Singing the "SEO is dead" song is nothing new for Dave Pasternack, despite all the recent rounds of impotent cliches. I came across the article linked above over at SEO Today from Oct 11, 2005 where he talks about Yahoo Search Subscriptions and proclaims the following pearls:

"Yahoo!’s new Search Subscriptions, now in beta, means two things for SEO. The first thing it means is that organic search is dead. Finished. It finally happened. Everyone can go home. The second thing it means is that SEO is more important than ever was before."

Right. We all know how that prediction turned out.

In the end he makes the case that your SEO must be stellar otherwise, you'll completely miss out. Was that supposed to be new information? And in true Pasternack form, he closes with the pitch for SEM:

"And, by the way, if your SEO isn’t working the same way it used to be, you’ll want to bolster your chances with that other great search engine weapon - SEM."

Atta boy Dave, you didn't let us down in 2005 and you're certainly singing the same tune in 2007.

Except now he's selling T-Shirts, baking cakes (no wait, his partner is asking for help with that - hmmm) and playing the cancer card. Sigh.

There's a Dave Pasternack ranking contest that is sure to fill the search engine results with references that would likely warrant some brand and reputation work for most company founders, but the reality is this is exactly what Dave wants.

Update: Here are the top ranking SEO sites for "Dave Pasternack" as of 02/19/07 that did not rank previous to the above contest:

Oilman Dave Pasternack
Threadwatch Dave Pasternack
Graywolf Dave Pasternack
Web Guerilla Dave Pasternack

I have to admit, it takes guts to make a fool of yourself saying completely inaccurate things and to lob innuendo and insults to an industry and then stick to your guns when people call you on it. If Dave really wants to get attention, why doesn't he get an ad on the Super Bowl like that super proposal guy and pronounce his undying love and commitment to PPC?


Tag: dave pasternack

Labels: dave pasternack

Here is a list of the week's blog posts over at Online Marketing Blog focusing on SEO, blogging and business of search marketing.

SEMPO Board of Directors Nominees - Lee

Search Marketing Blogs Update 012607 -

Friday Search News 012507 -

Content vs Links -

The Lowdown on Web Designers and SEO -

Recommendations for Collaboration Software


Blogging in Different Languages

Yahoo Adds Quality Index to Search Marketing Ads

Gain Client Support for Successful Search Marketing

SEO Secrets for Better Public Relations

Good SEO Humor

Lessons Learned About Blogging

Monday Links 012207

Reader Poll Roundup

Small Business Marketing Book

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Here is a question about changing URLs that I recently received that I thought would be of use to others considering a similar situation:

"We are considering changing our policy regarding URLs for sites. Right now each one has its own URL, i.e., domainname.com. We are considering changing them to: www.ourbrandname.com/olddomainname/. There are strong business reasons to do so. Are there any SEO ramifications (good or bad) for our sites if we do this?"

My response:

There are numerous issues with changing URLs. Here are a few considerations:

1. The old URLs have been published to the web and are part of the content and link history associated with any site they link to. The change to the new URL will not bring with it, any link equity that has been previously built up.

2. Search engines have indexed the current URLs, some sites have linked to the current URLs and some people have bookmarked the current urls. Changing to the new URL syntax brings with it the issue of redirecting all old URLs to their new counterparts. This is a coding issue that is handled at the server level so both search engines and users are re-directed to the proper content. It also means that the top referrers of traffic will need to be contacted and advised of the new url format. ie, ask them to change the URL they link to.

3. If redirection of old to new URLs is not handled properly a few issues will occur:

a) Users that find the site in search engine results will click on the link and get a "not found error" or possibly a custom not found page that suggests other places on the site to look. Neither of which is the content the user is looking for.

b) If search engines are not provided with permanent redirect instructions (301) then they will continue to maintain the old URLs in their databases, retaining any link popularity and traffic to the old URLs and not passing it on to the new site URL.

4. The current URLs are short and user friendly. The new urls are not and contain additional branding elements, therefore diluting the brand.

5. There is an advantage to yourbrandname.com by having multiple, active sites producing content and attracting links under the same domain, but you will be starting from scratch.

6. There are numerous free blog services that offer sub domain URLs (name.wordpress.com, name.blogspot.com, name.vox.com, etc). A subdirectory URL (www.ourbrandname.com/olddomainname/) would be perceived as less credible than a domain name and less than a sub domain.

What other issues (pro/con) can you think of in this situation?

Tags: seo, changing urls, search engin optimization