Prevent Gmail From Marking Google Alerts As Spam

Since I’m considering changing this blog’s name to ChurchMojo.com, I created a Google alert for “church mojo” to monitor the activity on that phrase (and registered the domain). As a Gmail user, it surprised me to see that Google had flagged one of its own Google Alerts as spam.

Adding “googlealerts-noreply@google.com” to your Gmail Contacts will correct the problem, but shouldn’t Google whitelist itself in the first place? And what do you think about ChurchMojo.com as a domain name?

Mark Alves, SEO Expert

Having just completed the SEOmoz SEO quiz, should I be flattered by the title or disturbed by the implications? Really, I’m on the creative white hat side of the spectrum.

Are you an SEO Expert? Take the SEOmoz quiz and find out.

Get Your Photos Labeled By Google

My post on SEO for photos included a tip on adding your photos to Google’s image labeler. Here’s how to do it.

1. Log into your Google Webmaster Tools, the free application that gives you a glimpse into how Google sees your site.
2. Select “Tools” from the left navigation.
3. Mark the checkbox next to “Enable enhanced image search” and hit OK

Your pictures are now available for tagging through the Google Image Labeler, which gives you a better chance for them to show up in search results.

Google Webmaster Tools includes an image option under “tools”

Select the “Enable enhanced image search” checkbox.

More SEO Tips for Images

Happy Web Diva offers three SEO tips for images based on a PodCamp presentation by John Ellis in response to Google’s universal search. Here are her takeaways along with a few I’d add to the list.

1. Use keyword-rich file names separated by hyphens.

2. Use the alt attribute with keywords.

3. Add an image caption.

To that great list, you can add:

4. Set the title attribute in addition to the alt attribute using the same text. Some browsers require such an attribute to get the tool tip to pop up. Do not use “Photo of Danny Sullivan” or “Picture of Danny Sullivan.” The search engines already know it’s a photo, they just don’t know who/what’s in the photo. Instead, use:

<img src=”/directory/something/danny-sullivan.jpg ” width=”200″ height=”250″ alt=”Danny Sullivan in full rant mode” title=” Danny Sullivan in full rant mode”>

5. Turn on “Enable advanced image search” in Google Webmaster Tools. (Here’s how.) Doing so makes your images available for tagging through the Google Image Labeler which in turn helps with SEO.

6. Link your thumbnail to a larger, higher resolution version. Put it on a separate, optimized page–so you can track your traffic–rather than linking directly to a JPG. You might also use Flickr, although as Natural Search Blog and SEOROI have pointed out, the site has started no-following most of their links. Nevertheless, it’s still an opportunity to drive traffic.

So, what photo optimization tip are you going to add to the list?