A marketing resource for the small business owner
SEO
Explaining Google Search in Under 8 Minutes
May 11th
Ever wonder what happens behind the scenes when you type a search word or phrase into Google’s search bar? Check this out!
Google is About to Target Sites That Are Overly-Optimized… Look Out!
Apr 26th
Earlier this month during a Q&A at SXSW Matt Cutts leaked that Google was working on a new algorithm change that would make GoogleBot smart enough to pick out and penalize over optimized Web sites that score well in the results.
Here’s the audio of what he said in the statement:
It’s expected that this update will come out pretty soon, but Google’s been quiet about it so far. We’re sure that when it comes out the usual uproar from SEOs and webmasters will arise and we’ll know why then.
Worried about your site? Although this all sounds new and we’re sure that sites will be hit – this is actually not a new concept. You just can’t push to hard folks. Over-optimization is a bad thing.
Remember that Google’s ultimate goal is to make searching better for the user, while your goal might lean more towards getting the user to your site or building up link bait. Google stresses relevance and penalizes those who use tricks to make their site seem more relevant. The point of this update will be to reward those who focus on the user experience and align their goals with Google. If you align with Google’s goal, you can bet you’ll get rewarded for it.
We feel the sites that are the most vulnerable to this update are the ones with an unnatural inbound link profile. It’s the most commonly abused tactic and very easy to target. So, if 90% of your inbound links have “KEYWORD” in them, that’s not good. You need to start to tone that down and get those swapped out sooner rather than later.
Here are 8 Areas to Concentrate On and You’ll Stay Safe…
- Keep your content unique, fresh and relevant.
- Keep your incoming and outgoing links relevant.
- Keep your site ads from taking over the page.
- Be sure your site is more than just a Flash file.
- Avoid using over the top Page Rank Sculpting.
- Deal with duplicated content issues.
- Don’t ignore RSS feed issues.
- Be aware of incorrect canonical tag implementation.
Google Launches Business Photos
Jun 1st
Last year Google teased Place Page owners with a possible Google Store View allowing customers to virtually walk into businesses while using the Google Street View function of Google Maps. The testing was short lived and we were left thinking it was discontinued.
Well Google seems to have had a change of heart. They’ve officially launched this feature and it’s being called Google Business Photos. Currently it’s only available in certain cities in the US, Australia and Japan. The US areas include: Orange County, CA; the San Francisco Bay Area, St. Petersburg, FL; San Antonio, TX; and Phoenix, AZ.
When businesses apply to have the photos taken, Google sends a free photographer to their business to take the needed pictures. Currently Google is only hitting the most popular search for places – like restaurants, hotels, retail shops and other storefront businesses.
If you’re interested in getting in on this feature, then watch the video below on Google Business Photos to get the whole story:
RE-Purpose, RE-Utilize, RE-Optimize and… STRIKE!
Mar 5th
Need to write a new blog post and don’t know where to begin?
Look over yonder for good content...
Can’t think of new content? That’s fine – look over yonder, to some of posts you’ve written in the past. There’s gold in dem der hills!
Look over there for great content!
What content from a year or two ago (or less even) could be modified or updated to include a new slant on an old problem, new data for an old trend… or old information for a new trend. Bottom line – do you have a content asset that with a little polish and re-utilization, could attract new attention?
You might want to review an old blog post from 12 month’s ago and create a new post… cross-linking the two – and relating it to a specific trend of today. OR, yo umight consider turning articles into videos (or vice versa)… we have a great methodology here for doing that. It’s called our Article-9 Power Tool.
Content re-utlilization and re-optimization not only breathes new life into old content, it gives you a cost-effective way to re-purpose content that can work for you today – saving you time and money. No need to go back to the well or re-invent the wheel each time. Engaging in this process will help search engines and consumers rediscover the value you provide.
It IS…. that simple.
Google Raises the Bar on Social Media Ranking Factors
Mar 4th
There was quite a buzz generated with Matt Cutts confirmation that Google is beginning to use social data in their search algorithm (as is Bing). Google claimed they use data such as how many times something was retweeted, followed on Twitter and liked or linked to within Facebook. With the focus on all things social, the fact that it’s beginning to effect organic search comes as no surprise. It just solidifies exactly how important and main stream social media has become. Face it – we live in a social world now.
Here is what Matt Cutt’s has to say about social media effecting Google’s search results…
