Here it is, the latest issue of the SEO Chat newsletter breezing its way into your in box. Hurricane season has started down here, but we're not letting that blow us away. You can bet the staff here will keep brewing up a perfect storm of information to keep you up to date on the latest developments in the search engine industry!

One great example of this is the article we're highlighting for you this week from eWeek. Everyone has an opinion about what's happening with the talks between Microsoft and Yahoo or, more precisely, what should happen. If you want to read some well-informed opinions from CEOs of large companies, however, you'll want to check out this article. You might even be surprised.

Of course we ran a full slate of articles this week. On Wednesday we ran the first part of a two-part article on LinkedIn profile optimization; if you want to increase your visibility, or at least improve your networking, you'll want to check it out. On Tuesday we revisited the question of link trading and whether it was a waste of time anymore. On Monday, we took a really good look at Omgili, a search engine that uses spiders to index the subjective web -- blogs, forum sites, reviews, and so on. Could it give Google a run for its money? Read the review to find out.

We know you'll like the selection of SEO-related tutorials we've highlighted for you from Tutorialized this week. Learn how to build your own Google AdWord campaign, how to make search engines read your keywords, and much more. Don't forget to check out the other great tutorials we have on Tutorialized too!

There is some debate in the SEO industry as to whether it is better, for optimization purposes, to have one general site that covers several topics, or several sites that focus on niche topics. This issue came up again in this week's thread, inspiring some excellent responses. Be sure to stop by the thread and share your experiences.

Our Spotlight, just for readers of this newsletter, is aimed at those who can't get enough great SEO information. Are there any search engines out there that are devoted solely to search engine optimization? As a matter of fact, there are. Do you want to know how to find them? Scroll down to the Spotlight, and all will be revealed.

And last, but certainly not least, be sure to check out the fun and exciting SunQuest Chronicles: Ruby of Destiny choose your own adventure style book, brought to you by the good folks at Sun. Sign-up to the Sun Developer Network and play the game for your chance to win one of seven Sun Spots! Play now!

Thanks again for reading.

Until next time,
SEO Chat Staff

• Can Mozilla get in the Guinness Book of World Records? Yeah, you are right. Who cares?
• What is Juan Valdezburg's solution to the rash of recent GPS thefts? Ointment my friends. Ointment.
• Does playing the SunQuest Chronicles really make you as cool as Billy Dee Williams? You bet your activator juice it does.
• Will there be blood? No? How about blood-flavored milkshakes? I drink it up!

Watch the video!

MySpace and Facebook may say they reign supreme in the social networking space. They may even have the numbers to back them up. But when it comes to business networking, one site stands above the others: LinkedIn. In this article, I am going to show you how to overhaul a LinkedIn profile and get it working for you.

I have said more than once that I do not do SEO for a living. I do not even do it consciously for the articles I write or edit for the Shed. Content comes first, right? I still believe that. Nevertheless, I am about to engage in my first act of "real" SEO, right in front of you. Wish me luck; I have a feeling I will need it.

When I started my research on this topic, I was surprised by how little I know. I probably should not have been. LinkedIn has been around as a network since 2003; that is plenty of time to create a huge user base and a slew of features. There is even a semi-independent website, LinkedIntelligence .com, with a blog that covers the many different ways you can use the online business network (and sometimes criticizes LinkedIn when it misses the ball). When it called for suggestions on smart ways to use LinkedIn, it received a veritable avalanche.

Read Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile

Link Trading: Good Idea, or Waste of Time?
by KC Morgan
2008-06-03

You know you have achieved a certain level of success with your website, or at least caught the interest of someone, when you open up your email to find a link trading offer from someone on another site. But is link trading even a good idea, or is it just a waste of time?

The idea of link trading is simple enough. You have a website and someone else with a website contacts you and asks about trading links. What does that mean? Basically, you put a link to their site on one of your pages, and they return the favor by doing the exact same thing for you. Many times, people who offer link trading deals will give you very specific links to use and even give you a separate link so you can see where your Web address will appear on their page.

All in all, it is a pretty fair deal. You do something for them, they do something for you, everyone has what they want. But what is the point? It does take a little bit of time and effort to create links, after all, so what is the appeal of trading with other sites when it really just creates more website work?

Read Link Trading: Good Idea, or Waste of Time?

Omgili: a New Spin on a Web 2.0 Search Engine
by Terri Wells
2008-06-02

While the major search engines use an automated approach for indexing the web and delivering relevant content, hundreds of upstarts look for ways to add human input into the equation. Omgili combines an automated approach with the human factor in a unique way. Keep reading to find out the merits of this young search engine.

Like the major search engines, Omgili uses an automated crawler to index the web. Unlike Google and the others, it specializes; it "scans millions of online discussions worldwide in over 100,000 boards, forums and other discussion based resources." In other words, it is a search engine for the subjective. For example, if you search Google for a particular brand of digital camera, the manufacturer product page for the device will probably be at the top of the results. If you search Omgili, however, all of your results will feature discussions of the camera. You will find out what real people thought about the device, not just the camera specs.

Omgili added a number of features to expand its usefulness. In October 2007 it released Omgili Search Aid, a tool that lets users search within search queries that other users have performed. Just one month later it released a beta version of Product Reviews, which taps into product review sites for information. In January the "subjective search engine" came out with Omgili Buzz, which displays the top topics in a variety of categories, such as videos, news, products and movies. And in late February of this year, it unveiled Google @Omgili, a service that lets users search on both engines - and more.

Read Omgili: a New Spin on a Web 2.0 Search Engine

Tutorialized is dedicated to programming, designing, and many other
tech related tutorials.

Google Adword Campaign
How to build your own Google Adword Campaign. Easy to follow set of instructions.
Read the tutorial.

How to Promote Site to Increase Traffic
SEO is about promoting your site.
Read the tutorial.

Easy Search Engine Friendly URLs with mod_rewrite
Create search engine friendly URLs easily with mod_rewrite.
Read the tutorial.

How Search Engines Operate
How search engines and its spiders actually work?
Read the tutorial.

SEO and Link Building for Quality Traffic
Build quality traffic using your keywords! Here is how!
Read the tutorial.

Make Engines Read Keywords
Force search engines to read your keywords.
Read the tutorial.

How can this SEO Newsletter be better?

What do you like or dislike about this issue?
Is there a topic you want to learn more about?
What issues in search engine news are important to you? We'll consider your suggestions and ideas for improvement,
so please email us. Email us.

Is it better to have one general site that covers several related topics, or different niche sites for each topic? One poster is looking for advice about shifting from one to the other, and seems to have reopened this debate. Be sure to check out the thread and add your thoughts.

Best way to phase out a website about a general topic and use different niche domains

I have website A which is about dogs, cats, and monkeys. It ranks fairly well on search engines because it has been around for years and has a nice number of incoming links too. Will appreciate your suggestions about the following issue:

- Created website B about dogs only and now has authority for related terms;
- Created website C about cats only and now is ranking highly for related terms;
- Created website D about monkeys only and it's doing fine too;

Was thinking of phasing out website A, which still has a fair share of traffic but ranks lower in general to other websites who are more topic specific.

What shall I do?

(1) Leave website A active and have the possibility of ranking with 2 domains on search engines for similar terms?
(2) 301 redirect dog pages from website A to B, cat pages from website A to C, monkey pages from A to D?
(3) OR any other option?

Thanks in anticipation for your suggestions. Would like to know what will be the best solution in terms of SEO (within search engine guidelines of course).

If I owned those sites and they all had different content, if the content topics were closely related (for example pets) and these sites had different link sources, I would redirect B, C, and D to A.

That would combine your linkstrength, make a huge authority site for "pets". My bet is that you would rank higher everywhere. If you move from position 7 to position 3 there is a huge increase in traffic.

Personally I think I would be inclined to leave it there.
I would have recommended "B" but - if those sites are doing so well, you probably don't need it and you may not quite manage to "pass on" all the merits which are making that original site rank so well.

Of course - it depends on if/how the sites are "monetized" and what sort of conversions/income you get from that original site... It might be worth investigating the longtail keyword successes on that site and updating the content slightly to target/take advantage of them.

Posts from this thread may have been abridged or removed. Forum members are responsible for the content of these posts.
Read the full thread.

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CSEs for SEO? You Bet!

On SEO Chat we have the iGrep search engine, which you can use to search the entire site. We also feature iGrep on our other sites for specialized searches devoted to each one. Sometimes, though, you may want to get in-depth information on particular topics from a larger number of sites, in a way that Google just can't provide. What do you do?

Well, you can check out a specialized search engine. These cover all sorts of niche topics, and can be found through Google and other major search engines -- never mind the irony of using a search engine to find search engines. Google even has a service called Custom Search Engine that lets users build their own search engines, based on in-depth indexing of the content of particular sites chosen by the engine's creators. There must be tens of thousands of these by now; how do you find them?

There is at least one site devoted to indexing Google CSEs. Appropriately enough, it's titled Guide to Custom Search Engines. You can use it to look for custom search engines by category, and you can send them your own CSE; their editors will review it, and if it meets with their approval, it will be put in the directory. The site even offers a concise article with tips on how to make a custom CSE.

But there's another way you can find Google CSEs. As Phil Bradley noted in his weblog aimed at librarians, the base URL is always the same, so put this into the Google search box: google .com inurl:cse inurl:coop. That gives you about 63,000 results. Now add an appropriate keyword or two to the end of that search, such as SEO. When I tried that search, I came up with 172 hits. This might be a good place to start if you've tried to find SEO information through Google or other sources and weren't satisfied with what you turned up.