Hey gang... we launched this week's edition of SEO Dojo Radio this morning. It was yet another great session, if not a bit crazy with a new record for F-bombs. The first part of the show featured the regulars (myself, Terry and Steve) and Justin came back after some time in the homeland (Ireland).

We were all in rare form and talked about;

• Silly link building tactics and link cliques
• New local SERPs, all local no organic
• Siloing – is in back in vogue?
• Yahoo Api Updates – Site Explorer survives
• Does the SEO industry need consumer advocacy?

The most recent poll over in the SEO Dojo was related to an article I wrote over on the WordStream blog a while back titled; Google is getting past the link

Will Google ever get over links?

Here's how the answers broke down;

• 64.1% Nope not any time soon
• 17.2% Caffeine means more signals
• 10.9% Not yet, but coming soon
• 4.7% Yes they have to for relevance
• 3.1% Yes, SEOs have destroyed PR signals

First off, the funny part for me, was the response the original article recieved. Most folks seemed to agree with me that Google would be evolving past the present addiction. That wasn't entirely borne out in the poll results. With that, only 36% seemed to believe such.

After that, it does seem that most believe that via caffeine or otherwise, that an change may be on the horizon. So why do most of the folks believe Google can't get past the link? Is that because it is so ingrained in our collective conciousness? Is it because they have no faith in Google? It's hard to say. I am going with the former.

What I can tell you is that the IR world itself really doesn't talk about search/ranking in terms of linkage over the last few years. I would venture a guess we most certainly will see a shift... time will tell. Please do head on over to the Dojo and take this week's poll; Are you utilizing RDFa and microformats yet? (right hand side)

What do YOU think? Sound off in the comments.

Welcome the our new format

Over the last five years I have had the great fortune to be able to garner the attention of many folks in the search world writing here on the (Fire Horse) Trail. It has been a blast and allowed me to meet so many great people and eventually evolved into the SEO Training Dojo... a wondrous ride to be sure.

A few years ago I started having some guest posters to help liven up the joint. Because really, who wants to read about patents and geekiness all the time (other than me of course)? Since that time I've had a steady stream of guests and have enjoyed sharing the space.

Which brings me to some great news!

Recently I was thinking about taking that to the next logical step and having some more full-time writers here to expand the offering. So that's exactly what I have done.

With the help of my partner, Terry VanHorne, we have collected some diverse and interesting people in the space that we are going to be having write for us on a regular basis. So let me introduce you to some of the new blood here on the trail;

We have given them their own profiles, so just click on the pic (or name) to learn more about them;

EEK!... the FCC is in Discussions on Net Neutrality!

Well if anything can result in the end of the Interwebs as we know it be assured it is a definite possibility if the FCC is getting involved! Look at the problems the FCC has with blogger's disguising paid reviews as "unbiased reviews"! We should know we don't want the US "simple servants" deciding anything about the future of the InterWebs. There is a law that they don't/won't enforce and look at the results? Every review I read I have to assume it is tainted with $'s unless they are open and transparent about it either way.\

The he said/she said story surrounding NY Times sensationalistic journalism piece "Google and Verizon Near Deal on Web Pay Tiers" about net neutrality shows exactly how whacked things are in the States right now! Sorry to say my brothers to the South are treading where they shouldn't. That said, here in Canada the CRTC were having similar "discussions" regarding Canadian Content requirements and possibly what the "toll" would be (we always pay... one way or da' other) and where it would be placed (who gets the #Dosh) for TV on the Internet Served in Canada.