Data Feed Best Practices

[newbie]

Originally Posted by ikonic

This is the entire point of my involvement in this thread "Best Practices for Datafeeds".

I hope to present a real life example so the community as a whole can gauge the results (either positive or negative).

As to what the results will be... well this is dependant on a variety of factors (content, links, frequency of updates etc).

btw: for those watching, always switch up the anchor text in backlinks. Only bots and newcomers use the same anchor text across multiple backlinks (i.e it does not appear to be a naturally created link but instead one focused towards targeting specific keywords)

EDIT: #1 for "Data Feed Best Practices" in Google.com.au and .com... however quotes required so we can really not count this as a valid result (though we outrank Jim's site )

How long does it usually take to have an effect, Tim?

The reason I ask is that I want to edit the page but I do not want to do anything that might affect your chance to prove your theory.

[ikonic]

hours, days, weeks or months. you can never really tell.

In saying that, editing the page is a good thing. I mean, you need to do it and in the real world environment the variables are always changing so this is actually a good thing to occur during the test.

I also know Google loves constantly updating content so it should prove to be an interesting to see if your content changes affect this threads ability to rise through the ranks... and possibly outrank the page in question.

However, for the sake of "science" i would ask if time permits you google the term(s) on .com and .com.au and post the results here before you commit the change (I am interested to see how often google scraps the domain and is making changes to the index)

[newbie]

Originally Posted by ikonic

hours, days, weeks or months. you can never really tell.

In saying that, editing the page is a good thing. I mean, you need to do it and in the real world environment the variables are always changing so this is actually a good thing to occur during the test.

I also know Google loves constantly updating content so it should prove to be an interesting to see if your content changes affect this threads ability to rise through the ranks... and possibly outrank the page in question.

However, for the sake of "science" i would ask if time permits you google the term(s) on .com and .com.au and post the results here before you commit the change (I am interested to see how often google scraps the domain and is making changes to the index)

It is just a change to the css links in the header - If you check it in IE6 you will see what I mean. I will leave it for an hour or two in case you are having dinner.

[ikonic]

8.55 PM CST

Google.com
'data feed best practices' & 'data feed best practice' shopsafe #1 - page (1) of thread is #2
'Data Feed Best Practices' shopsafe #1 - page (1) of thread #9
'data feed best practice' shopsafe #1 - AF #2 (1) and #3(2)
'datafeed best practices' AF #1 (1) and #2 (2) - shopsafe #5
'best practice in data feed' shopsafe #1 - AF #2 (3) and #3(4)

Google.com.au
'data feed best practices' shopsafe #1 - - AF #2 (1)
'data feed best practice' shopsafe #1 - - AF #2 (1) and #3(2)
'Data Feed Best Practices' shopsafe #1 - AF #5 (1)
'data feed best practice' shopsafe #1 - AF #2 (1) and #3(2)
'datafeed best practices' AF #1 (1) and #2 (2) - shopsafe #5
'datafeed best practice' AF #1 (1) and #2 (2) - shopsafe #4
'best practice in data feed' shopsafe #1 - AF #2 (3) and #3(4)

[ikonic]

06/11/2009 9:14CST

It appears as though we have done it. AF now outranks the comparison URL across all targetted terms except 'best practices in data feed'

Google.com
'data feed best practices' & 'data feed best practice' AF #1 (1) and #2 (2) - shopsafe #3
'Data Feed Best Practices' AF #1 (1) and #2 (2) - shopsafe #3
'data feed best practice' AF #1 (1) and #2 (2) - shopsafe #3
'datafeed best practices' AF #1 (1) and #2 (2) - shopsafe #3
'best practice in data feed' shopsafe #1 - AF #2 (2) and #3(3)

Google.com.au
'data feed best practices' AF #1 (1) - shopsafe #2
'Data Feed Best Practices' AF #1 (1) and #2(2) - shopsafe #1
'data feed best practice' AF #1 (1) and #2(2) - shopsafe #1
'datafeed best practices' AF #1 (1) and #2 (2) - shopsafe #5
'datafeed best practice' AF #1 (1) and #2 (2) - shopsafe #4
'best practice in data feed' shopsafe #1 - AF #2 (3) and #3(4)









Thanks to all those involved.

I would also ask that if you have questions regarding the actual test (rather then individually user preferences) then please do not hesitate to post.

Finally, can someone confirm these results as well?

[newbie]

Originally Posted by ikonic

06/11/2009 9:14CST

It appears as though we have done it. AF now outranks the comparison URL across all targetted terms except 'best practices in data feed'

Google.com
'data feed best practices' & 'data feed best practice' AF #1 (1) and #2 (2) - shopsafe #3
'Data Feed Best Practices' AF #1 (1) and #2 (2) - shopsafe #3
'data feed best practice' AF #1 (1) and #2 (2) - shopsafe #3
'datafeed best practices' AF #1 (1) and #2 (2) - shopsafe #3
'best practice in data feed' shopsafe #1 - AF #2 (2) and #3(3)

Google.com.au
'data feed best practices' AF #1 (1) - shopsafe #2
'Data Feed Best Practices' AF #1 (1) and #2(2) - shopsafe #1
'data feed best practice' AF #1 (1) and #2(2) - shopsafe #1
'datafeed best practices' AF #1 (1) and #2 (2) - shopsafe #5
'datafeed best practice' AF #1 (1) and #2 (2) - shopsafe #4
'best practice in data feed' shopsafe #1 - AF #2 (3) and #3(4)









Thanks to all those involved.

I would also ask that if you have questions regarding the actual test (rather then individually user preferences) then please do not hesitate to post.

Finally, can someone confirm these results as well?

Oh wait.

It is not over yet.

I take it you are convinced that this forum is in its current number one position because of the links that have been added?

Is it possible that there could be other factors to consider? Factors related to the user experience, yesterday, today and in the future?

If these links are permanent, can we leave them where they are and observe what happens?

One more thing, if all search engines use links to determine rank, what is your theory to account for the results on the other search engine?

(Feel free to edit in any way that suits)

[ikonic]

My goal was to take #1 from shopsafe using a linking campaign with essentially unrelated content. As it turns out this was acheived in around 24hrs.

Off couse, content updating etc has greatly assisted us in obtaining this position (along with the linking campaign) but the overall premise is the same. We where able to outrank a site good content alone by simply backlinking multiple times the url from the parent domain.

In terms of moving forward I am more then happy to leave to all the links in place. Maybe we will drop and maybe we won't. Eitherway, I won't actively attempting to push this url any further

[newbie]

Originally Posted by ikonic

My goal was to take #1 from shopsafe using a linking campaign with essentially unrelated content. As it turns out this was acheived in around 24hrs.

Off couse, content updating etc has greatly assisted us in obtaining this position (along with the linking campaign) but the overall premise is the same. We where able to outrank a site good content alone by simply backlinking multiple times the url from the parent domain.

In terms of moving forward I am more then happy to leave to all the links in place. Maybe we will drop and maybe we won't. Eitherway, I won't actively attempting to push this url any further

Sorry, Tim, but you cannot get away with saying that this topic is "essentially unrelated content"; it is a discussion related to the search term, it is perfectly targetted.

<mad_theory>What I think is a great feature of Google is its "topicality". Hot topics of interest rapidly appear in the index but then remain or fall based on the ongoing user/page experience. I am sticking my neck out and saying that, once interest dies off in this forum topic, the forum topic will disappear, links or no links.</mad_theory>

I am saying that you have made an unfounded assumption but say you were right and the links you added were the cause of the bounce, how do you account for the fact that there is no sign of this forum topic on Yahoo?

[ikonic]

I will close this thread later on tonight, please add any final comments ASAP

[newbie]

Originally Posted by ikonic

I will close this thread later on tonight, please add any final comments ASAP

Closing this thread would be plain wrong.

I know from experience that there are still a number of episodes to come that will be more easily understood with clarification and some relevant references.

BTW - you have still not offered your theory as to why there is no mention of the forum topic on Yahoo.

[aguawebs]

I think that everyone should leave it for a week or 2... then post back results... can you close a thread, then reopen it (to stop irrelevant posts).

[ikonic]

I am going to take aquawebs suggestion and close the thread for the time being.

As requested, the test will continue. However, the question this time is, can the page maintain its rank?

If you wish to post something relating to the test then please pm me and I will re-open as neccessary/

Newbie - this test will continue to see what happens and we will post updates in regards to movement etc.

Discussions for this thread have been moved here Q and A

[ikonic]

Originally Posted by newbie

I know from experience that there are still a number of episodes to come that will be more easily understood with clarification and some relevant references.

BTW - you have still not offered your theory as to why there is no mention of the forum topic on Yahoo.

The url is not in the yahoo index meaning it has not been spidered. This I cannot control. Maybe with some off site backlinks to the subject this could assist the page being found quicker.

But you never really know... maybe yahoo's slower or smarter?

Each engine has it own nuonces for how it deals with content.

Originally Posted by newbie

What I think is a great feature of Google is its "topicality". Hot topics of interest rapidly appear in the index but then remain or fall based on the ongoing user/page experience.

I've seen data to suggest/confirm this. If users spend more time on url then others then Google will rank it higher. Theres actually an official term for it but that escapes me.

Originally Posted by newbie

I am sticking my neck out and saying that, once interest dies off in this forum topic, the forum topic will disappear, links or no links.

This will be the big the question....

[ikonic]

09/11/2009

Affiliate Forum remain #1 in Google.com and Google.com.au for the following terms
Data Feed Best Practices
data feed best practices
datafeed best practices
data feed best practice
datafeed best practice

Shopsafe url remains #1 for the following
best practice in data feed

[ikonic]

Recap of results as at 13/11/2009 14:34 CST.

As with the post above, Affiliate Forum still sits at #1 for the targetted terms in SERP's for Google.com and Google.com.au.

Originally Posted by newbie

how do you account for the fact that there is no sign of this forum topic on Yahoo?

We are now in Yahoo
Data Feed Best Practices - shopsafe #1 - AF #2 (3) and #3(4)
data feed best practices - shopsafe #1 - AF #2 (3) and #3(4)
data feed best practice - shopsafe #1 - AF #2 (3) and #3(4)
datafeed best practices - AF #1 (1) and #2 (2) - shopsafe #3
datafeed best practice - AF #1 (1) and #2 (2) - shopsafe #3
'best practice in data feed' shopsafe #2 - AF #2 (5) and #3(6)