Photo by Annabel Symington (stringer_bel on Flickr)

SEOmoz is conducting an informal test of Twitter and link influence and has reached out to the SEO community for help in generating the test data. But even cooler is that their guinea pig for this test is a really awesome cause, SeeYourImpact.org‘s efforts to help end hunger in Sierra Leone. The SEO ninjas are more than happy to participate in this test, look forward to seeing the results, and might pledge eternal devotion to you if you were to make a donation.

Help end Hunger in Sierra Leone and meet the life you change.

Miracle Max is not happy to be disturbed by unexpected guests. They have a proposal for him. Inigo and Fezzik heard he’s got some skills they need as well as some clout with the King. Would he do them the favor of raising The Man In Black from the dead? He’s not all that inclined to do it. What’s in it for him? He only agrees once it’s established how he will benefit.

Our clients often come to us with unsolicited emails they’ve received from websites proposing a link exchange. “Should we do this?” they ask us. “Is this a good idea?”

The answer is, “It depends.” While a reciprocal link is generally less valuable than a naturally occurring one way link, a link exchange is not always a bad idea. Here are a few tips for evaluating a website that wants to exchange links with you.

1. Is the site relevant?

Let’s say you’re a cosmetic dentist. You get an email from a ferret breeder asking for a link exchange.

Just say no. Ferrets have nothing to do with dentists, and there is no benefit for either of you. On the other hand, if you get a request from a family dentist in the next town over, that’s worth considering. Why? Although you’re in slightly different markets targeting slightly different customers, their content supports your content. Your content supports theirs. Search engines will note the discordance between a dentist and a ferret and write it off. They see the harmony between a dentist and another dentist and give it a thumbs up.

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There are many of us who see the BBB sticker posted on trucks and business buildings around town, and the meaning of it kind of surpasses those of us who are less savvy with internet marketing. Yes, the Better Business Bureau has some awesome implications for your business in the physical world, if anyone knows what it is or what it stands for. But the real power of the BBB can be seen in your web presence. Being a member of the BBB and having a listing on BBB.org can be one of the strongest things you can do for your online presence. The most important “person” to see your online influence with the BBB is Google, and other search engines. Here’s seven reasons why your BBB listing will improve your search engine results!

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Today I’m going to interview Patti, one of our star optimizers at Page 1 Solutions. She’s going to talk with us about link building, paid directories and optimizing with keywords.

TP: Hey Patti! Thanks for talking with me.

PW: You’re welcome.

TP: My first question for you is what, in your opinion, is the most effective way to build links?

PW: Build links that your competitors don’t have access to. Links from your alma mater, companies you work with locally, and charities you donate to will make the biggest impact and keep your links exclusive.

TP: How do you feel about paid directories? Google tells us not to use them, but it seems like almost every optimizer will tell you they’re worth their money.

PW: Most aren’t. There are a handful that definitely are, such as the Yahoo! directory and best of the web directory. At the end of the day, links you get from local companies will make a bigger impact on your positioning because anybody can pay for a link.

TP: What about free directories? Which ones do you use the most?

PW: The Librarian’s Internet Index and DMOZ first come to mind. It is also important to have a good local listing.

TP: How do you determine top keywords for a client?

PW: Whatever the client decides is their most important keyword, which is where they make the most money from their clients.

TP: How do you optimize your content based on your keywords?

PW: I make sure to drop the keyword into the content where it will be unobtrusive, but noticeable.

TP: What is a good example of a common mistake in optimizing with keywords?

PW: Repeating your keyphrase so many times in the page that it becomes hard for the reader to read, and spam in the search engines’ eyes.

TP: Lots of great information! Thanks for your time, Patti!

PW: Yay!

Google has been coming down hard on a large amount of websites recently and one of their latest happens to be PayPerPost. PayPerPost is basically a network of bloggers who are paid to blog about something. For example, if you owned a website about cosmetic surgery, you could sign up for their service, think of an idea to write about and pay the owner of a blog to write a quick entry about your site. Easy as that. You get a quick link to your site and the blogger gets some pocket change.

The problem is that Google doesn’t like people trying to “game” their algorithm and unnatural link building, in their opinion, is wrong. Which is ridiculous because buying links isn’t always about “gaming” the system, but just another form of advertising. Either way, Google doesn’t like it and that’s what really matters, right? For punishment, Google has completely removed page rank from bloggers who are associated with PayPerPost.

Not that page rank is very important, tool bar page rank that is, but I’m betting that these sites have been penalized in more than just their page rank. So if PayPerPost was one of your little secrets to success, you better start looking elsewhere. At least for the time being, as I’m sure PayPerPost will be fighting this one.