don’t include links back to the author’s site/blog.)

The translation article in question does at least send people to a valid Website.

But don’t you think it would be better if the company included all kinds of optimized, educational content on its own Website or a blog — in the form of articles, reports, surveys, etc. — versus submitting it to article sites?

(I wonder, too, if Google won’t start cracking down on this duplicate content. Currently, you can find a “reprinted” article listed 3 – 5 times in the top 20 search results for a given search phrase. Is this duplication really helping people find the best information?)

“Content is king!” is a common phrase. It used to mean that content drove targeted traffic and leads/sales.

Now it means developing what Jill Whalen, of High Rankings, terms, “madlib spam pages where you simply substitute keyword phrases from one page into another.”

In her latest High Rankings Advisor e-newsletter, Jill talks about setting realistic SEO expectations. It’s very difficult now to rank well for keyword phrases — even those that aren’t that competitive in terms of search traffic. 

In addition to hundreds of thousands of sites now jockeying for position, Google continues to make changes to the search experience on a regular basis.

(For example, if you’re logged into your Google account, you can move search listings up and down on the page! And, Google will show you results based on your own search history while also serving up results based on your IP address.)

As Jill points out, this doesn’t mean SEO is dead, but it certainly does mean that you need to set SEO goals based on your **business strategy** — not on being “number 1″ for a keyword.

A good SEO strategy includes specific SEO tactics, such as using the right keywords that drive qualified (or targeted) traffic AND creating content that helps drive conversions — from getting people to sign up for your e-newsletter or downloading a white paper to viewing an online demo or actually buying a product.

(It also includes all sorts of other things, such as social media and viral marketing, public relations, and integrating traditional offline tactics.)

Unethical SEO companies will tell you that they can make your site #1 for dozens of keywords (I know, because I’ve had plenty of people call me who have shelled out thousands of dollars with little return after working with these companies).

The SEO/marketing firms you can trust, however, are those that will tell you the truth — that SEO, like marketing, is a long-term strategy that requires consistent and strategic application.

My client, Dr. Helaine Smith, and I will be co-presenting at SEMPO Boston’s next meeting, Wednesday, December 3, 2008.

The program, “Same Marketing Budget, Greater Revenue,” is a case study of how Dr. Smith used local search to drive revenue — without increasing her budget.

(In fact, she no longer does any type of print advertising and relies exclusively on search. You can also check out the formal case study on my Website.)

The program will focus on the work done over the last two and half years including the various local search, social media, PR, and online marketing tactics.

Dr. Smith realizes approximately $5 – $20K a month in new business — almost all of which comes from the Web. She’s also opened a second (family) practice!

The meeting will be held at the Cambridge offices of HubSpot, the hot, hot, hot Internet marketing company and the program’s official sponsor. Is that cool or what?

So come on out, meet me, Dr. Smith, a bunch of great people from SEMPO, and the HubSpot gang — plus get some great tips you can put to use on your own site. It promises to be a great evening!

The program is free but SEMPO asks that you register so that we have enough food and drink.

I’m in the process of updating my Website and while going over my keywords and Google stats I noted — to my dismay and awe — that one single archived issue of my newsletter is generating tons of traffic.

I’m dismayed because the keywords people are using to get to my site have nothing to do with my B2B marketing communications services. The newsletter in question was an interview with another B2B expert.

Last week Cuil, the new search engine that’s supposed to give Google a run for its money, launched.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to test it — but knew in a matter of a few hours that it wasn’t doing well in the blogosphere since Dan Lyons‘ (aka Fake Steve Jobs) commentators never seem to miss a beat about what’s going down.

Today, Julie Batten of the Click Z Network, wrote a terrific article about “Why the End is No Where in Sight for Google.” I agree with everything she said, especially the fact that Google is so entrenched in our daily lives that we don’t “search” online for something, we Google it.

(I find it a sad fact of life that neither I nor my son can live without Google. He spent most of Sunday evening downloading info about Weird Al Yankovic and listening to his parodies such as “White and Nerdy” and “eBay” on YouTube.)

So, I finally had a few minutes today to mosey on over to Cuil and give it a brief test run.

Typed in my name — Dianna Huff — and got lots of old stuff. The link to my Website (DH Communications) is the third listing across the top. The listing for this blog, which is #1 at Google, didn’t appear in the first page results.

So I typed in “dh communications.” My site is listed in the top row, middle position, but why is there a link to “austin cc” in my listing? I don’t get it.

I like my listing in Google better.

Hopefully Cuil will improve with time. In the meantime, I’ll stick with Google.

The more I learn about Google Analytics (GA), the happier I become.

For weeks now I’ve been wracking my brains trying to figure out how to track where my newsletter subscribers come from (i.e. my blog or my Website).

The problem is, I can track visitors to both my blog and my Website, and I know the number of newsletter subscribers, but I don’t know which generates more subscribers — the blog or the Website. That’s because the Constant Contact subscription form is an outbound link — something you can’t track in GA.

Thank goodness for Google. You have a question about *anything,* just type it into Google and you’ll find the answer.

Rich Brooks, of flyte new media, posts how to set up the CC / GA tracking code in his blog post, “Track Email Newsletter Subscribers Via Google Analytics.” (Small world: I interviewed Rich last year for a Constant Contact Business Partner case study.)

You can also use GA’s special tracking code to track PDF downloads– something important to know if you’re offering a free e-book or white paper.

If you haven’t already, be sure to purchase the fabulous book, Google Analytics 2.0 by Jerri L. Ledford and Mary E. Tyler. I reviewed it in the latest issue of my last MarCom Strategist newsletter.