There's been a pretty fair amount of buzz this week in the search world about Google's move to stop labeling search results that are part of the supplemental index. While this move will have an impact on search marketing firms who spend morning, noon and night obsessing about each and every page they work on, the average small business owner really doesn't need to worry themselves about it. Why?

Well, the average small business owner is not a search engine marketing specialist. They don't have time to be a search engine marketing specialist and they don't want to be a search engine marketing specialist. They simply want to make sure their pages are ranking as well as they can while they focus on actually running their business.

In fact, I've found myself at search marketing conferences chatting with small business owners that are now obsessed with whether or not they have pages in the supplemental results because they heard on some panel that it was the "kiss of death" for their site.

Funny, I remember hearing that same thing about the so-called sandbox.

And PageRank.

Here's the reality. Yes, the supplemental index label is handy for search marketers that are carefully watching every last URL on a site they are managing. It can tip them off to some changes they need to make in the way they approach optimizing and promoting a certain page.

For your every day business owner, having a page in the supplemental index simply means you need to work on building links and optimizing your pages more efficiently.

Think about it. If your page isn't ranking as well as it could, do you want to sit around obsessing about the fact that the page is in the supplemental index, or do you want to spend your time improving your site and individual pages so you get moved into the primary index and have a better chance of ranking well for your choice terms?

Yes, PageRank can help you rank better. Yes, it takes time for new sites to get indexed and to rank well. Yes, it's better to be in the standard index than in the supplemental results.

But if you're a small business owner trying to improve your web marketing while running your businesses, it's a lot more worth your while to focus on continuing to build relevant optimized web pages that attract quality links than it is to obsess about the semantics of why your page isn't ranking.

Let your web analytics tell you which pages you need to improve, not a little label assigned by Google.

Back in the early days of paid search advertising, traditional marketers celebrated the fact that they could finally buy placement on search engine results pages for a flat price. Traditional search engine optimizers sometimes scoffed at those who couldn't (or wouldn't) learn the rules of building a relevant web page. Time, and a variety of paid search system upgrades, have forced both sides to meet in the middle. These days you need to know how to manage both bid prices and relevancy targeting and Search Engine Journal's David Davis is happy to tell you how.

In a wonderful blog post filled with plenty of screen shots and real life examples, David explains how to make use of Google's own tools to better determine the quality score of your ads and landing pages.

He explains:

There are two very useful and free tools at our disposal when troubleshooting landing page quality scores. These are the W3 Semantic Extractor and the Google site related keyword tool. What better way to get information about what Google thinks your site is about then using a tool designed by Google to figure out exactly what your site is about?

He goes on to show two real life examples of pages with paid search ads that he ran through this system. By using Google's site related keyword tool, he's able to identify contextual changes that need to be made to a landing page to increase the quality score. By using the W3 Semantic Extractor, he's able to look at how a page is laid out semantically and can offer up some useful tips on how to restructure content.

For instance:

The great thing about David's advice is that it will not only help your quality score (which will lower your average cost per click), it will also increase the relevancy of your page. That should equal stronger conversion rates.

Hmm...lower cost per click with the potential for more sales? Sounds like a worthwhile thing to try to me.

Mike Murray and his team at Fathom SEO have put together an entertaining little video aimed at making it a little easier to understand what Google's new universal search is and how it works.

I have to admit, when I watched this my first thought was "that's not a lot of information, that's a lot of information sources." I was sort of hoping that the actor representing news would start spouting off stories about ping pong championships in China or that the actor representing images would pull out a flip book or flash cards.

Then I had a nice chuckle as I realized the Fathom SEO team may have shot the video the way they did on purpose to demonstrate the frustration some people have with universal search. After all, what good to all those sources do if they simply push the most relevant info off the page in favor of different info?

Maybe they'll shoot part two somewhere down the line and show a round table discussion of each vertical trying to fill her brain with ping pong information before the next meeting.

While there's no denying the power of the long tail when it comes to search traffic, the fact remains that a site can really only be properly optimized for a couple of phrases per page. For a small business with an equally small web site, it can be frustrating to feel the limitations of how many phrases they can realistically target. While an obvious (and important) solution is to add more content, Bill Slawski offers up another solution. Optimize those overlooked pages.

Bill asks:

How hard are your everyday pages working for you? How well are they acting as evangelists for what you have to offer?

Site designers often refer to "secondary navigation." These are the information links like your contact page, about us page, frequently asked questions, directions and your privacy policy. They tend to be viewed as throwaway pages in terms of search engine marketing. Site owners and even marketing firms figure there's no use optimizing them and simply throw some standard text up.

While there's been a recent reminder that well written directions can help draw some traffic for local search terms, Bill points out the need to focus on each of these pages as a chance to rank organically.

Often, these pages are sadly underutilized from a search engine optimization perspective, with such imaginative titles as "Contact", "About Us," "Terms of Service" and "Privacy Policy." I've also see "Glossary," "Directions," and "Frequently Asked Questions," or "FAQ." Considering that a page title is one of the most important elements of a page for SEO, chances are that these pages were overlooked as a possible entryway into those sites from search engines.

Compare for instance, a contact page where you're told, "Please use the form below to contact us," with the following:

Jones Virginia Ham Emporium is a family run business, entering its fourth generation of offering fine quality Virginia baked hams. The secret to our success is our belief that the customer is always right, from the quality of our customer service, to the speed of our shipping, to the taste of our Virginia baked hams. We'd love to hear from you. Please use the form below to get in touch, and let us know what you are thinking. We'd really like to hear from you.

Everyday pages don't have to be boring. Try kicking up your content and you may find that both your customers and the search engines reward you for it.

Just two days after I wrote a blog post about how NOT to pitch a link or business partnership via email two interesting things happened. The first was that yet another email arrived in my inbox making a significant request of my time and my energy while being addressed while failing to call me by the proper name. The second, was a link I stumbled across on Wendy Piersall's eMoms at Home blog that shared a PR Execs suggestion of how to deal with clueless pitches.

While David Wescott's letter is aimed at public relations firms that pitch women bloggers, the sentiments apply to anyone who has ever wanted to pitch any blogger.

Wescott starts by pointing out the biggest reason that PR firms suck at pitching bloggers. The reality is they simply don't understand that bloggers are not paid journalists.

We're accustomed to pitching mainstream media - it's their job to consider what PR flacks have to say, and it's not personal. We apparently haven't figured out yet that you're not mainstream media - you're a mom with a million things to do, and your blog is your outlet, your means of self-expression, and your connection to a larger community. To you we're essentially a cross between telemarketers and spammers. To us we're just fishing for a placement, and your blog is more relevant to us than we are to you.

Wescott goes on to explain that while some PR firms are actively working to learn how to make pitches in this new environment, the impetus for change still falls strongly on the backs of bloggers. He claims that if bloggers wish to see change, they must force the change. He even offers up a few suggestions:

One that may spark change the fastest?

...the standards of the PR profession essentially tell us that anything we send to you can be printed verbatim on the front page of any newspaper in the country. So why not your blog? If you get a bad pitch and it really makes you angry, say so on your blog. Call the person out. Seriously - use their name, firm, and contact information. Don't tolerate this disrespectful behavior. Exert your power as a consumer, as a parent, and as a blogger.

Of course if bloggers REALLY want these pitches to end, they need to take the time to go straight to the source. The company being represented by the PR firm.

Finally, if none of this is working, there's always the "nuclear option." PR firms pitch you on behalf of their clients. If you get something that really crosses a line, contact the director of communications of the COMPANY and tell them that their PR firm is spamming you on their behalf, and you're planning to write about it. Nothing, and I mean NOTHING, will stop this faster than a call from the client saying, "What the heck are you doing? We pay you to improve our image with parents, not piss them off."

PR firms beware. The rules of the game have changed. If you want to build links, garner reviews and make friends with the key influencers of the Internet, you need to learn the new rules.

Five simple rules to get you started:

1.) Use the right name

This one is so simple, I shouldn't even have to mention it. Yet, PR firms fail in this regard time and time again. If you can't take the time to figure out who you are pitching, why would you expect them to take the time to write about you?

2.) Don't lie about reading a blog

There's nothing more annoying than a pitch from someone trying to sound like they read your blog but making enough mistakes to make it crystal clear they don't. If you read the blog, give an example to show it. (i.e. "I really enjoyed your post about X last week. I thought your point about Y was spot on.") If you don't read the blog, simply explain why you are targeting it. (i.e. "We know that your blog is one of the most respected resources on Y.")

3.) Check to see if a blogger accepts pitches

While few bloggers have policies on accepting pitches posted to their site, enough of them do to warrant taking a moment to check. Sending a bad pitch to a blogger who has taken the time to outline their pitch policies is a good way to end up on the receiving end of an angry call from your client.

4.) Don't pitch irrelevant products

Good search marketers don't target phrases that aren't relevant to a client site because they know that untargeted traffic has very little value. This holds true for blogs as well. That said, pitching an irrelevant product to the wrong blogger can be a good way to get a link...a negative link from an angry blogger. (And there's that phone call from the client again....)

5.) Don't make assumptions

While many PR execs are used to oozing confidence when it comes to relating to traditional media, the same level of hubris can turn bloggers off instantly. Bloggers value their time just like everyone else does. While you may think that phrases like "when can we schedule a conversation" instead of "would you be interested in speaking with us" are more likely to result in coverage, there's also a good chance that they'll cause the blogger to write you off as an arrogant PR exec. I know that I'm far more likely to have a conversation when the pitch makes it clear that my time is valued. Most bloggers tend to react the same way.

Pitches to bloggers can be an excellent way to get your product in front of the right audiences. After all, some bloggers have more traffic than some major news publications. Even smaller blogs often have loyal, highly engaged audiences. However just as PR execs have spent decades learning the best ways to approach traditional media, they'll also need to devote some serious effort to learning the best way to pitch a new legion of thought leaders and opinion shapers.