Blog by Reflective Dynamics, Inc.

Here you are in the midst of another “Google update”. It gets tedious, especially for Website publishers who only see their traffic trending downward. You inevitably wonder when it will ever end or if this SEO stuff is worth the wait. I can’t answer that last question for you. Every year there are small and medium business owners who give up on search engine optimization specialists. We’re an industry that refuses to adopt professional standards, so you have no idea of what to expect from the Click to continue […]

One of the greatest challenges many SEO specialists must face is the Wall of Pseudo-knowledge that dominates SEO thinking. It doesn’t matter who you think is an expert in SEO. We’re all prone to believing something that isn’t true. Pseudo-knowledge sounds true and isn’t false enough to lead to immediate negative consequences when used in search optimization. An example of common pseudo-knowledge you’ll find in online discussions about search engine optimization is that “my competitor’s site Click to continue […]

I will pull no punches here. Hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of small business owners who depend on the Internet have been forced to shutdown because of the 2020 Covid-19 viral outbreak. As I write this article at the end of March Reflective Dynamics is still in business but I’m not gloating – I’m grateful. I have friends in the business who have lost all their clients. I know yet more people in the industry who have also lost many clients. For those agencies and consultants who continue Click to continue […]

If you only listen to Web marketers you will quickly realize that everyone needs a mobile-friendly site and a mobile app. No one searches on the desktop any more. No one wants to use their desktop computer for anything but playing games. The “all Web traffic is mobile” propaganda has become almost the sole talking point for many conversations about search engine optimization, Web marketing in general, and related topics. A few years back Google began preaching the value of converting all Websites Click to continue […]

One of the age-old questions of Web marketing, especially when launching a new site or moving to a new domain, is what to do with a large number of “pages” you have ready to publish. Some people feel you should put everything up at once and get it into the search indexes as quickly as possible. Other people like the idea of “dripping” content onto a site, in the hope of gradually building an audience. Either method can be effective but each method has its strengths or advantages over the other. Consider Click to continue […]

In early 2018 I asked a few old hands in the search engine optimization field how they define “technical SEO”. This is a phrase that has been around since Moses came down from the mountain. I don’t really grok it. To me, all search engine optimization is a bit “technical”, at least in that you’re using techniques of coding, content design and composition, and link design and placement to alter a Website’s relationship with a search engine. After mulling over their replies and reading several uninspiring Click to continue […]

I have no illusions about putting an end to “guest posting” services.  Too many people still teach that guest posting is a “safe” way to get links for Websites.  Of course, guest posting is no safer than building private blog networks, buying links, or hacking sites for links.  When you cross a certain threshold with your guest posts your links attract the wrong kind of attention to your search engine optimization strategies.  If you’re lucky all that happens is an algorithm filters the links Click to continue […]

Conventional SEO practice demands that every business Website add a blog somewhere in the hierarchy “to attract links”. Link attraction is the new link building, and that is mostly a good thing because earning links is much more difficult than building them. But while every site needs at least a few links to help it earn trust and position in Bing and Google’s search indexes, Web marketing has taken the whole idea of earning links too because of an atmosphere of fear and despair. The fear Click to continue […]

Since Google began promoting the widespread adoption of HTTPS in a kneejerk reaction to disclosures by Edward Snowden that the NSA was analyzing their users’ activity, a lot of people in the tech industry have jumped on the bandwagon and promoted the initiative despite the severe reservations expressed by engineers and security specialists who actually have to make HTTPS work.  Anyone with a smidgen of skepticism should have paused to ask, “Why we would want to trust our ‘privacy’ to a protocol Click to continue […]

Although Web marketing practices have changed through the years I still follow the same basic search engine optimization principles today that I used in 1998. Very little has changed in search engine optimization over the past 18 years. You have more tools now and the search engines publish much more complex sets of guidelines but the basic structure of an optimization campaign remains the same. We still follow the SEO Cycle although I streamlined how I define the SEO Cycle in 2013: Produce Click to continue […]

Thomas Edison said that genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. I’ve been collecting inspiration and sayings in my journals for years. But I’m not sure that I’ve ever worked hard enough to get to genius level. Nonetheless, from my personal journals, here are 212 business quotes to inspire you: “Screw it, let’s do it!” -Richard Branson “Rule #1. Never lose money. Rule #2. Don’t forget Rule #1.” -Warren Buffett “During my 18 years I came to bat almost 10,000 times. I struck Click to continue […]