Today we are fortunate enough to have a great interview with
search engine expert Wiredguy. He’s a classy guy who
really knows his stuff, so enjoy.
JBM:
To begin, can you list all you search engine secrets?
WIREDGUY:
Not a chance :)
JBM:
Or, tell us how you got started in the adult internet biz?
WIREDGUY:
In December of 2000, the advertising markets for mainstream
had burst
and the adult industry was one of the few markets which continued
to
grow even through rough times. Coupled with the fact that
a large
number of surfers use search engines regularly to find adult
sites, it was a
logical progression to attempt to apply my skills towards
the adult entertainment industry.
JBM:
You've become a message board celebrity of sorts ( and a real
good sport ) does it flatter you or disturb you?
WIREDGUY:
I don't really think of myself as a celebrity, but rather
someone who attempts to act like a professional. Most of my
posts, especially those geared towards SEO, I attempt to give
a helping hand. What I do notice though is after a while,
people expect me to advice them and I simply don't have the
time to do it on an ongoing basis.
JBM:
For the sponsors out there hoping to get a piece of you, what
do they need to bring to the table to get you interested?
WIREDGUY:
For the most part, they can't. I already have relations with
well established companies for my top spots and these companies
pay significant premiums over their standard payouts to ensure
I keep promoting their sites. I'm always interested in new
sites and trying to get new traffic and at that point is when
I typically venture to look for new sponsors and sites to
promote. At that point though, I'll approach you; the last
thing I need is a dozen companies trying to
solicit me to send them traffic. I know most of the companies
out there
and if you attend shows regularly, chances are I will try
you out at one point once I feel I have a match for my traffic.
Best way to ensure we can do business at one point is to simply
make sure I know your company, your products and sites and
do not pressure me to send traffic.
JBM:
You've been in the adult side of things since late 2000, can
you give your thoughts on the changes in search engines in
that time?
WIREDGUY:
The major changes we've seen over the last few years mostly
involve search engines changing their pricing models. Back
in 2000, search engines relied heavily on banner based advertising
and rarely manipulated the actual search results themselves.
Today, nearly every search engine has a combination of various
paid search results, including pay per click and pay per inclusion.
In addition, the actual algorithms that search engines use
have shifted quite a bit. Traditionally, meta tags and the
actual content on a page were the most heavily weighed items
in determining a ranking. While these elements still play
an important role today, search engines place more weighting
on elements a webmaster cannot control as easily to prevent
abuse. For
example, the anchor text and PageRank system are two key factors
which webmasters cannot control.
JBM:
Is Google PR still relevant for anything other than message
board complaining?
WIREDGUY:
Google's PR system is still effective but has lost a lot of
merit over the last year. To a certain extent, many webmasters
have become PR obsessed, always striving to quantify their
sites on a scale from 0 to 10. What is more important today
is to form relevant links with sites rather than seeking the
highest numerical score. Since Google's acquisition of Applied
Semantics (the company that now provides the technology for
AdSense), Google is able to determine the theme/topic of a
particular page within their index. As a result, its more
important now than ever to keeping your site contextually
relevant to the links you have. Don't trade links with irrelevant
pages just for the sake of increasing your PR. Trade links
with similar pages to your own for the purpose of being within
a network of pages all with a common theme.
JBM:
Do you have any concerns about the future of the adult internet?
Are you planning to stick with it for the long term?
WIREDGUY:
I think everyone has a certain level of paranoia as to what
will happen in the upcoming few months. It's clear that the
number of obscenity cases is going up, credit card processing
is hitting various hurdles and we're starting to see diminishing
revenues from exit consoles as a result of new popup blockers
that are hitting the mass-market. While I do believe there
will be significant changes in the upcoming year, there will
always be a market for adult entertainment. So long as the
demand and supply co-exist in our marketplace, there will
be a need for SEO's such as myself to put surfers in touch
with sponsors. I do plan on continuing in this business for
some time to come.
JBM:
Does Microsoft or anyone have a shot at unseating the google
search supremacy in the next couple years?
WIREDGUY:
Absolutely. Earlier this year, Google was providing the underlying
search technology for Yahoo until Yahoo split paths and began
using Inktomi (Yahoo bought Inktomi late last year). As a
result, Google lost a significant amount of traffic and brought
Yahoo back into the spotlight. With Microsoft's new engine
under development now, I would expect some new competition
in the upcoming few months. Microsoft has made it very clear
that search technology will be integrated into the new versions
of Windows and I expect some sort of integration directly
into the browser and more importantly, into the desktop. This
move alone should acquire a significant amount of the market
share; Microsoft just needs to come up with a descent search
engine and they will do very well.
JBM:
Is it true that if someone gets you drunk enough you will
spill all your trade secrets?
WIREDGUY:
Nice rumor isn't it, but you'll get nothing more than a few
generalized tips and nothing specific enough to get you top
rankings. But thanks for the free drinks.
JBM:
Thanks a lot for the interview, your a great guy to talk to.
Do you have any business or services you would like to tell
the readers about?
WIREDGUY:
You're welcome. If you're interested in learning a little
more about search engines, I do have a free site at http://www.submitcorner.com/
which will give you some tutorials and guides as to what you
should do to your site. There's also a few tools to help you
find relevant keywords and check your positioning. |
