Today’s question comes from a poster over at the DP forums, he asks:

My site is have PR4 but the backlinks from google is very small. What are the best methods to get backlinks from google?

I hear this question quite frequently.

The link: command in Google is a funny tool nowadays. Since Google knows only webmasters, SEO and marketing people use the link: command, they decided to get a little tricky with all of us. The link: command only shows a small sampling of the true amount of backlinks Google has found.

A better subsitution would be to use Yahoo!. Yahoo! isn’t stingy with what they show you.

Another tool you can use, if you still want to use Google, is Google’s Webmaster Central. Their are a host of tools to use in this section. If you’d like to know if you’re getting incoming links to deep pages of your site, Webmaster Central will show you where they’re coming.

If you’re looking for desktop application, Aaron Wall’s Backlink Analyzer is an amazing FREE software that I’ve used over and over again. Really robust.

Today’s question comes from Spiceboy over at the WebproWorld forums. He asks:

Can anyone tell me how often the Supplemental Index is er..indexed? Is it a daily process, weekly, monthly, quarterly?

The supplemental index is categorized when the main index comes through. When the crawler comes through your site, caches all the pages, some pages are put in the main index and then others are put through the supplemental index, based upon the multiple filters that are in place to find pages that trigger those filters.

So, to answer you question specifically, whenever the search engine bots index your site. If you have a site that is indexed daily, they the supplemental index will be re-indexed with your pages…or without your pages.

Originally, the ’sandbox’ factor was used to describe an odd phenomenon noticed by SEO professionals in conjunction with the algorithm. What is the signs of “sandboxing” before ruling out other possibilities? - from DP

The Google Sandbox effect has been around since 2004. It was started to get rid of spammy sites that would be thrown up using automated tools, acquire thousands and thousands of links and rank for keywords within weeks. Google implements the “Sandbox” as well as a few other filters, to combat against these types of spammy ranking tactics.

I find that a majority of webmasters aren’t entirely sure what the sandbox is and how to get out of it. The sandbox is applied to new sites only. Now, when I say new sites, I mean brand new domains that have just launched a web presence. I run across clients that think just because they’ve owned the domain for 10 years, that they might not get into the sandbox, when in fact, the site was actually launched 5 months ago. Sandbox sites occur when the site is brand new to the web.

What happens? 2 things happen usually. Either a site will have 0 rankings in Google for all keywords or the site will have some rankings for a few weeks, then the rankings will disappear.

Another effect you might find yourself is that you think your site is not in the sandbox. This usually happens when you are ranking for keywords that are very long-tail or are not competitive at all. Recently, I ranked a site for “Bulletproof Fiberglass”. The site is still on the first page and has been since I launched the site. The keyword is very relative to the client’s industry, but the competitiveness for that keyword in Google is very, very small. Since competition is so small, the website ranked extremely high right out of the gate. Do I still consider this site in the sandbox? Yes. If I were to get rankings for more competitive keyword phrases, I’d have to sit a little while before rankings proceeded.

When you start to see rankings for 1st and 2nd tier keywords, you’re out of the sandbox and can enjoy great rankings and really start to nurture your search engine optimization efforts.

How do you get out of the sandbox? We’ll have to save that for another “Ask SEM Inc.” Till next time!

- Adam

Google recently announced their new algorithm change. The change is going to fully incorporate all other verticals they have into existing web search results. What this means if if you do a search for APPLE, you might get a video of an apple, an image of an apple and maybe directions to an apple store all within the search single SERP, rather then going to each different Google search section.

What does this mean for SEO/M?
As with most industries on the net, they continue to grow and shift. With this new change, SEO’s are going to need to understand how to rank different components of content. If you don’t know how to rank and image in the top 10, then you’ll need to start learning. If you’ve never ranked a video in the top 10, its time you start learning.

Universal search is going to take away listings on the search pages that would normally be taken by actually pages, rather then a video or image or local search.

SEW is having a discussion on the topic. It’s an interesting topic and definitely one that will change how we optimize websites, at least for Google.

This week, Google bought DoubleClick ad network for $3.1 Billion coin. That is a lot of coin. The interesting aspect to that purchase is DoubleClick owns Performics, which is a search engine marketing company.

Performics started out as an affiliate network, and they still are, but a good portion of their business revolves around SEO now. What a coincidence that Google happens to purchase DoubleClick, which also owns Performics. What does that mean for Performics clients?

I have to say, I’d love to be a Performics clients. Don’t get me wrong, SEM Inc. is very capable to optimize in any industry, but we’re not Google. We’re not Yahoo. (And who wants to be Live.com) Interestingly, does this mean Performics clients get the benefit to look under the skirt of Google and see the goods? I don’t it, but its an interesting thought. And if Performics clients did get the inside scoop to rankings and such, what would that do to other websites in those markets online?

Time will tell what Google decides to do with Performics. I’ve talked with other SEOs that think Google will sell that portion of the business off. It’s just too much of a conflict of interest. But we’ll see.