This is not the first time Google has asked webmasters to do their jobs for them by ratting out their competitors. Here they go again:

Calling for link spam reports
by Matt Cutts
March 3, 2010

Google has been working on some new algorithms and tools to tackle linkspam and we’d like to ask for linkspam reports from you. If you’d like to tell us about web sites that appear to be using spammy links (e.g. paid links that pass PageRank, blog spammers, guestbook spammers, etc.), here’s how to send us more info. Go to

Webmaster Tools | Spam Report

and tell us about the site that appears to be employing link spam. Be sure to include the word “linkspam” (all one word, all lower-case) in the textarea (the last field in the form).

If that’s too hard to remember, you can also use the shortcut

Webmaster Tools | linkspam

which will pre-populate the text area field to say “linkspam” in it. Note: to use these forms, you must sign in with a Google account. We’re moving away from using the anonymous spam report form.

There’s just something unseemly about this, even of you can get past the issue of Google wanting us to do their work for them for free.

Google seeks more rats is a post from: PsychNet Reviews and Recommendations

©2010 PsychNet Reviews and Recommendations. All Rights Reserved.

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Because this myth never seems to go away no matter how often it’s refuted:

Demystifying the “duplicate content penalty”
by Susan Moskwa, Webmaster Trends Analyst, Google
Friday, September 12, 2008

Duplicate content. There’s just something about it. We keep writing about it, and people keep asking about it. In particular, I still hear a lot of webmasters worrying about whether they may have a “duplicate content penalty.”

Let’s put this to bed once and for all, folks: There’s no such thing as a “duplicate content penalty.” At least, not in the way most people mean when they say that.

Read full article.

See also Duplicate content due to scrapers which is quite a different scenario.

Demystifying the duplicate content penalty: There is no such thing is a post from: PsychNet Reviews and Recommendations

©2010 PsychNet Reviews and Recommendations. All Rights Reserved.

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Search Engine Optimization All-in-One For Dummies

Bruce Clay. For Dummies 2009, Paperback, 768 pages, $21.77

Search Engine Optimization All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies

by Bruce Clay and Susan Esparza
768 pages; Published April 27, 2009This may well be the bargain of the month. Long-time SEO guru Bruce Clay and his senior editor  have just released their new reference manual:

The 746 page SEO desk reference is as close as you can come to an in-home SEO training course. The SEO For Dummies desk reference explains the search engine basics, creating content, linking strategies, analyzing results, building a business with SEO, and more. The all-in-one desk reference also strives to familiarize readers with the different kinds of search, including image searches, local search, and industry-specific vertical searches. The book also includes a $25 AdWords™ coupon to be used in your search marketing/PPC efforts. The coupon is good only on accounts that have not used a promo code before.

Amazon.com is currently offering this for $26.39 USD, so if you are eligible for the included AdWords coupon your net cost is $1.39! In many places, that’s less than a cup of coffee.

The Table of Contents includes the following topics:

1. How Search Engines Work
2. Keyword Strategy
3. Competitive Positioning
4. SEO Web Design
5. Content Creation
6. Linking
7. Optimizing the Foundations
8. Analyzing Results
9. International SEO
10. Search Marketing

 From the Amazon.com review of this book:

Ten handy minibooks cover how search engines work, keyword strategy, competitive positioning, SEO Web design, content creation, linking, optimizing the foundations, analyzing results, international SEO, and search marketing. You’ll even learn some geeky things like HTML, JavaScript, and CSS, or how to match metatags and keywords to page content.

• Book I explores how search engines work and which ones offer the best exposure
• Learn to develop a keyword strategy and be competitive with Books II and III
• Book IV helps you design an SEO-friendly site, while in Book V you learn to create content that lures your audience
• Tips in Book VI show how to line up relevant links for a better search showing
• Book VII shows how to get more from your server and content management system
• Discover how to measure your site’s success in Book VIII
• Book IX helps you globalize your success by marketing in Asia, Europe, and Latin America
• Use SEO and Book X tips to build your brand 

Or as one of the reviewers at Amazon.com puts it:

I haven’t read this book yet, but I’m sure it is good, because it was written by “the dinosaur of SEO” Bruce Clay.

Great credentials and a great price. What are you waiting for?

Search Engine Optimization For Dummies is a post from: PsychNet Reviews and Recommendations

©2010 PsychNet Reviews and Recommendations. All Rights Reserved.

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• Overview of Major SEO Ranking Factors (0)

I’m a big fan of Court’s blogs. This excerpt is from a nice overview of SEO and major ranking factors.

Search Engine Optimization
by Court
April 23rd, 2009

Once you have a keyword phrase (or keyword phrases) that can bring traffic, you will want Google to rank your site well for that keyword. That means you need to learn what Google wants to see and then give it to them. There are a lot of different factors that you need to learn and some are more important than others. It’s widely believed that these are the most important 10 factors that Google wants to see:

1. Keyword use in title tag
2. Anchor text of inbound links
3. Global link popularity of the site
4. Age of the site
5. Link popularity within the site’s internal link structure
6. Topical relevance of inbound links to site
7. Link popularity of site in topical community
8. Keyword use in body text
9. Global link popularity of linking sites
10. Topical relationship of linking pages

…read more

Overview of Major SEO Ranking Factors is a post from: PsychNet Reviews and Recommendations

©2010 PsychNet Reviews and Recommendations. All Rights Reserved.

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