2010 is almost gone, many good and bad things happened for the SEO industry, from major Google algorithm changes to social media involvement in search engine positioning. When it comes to WordPress blogs, there are numerous plugins that could make life easier for each and every blogger, we thought  we would  highlight the most important ones that people should be aware of:

1.  Akismet

No more captcha, less comment moderation, Akismet still is the best anti-spam plugin for WordPress blogs.

2.  All In One SEO Plugin

Even though lots of new plugins related to this one have been launched, this still remains the most used one and probably the best plugin for optimisation.

3. YARP

Yet Another Related Posts Plugin does two things: shows readers related posts they might be interested in and also is great for your internal blog’s links structure.

4. Photo Dropper

This one is great for automatically adding photos to your posts – basically it searches for photos on Flickr and ads those to your posts.

5. WP Super Cache

The best way to improve your blog’s speed is by using this plugin for caching; website speed is nowadays one of the ranking factors Google uses.

6. Thank Me Later

Want to establish a connection with your readers from their first visit? Then use this plugin! It sends an email to your first-time visitors, an email that can be customised by you in any way you would like.

7. Redirection

404 pages are bad, real bad! Use this plugin to identify and solve the problem by a permanent 301 redirect. Great for SEO and for your readers.

As we already know by now, Matt Cutts recently launched another set of videos answering questions regarding Google algorithm, updates and so on, all coming from webmasters, marketers or SEO folks. One of the most important updates Matt revealed through his videos is regarding how Google evaluates social media links and the answer might be surprising for most people.

Basically, Matt confirmed that Google will now be using links coming from social media sites like Facebook, Twitter etc in determining a website ranking. According to this video, Google always considers links from social networking websites however this time they will be more into authors’ reputation on those sites. On the other hand, social media profiles that cannot be crawled or that are not public (like the ones from Facebook where different users share stuff only with friends) cannot help in search rankings.

Is social media almost dead, as numerous voices were claiming lately? Not at all, it seems that it is just the beginning while not only Google but also Bing is taking a closer look on profiles from those sites. Matt Cutts’ exact words were:

“I filmed a video back in May 2010 where I said that we didn’t use that as a signal, and at the time, we did not use that as a signal, but now, we’re taping this in December 2010, and we are using that as a signal.”

Is this the end of SEO Vs Social Media debate?

The problem that arises from this news is, of course, related to spam. There are numerous tools that can create hundreds of fake profiles, add thousands of Twitter followers in days or get thousands of Likes in a blink of an eye, what about those? Should we be concerned about this? Will “social media spam” be the next buzz for 2011?

We believe that while launching this new update, the guys at Google have already taken in consideration how to separate spam profiles from the authority profiles that weight some trust in social media environment. One thing is sure now: Internet marketers and will change the way they look into social media while this is becoming more and more serious for Search Engines and can (and will) influence the SERPs in a positive/negative way.

Every website targeting a specific keyword to rank for has one main objective: to get as many backlinks anchored with the main keyword. Is this the best practice or not ?

The best way to describe this would be by using an example : let’s take the keyword web design for example. Most SEO folks claim that anchor text should be not only web design but also best web design, web design London, top web design company and so on, so vary the anchor but still use the main keyword in its body. However this could be a big mistake due to one major problem : backlinks appear un-natural to search engines, thus raising a red flag.

What we are trying to say is that by analysing the top websites in a certain niche, you will probably notice a lot of them ranking quite high for some keywords but with many backlinks pointing to them with other anchors or without any anchor at all. And they are well deserving rankings (according to search engines) due to the fact that it does not look like an obvious link building campaign but like the links are gained from different channels by merit.

That is exactly what most automated SEO tools these days do, whether we are talking about Internet directories submission or even social bookmarking tools, offer the possibility of spinning the title, so that you won’t get many links pointing to your website with the same anchor text, thus creating a « link-spike ».

One of the best methods of avoiding this problem would be to verify how your backlinks profile appears for the search engines by checking the anchors pointing to your website. There are many SEO tools for this, some free, some paid, however the best one available nowadays is definitely the one offered by Majestic SEO. Do you have too many backlinks with the same anchor pointing to your site ? Easy task, just concentrate on lowering those numbers by building non-anchored backlinks that leverage the possibility of leaving a footprint for search engines. It is always best practice to get a more natural backlinks profile as this gains higher rankings, even though you might think the only thing that can bring you the desired rankings is « many links with same anchor text ».

There are several ideas spread all over the Internet regarding link building. Sure, some are myth and some are true facts, we will not say which one is a myth or not but we will explain why we consider some a myth, some as true facts. So here they are below:

1. Only relevant links count for Google

What is considered a relevant link first of all? Well, according to different SEO guys, let’s take for example a business selling sports shoes – relevant links will come from industry-related sites like other shoes stores, shoes manufacturers, clothes, sportsmen blogs and so on. But is leather relevant to shoes? Yes it is, it’s the main material used for shoes. However, isn’t the cow relevant to leather, thus to shoes? Well of course it is, and the list could go further. Another thing to consider is how many websites have high rankings in Google with links coming only from un-relevant websites…Is it a myth or not?

2. Search for links only from high PageRank pages

Does a PR 3 link count more than a PR1 link when it comes to rankings? We really think there are many other factors that could increase/lower the value of a link and PR is not one of them. One of the most important factors to look for on a page is the number of external links.

3. Vary keyword as much as possible

This is something sensible. Let’s consider the Adobe website, with its famous “click here” ranking. Indeed, thousands of websites link to Adobe with the anchor “click here” thus the number 1 ranking for this phrase and you may say it does not hurt to get thousands of links with your main keyword. However, think about this: the links came naturally following no odd-pattern, the links are growing steadily and have grown for years and last, Adobe is already an authority site.

4. Paid links do not work

No, paid links do work; it was proven by guys at SEOMoz and we can see this on many websites ranking for very competitive terms. On the other hand, paid links are unethical and brake Google rules regarding “search engines manipulation”. 100% a myth.

A Lot of buzz lately in the online environment regarding Yahoo and some of its services that are about to be closed. It all started with a picture posted on Twitter by MyBlogLog founder Eric Marcoullier in which some of Yahoo’s services seem to be on the edge of getting shut-down.

Del.icio.us is not the only service that is up to be closed, according to the leaked picture on the list there are other well-known services like MyBlogLog, AltaVista, Fire Eagle, Yahoo Buzz and the Traffic APIs.

The picture is part of an internal slideshow that was given to Yahoo employees and it’s made of three parts : the Sunset, the Merge and the Make Feature. The former employee’s picture was strengthened by other Yahoo employees that confirmed the image on Twitter, however they seem to be close to being fired, according to Yahoo Chief Product Officer Irving Blake’s tweet : “ Can’t wait to find out how you got the web cast. Whoever it is, gone! ”.

The picture says it all: on the sunset services we can see services like Yahoo Buzz (supposed to be a Digg challenger when it was launched), search engines Alta Vista and AllTheWeb (from Overture), social networking service MyBlogLog (overwhelmed by Facebook Connect) and Del.icio.us (a popular social bookmarking service).

However, whether these will be closed or sold is not certitude yet but it seems Yahoo is preparing to change things in its portfolio. On the last run, Liza Gannes from AllThingsD reported that the products featured in “sunset” are to be closed and not to be sold.

WebCreationUK is keeping an eye on this news and will certainly update this when official papers are to be launched.

One of the most popular ways of gathering a lot of attention to a blog or website is linkbaiting. Although its main purpose is to get links to a website, this can also be a powerful marketing method that is being used more and more lately.

There are two types of linkbaiting: negative and positive. Although both are fantastic ways to attract links, use the first one with extreme caution as it can generate a negative reputation in the blink of an eye. One of the most recent stories related to negative exposure is related to the business that was treating its customers badly, in order to get links to the site, they manipulated search engines for higher ranks and received lot of exposure; you’ve guessed it, it’s the company that appeared in the New York Times and on thousands of other authority blogs and websites. However, we all know the end of this story with guys at Google punishing the website and the owner now being under accusation by harassed customers.

Here are some “positive” linkbaiting ideas anyone could take advantage of:

1.      Interviews

Interviews with authority folks from your industry could definitely generate a lot of online buzz and most important, most of your links will come from related websites while they are directly interested in the interview.

2.     Tools, plugins, add-ons

Whether you create an add-on for Firefox that help web designers in their work or a plugin for WordPress, these tools usually attract lots of links if they get popular. Have no expertise in doing this? Outsource the task to someone that can do it. Tip: for your “creations” to spread faster, make them free of charge.

3.     Contests

The recipe is easy: giveaway a consistent prize, announce the contest through different social media channels and from there forward wheels will be in motion. People like contests so they will Tweet, stumble, digg etc your story, thus giving you a great exposure, waves of traffic, subscribers and future prospects.

4.      Lists are popular

Whether we are talking about “top 10 ways of…”, “best 5 tips to….” or “50 most….”, lists get distributed in short time; however, the subject must be well researched and created in a manner that will get people’s attention.

5.     Statistics

Statistics are, again, very popular not only among webmasters. Everybody likes seeing statistics related to his industry so why not taking advantage of this weapon?