I’m adding an S E O Resource Directory to The Web Optimist blog. It’s a moderated directory that, at least in the beginning, will be reciprocal link based. You can submit a resource for free, but the back links will be checked and sites that remove their link back to The Web Optimist will be removed from the directory.

And, yes, I am the moderator.

To start with, I’ll include the following general categories:

1. SEO Blogs: Blogs about search engine optimization, pay per click and related subjects.
2. SEO News Sites: Strictly SEO news and information. No blogs, please.
3. SEO Forums: Links to forums and discussion groups related to SEO and PPC topics.
4. Palm Springs Web Community: Links to web development and search marketing sites in the Palm Springs, CA desert area.

I’m open to suggestions for additional SEO and SEM related categories.

So, feel free to submit your link to the S E O Resource Directory.

Of course, if you want to be on the front page of The Web Optimist, you could always use the Tip Me link in the upper right side of almost every page on the blog.

Here’s a great job opportunity in Minnesota that I thought I would share:

Job Title: Director of SEO

Description:

Our client, the world leader in online legal information and interactive marketing services is looking for a Director of SEO to manage a team of 35 SEO professionals and continue to build a world class internal SEO department. This person must have proven experience of being able to influence internal stakeholders throughout the organization on the importance of SEO and it’s effects. They must be independently driven with the ability to lead many people.

About the Role:

The Director of SEO will be responsible for leading the fulfillment of all SEO projects and initiatives across all brands. They will need to strategize with the various teams throughout the company and develop education tools and guidelines for the organization in order to optimize every element of their SEO strategy. In this position you will also be responsible for staying current with the Search Engine community, by attending conferences and analyzing the risk/reward associated with new pursuing trends.

Requirements:

Our client is looking for someone with at least 5 years of experience within the search industry to lead a team of 35 search specialists. You must be a strong leader who can manage multiple priorities across multiple business areas. The ability to influence your peers and act as an agent of change is critical to this position.

Major Areas of Accountability:

• Responsible for the leadership of SEO fulfillment for all products.
• Responsible for leading and setting direction for SEO data analysis and reporting.
• Develop research, analysis and strategy initiatives and strategy, and development of the team to execute on those strategies.
• Collaborate with Product Development, Portal and Engineering teams. Provide leadership to optimize various site elements, site structure, architecture, linking and content, and to ensure that new products and enhancements meet SEO requirements.
• Provide leadership for the creation of educational tools and guidelines across the organization.
• Research current trends within Search Engine community – Attend relevant conferences to gather insights from search engine representatives and professionals. Continually monitor new advancements in SEO and evaluation the risk/reward of integration.
• Communicate specific SEO requirements to business/product stakeholders.
• Research emerging technologies for opportunities to expand.

Responsibility for the Work of Others:

• Team of 35 Search Specialists executing SEO fulfillment and analysis.

Financial Responsibility:
• $3 million

Requirements:

Education, Knowledge and Skills

• Minimum of 5 years experience within the search, SEO/SEM, or web analytics environment
• Demonstrated leadership experience of direct and indirect staff in a Web environment with time sensitive responses to changing market trends.
• Strong leadership skills and proficiency in leading multiple priorities across organizations.
• Strong influence and change skills and demonstrated ability to articulate and gain support with leaders across a business.
• Excellent written and verbal communication.
• Proven leadership to lead and influence a wide variety of constituent groups.

Contact: (800) 829-0072, jobs@onwardsearch.com, http://www.onwardsearch.com/jobs/search_marketing_jobs.aspx

Lately I’ve noticed that the “Do you mean keyword?” results in Google vary quite a bit from a toolbar or search box search. For instance, let’s take a search for “rayban sunglasses” as an example. Most folks search for “ray ban sunglasses” (with the brand name as two words), but there is still a large number of searchers looking for the brand name as a single word.

Here’s what I get as I write this:

You’ll see that the Ray Ban sunglasses catalog page for FramesDirect.com comes up #3. Nice, but notice the “Do you mean ray ban sunglasses?” link at the top.

Click on that and you’ll get this:

Still a nice #3 ranking, right? Well, maybe not. Do the exact same search for “ray ban sunglasses” in the Google search bar:

This is what happens. A totally different result:

The FramesDirect.com page drops to position 6.

At first, I thought this might simply be a case of different data servers serving up different results in much the same way you can get different results from search bar searching. But, it appears to be consistent. Each and every time I click on a “Do you mean…?” link I will get one result and then a totally different one from a search bar query.

Is Google favoring pages in the “Do you mean…” links for some reason? I tried this in several different browsers (Firefox, IE7, Opera, Safari), not signed into Google with cleared caches and get the same actions every time.

Curious…

Unlike a certain recent political candidate we’re all familiar with, I know when it’s time to concede. John Carcutt is the winner of the Search Engine Journal Blog Off. John’s finalist post Are S E O Forums Still Needed? beat out my own 25 Blog Optimization Tips Even Dear Old Dad Could Ace to take the top prize.

What can I say? John has this ability to come up with topics near and dear to an SEO’s heart, write great content about them and attract Sphinns like a magnet.

Great work, John!

I really don’t see coming in second for the competition as a loss, though. Far from it. I blog because I love to share what I know. That’s really what blogging is all about. Every time I get the opportunity to publish some of the things I have learned in a subject I am passionate about (in this case, SEO), I’m a winner. It’s such a feel-good thing for me. As far as I am concerned, sharing amounts to taking the prize!

That’s what my blog, The Web Optimist, is all about. I certainly don’t make money with it. It’s just a place for me to share the tips and tricks I pick up along the way as an in-house SEO. I also manage, optimize, edit and write most of the content for The Eye Zone, the eyewear blog of FramesDirect.com, my employer, so I do a LOT of writing every week for it. Squeezing time in to write for my own blog (or something for Search Engine Journal if I think I’ve got something good), can sometimes be difficult. But, when I can, I love doing it.

So, we’re all winners here. Lots of great content and tips came out of this competition. The folks over at Search Engine Journal are the best!

Now, I think I’ll retire to the chaise lounge by the pool and console myself with the bright California sunshine, clear blue skies, gorgeous Palm Springs mountain views and a glass of White Merlot (or two).

Loser? Naw…

I’ve discussed image and video optimization in my various S E O 101 posts and free eBooks, so I thought I’d point out some quick examples of how a variety of content can give you a kick start in search engines in this world of Universal Search.

Many of you know that I do search engine optimization for FramesDirect.com as well as manage and edit their blog, which is high on eyewear fashion, celebrity sunglasses and so forth. Our readers love to get scoops on who’s wearing what on TV and in films, so when the new Iron Man movie came out (great flick, by the way), we started getting questions about what sunglasses Robert Downey Jr. wore in certain scenes. In the opening scenes, Downey is wearing Ray Ban 3320 sun glasses, so I wrote a blog post on it appropriately titled Ray Ban 3320 Sun Glasses in Iron Man.

At the same time, I posted an image of those Ray Ban 3320 sun glasses on Flickr, complete with a title, description, tags and links back to the blog post and product page at FramesDirect.com. When you post an image at Flickr and include a title, tags and description, it’s like posting a web page which is spiderable and can be indexed by the search engines. The links are “nofollow” but the pages can still rank and bring you traffic.

Since Google drives the most search traffic, optimization tends to favor it, but we have all discovered that the different engine rankings can vary wildly. Including images, as well as videos, podcasts, etc., can help you rank across engines.

Below is a screen shot of a Yahoo search for “iron man sunglasses” where you will see the blog post ranking at the top as I write this. Cool!

In Google, the blog post doesn’t rank on the front page at all, but the Flickr image does at #7:

See how important it is to diversify your content across the board? Granted, #7 isn’t as good as #1, but because the different engines have different algorithms, diversifying your content types across different media (text, images, videos, podcasts, etc.) you get ranking opportunities you would not otherwise have.

And, as a bonus (not shown), a Yahoo Answers question that I answered about what shades Downey wore in the movie came in at #8. Again, the links back to you in Yahoo Answers are nofollow, but they can still bring you traffic. More exposure! Even better if your answer is chosen as the best!

If you’re real lucky, you’ll get something like we got recently for a search in Google for one of our top selling products:

Results #1 and #2 are pages from the FramesDirect.com web site, #3 is a video posted on YouTube featuring company CEO Dr. Dhavid Cooper, #4 is a New York Times article featuring the goggles and linking to us and #5 is the same video as #3 but posted to Metacafe.com.

So, be sure to cover your bases. My rule of thumb is that whenever I do a blog post, I take all of the elements of it and find search friendly places to do supplemental (but not duplicate) posts that can link back to it. These places include Flickr, Yahoo Answers, YouTube, Twitter and the FramesDirect.com Fan Page over at Facebook. This is by no means an all inclusive list, just a few places to get started.

Diversity is the key!