Penguin 4 (aka Penguin 2.0) is Now Live

May 22, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Google logo with panda 4In today’s episode of This Week in Google (episode # 199) Matt Cutts, the head of Google’s webspam department, announced that the latest spam-fighting algorithm update to Google – nicknamed Penguin 2.0 – would be going live “within the next few hours”. What the new penguin update means for everyone is not yet completely clear, but we have a pretty good picture of what Google is looking for.

What is Penguin?

Google sometimes makes changes to it’s algorithm, or the software that makes the search happen, in order to fight what is known as “webspam”, or websites with no valuable content and whose sole purpose for existing is to feed “link juice” to other websites. The purpose of the Penguin series of updates is to locate and disable spammers through unnatural linking schemes, and each Penguin release has been to fine-tune the spam link detection capabilities of the search engine. Similarly, the Panda series of updates have been more about on-page issues, such as re-spun and duplicate content. So because we know Penguin is all about linking then we can make some educated guesses based on what we have seen happen in the past. For instance, when Cutts made today’s announcement he said it was estimated that approximately 2.3% of english searches would be affected. While Penguin 2 and 3 only affected less than .5% of searches, the initial Penguin release caused a change in ranking for around 3% of websites indexed, so we know this update will be close to the same magnitude. That means a lot of people who have paid good money to bad SEOs are, unfortunately, going to see a drop in their search engine rankings soon.

What’s Next?

SEO Advantage has followed every Google algorithm update over the last 14 years and made sure our customers stayed as far ahead of the changes as possible.  We will continue to monitor our customers’ results and consult with other industry leaders to make sure you know about it as soon as we do. If you would like to be notified when this post is updated be sure you subscribe to our newsletter by filling out the short form in the right column.

Other SEO Advantage articles about Penguin and Panda

If you have had any experience with the latest Penguin update we’d love to hear from you. Feel free to leave your comments below.

Filed Under: Google Spam Updates Tagged With: , ,

Don’t be That Company on Facebook

May 21, 2013 by Leave a Comment

When you receive a new follower on Facebook, you’re being allowed into someone’s social space. You have, in essence, been invited to the party. How you behave will dictate whether you are invited back next time, which in Facebook currency means whether your followers will stay followers, and whether they will interact with you and share your content with others.

Just like no one wants to invite “That Guy” to the party, no one wants to interact with “That Company” on Facebook.

Marketing on social media – and on Facebook in particular – sits more in the realm of public relations, truth be told. You’re there to get to know people, and to let people know the personal side of your business. There are tons of personalities out there to choose from when creating your company’s Facebook persona, but we’d recommend you steer clear of these . . .

facebookscumbagThe Facebook Self-Promoter

It’s called social media marketing, right? Well, this guy is definitely here to market . . . exactly the way he has always marketed before.

We all know how to recognize this particular That Guy at the party. He can’t seem to talk about anything but himself. He doesn’t want to carry on real conversations, and he’s convinced that nothing anyone else has to say could possibly be interesting, so he keeps talking about the one topic he does find interesting: himself.

If every link on your Facebook page is self-promotional, you’re That Guy. Facebook isn’t about shoving your message down people’s throats. They already like your company or they wouldn’t have followed your page in the first place. Instead, it’s about building relationships and having conversations, so treat it like a conversation. Don’t be that jerk who talks about nothing but himself. Nobody likes that guy.

The Loud Drunk

The ability to interact with your customers through Facebook is as dangerous as it is powerful. We were recently treated to a view of the downside of these interactions thanks to a business that appeared on Gordon Ramsay’s show Kitchen Nightmares.

Of course, telling you to keep your cool and avoid going ALL CAPS on your customers is kind of a no-brainer, but the loud drunk commits another social faux pas: he talks at people rather than to them.

The Facebook equivalent here is posts with no context. Title of article > link to article > done. Let’s wait for the likes to roll in!

. . . Except they don’t, because you didn’t walk up to people and start a conversation. You shoved a newspaper in their face, bellowed the headlines at them, and then walked away.

The Socially Awkward Facebooker

What this version of That Guy lacks in knowledge, he makes up for in enthusiasm, with cringe-inducing results. He pastes a url in the status window, sees Facebook use that information to create an attractive visual link, and it never occurs to him to delete the url. Sometimes he even uses a service to shorten the url that doesn’t have to be there in the first place.

He also likes his own status updates. Every. Single. One.

Listen, I’m all for socially awkward dorks. I’ve even been known to be one on occasion, myself. That still doesn’t make it a valid marketing strategy. Enthusiasm is wonderful so long as it’s tempered with a willingness to slow down, pay attention and learn something. So look around at the companies and entertainers you follow on Facebook. If the page is popular and successful, chances are you won’t be seeing a lot of urls in statuses, nor will that company like its own posts.

Just be a human

It really is as simple as all that. On Facebook, you’re relating to human beings as human beings. Social media isn’t advertising, and it’s not direct mail. In the often-impersonal world of the internet, Facebook is the most human interaction available to marketers. So just . . . be a human.

Filed Under: Online Marketing, Social Media Tagged With: , , ,

Directory Submission Dos and Don’ts

May 3, 2013 by Leave a Comment

As with just about every SEO and online marketing method ever developed, the practice of directory submission has seen its share of controversy. Unsurprisingly, this controversy started with the black hats.

The practice of directory submission developed organically the way things do when the internet hive mind is involved. People started making lists of their favorite websites on personal pages, then companies started building these sorts of pages as a service to visitors. Then, the less scrupulous among the SEO and online marketing world joined the fray, buying and selling directory links with no vetting process to speak of. Eventually it became difficult to discern a quality directory from an ad repository with no intrinsic value.

directorysubmissionThese sites have been hit hard by Google’s algorithm updates, as have the companies that use them, but that doesn’t mean that directory submission isn’t still a viable strategy. You may be looking to hire a directory submission service, or you might wish to handle your own submissions. Either way, there are a few things you should know.

Don’t: Use Services that Offer Automatic Submission

If you come across a site offering to submit your business to hundreds of directories at once, run. Fast. These services play the numbers game, and the inherent risk in that game is incredibly high.

If your site starts showing up in directories that are inappropriate, or on pages that are otherwise filled with above-the-fold advertising, it says nothing but bad things about your business. Online, as in the real world, you have to be mindful of the company you keep.

Do: Check the Page Rank

When your goal is to increase your authority and visibility on Google, one of your first steps should be to determine what Google likes and what they don’t. A directory with a poor page rank, or with none at all, won’t bring you up in the SERPs, and could drag you down on other ways.

Don’t: Trust a List of Best Directories

Even when these lists are made with the best of intentions, the internet is far from a static medium. Sites that slid past Google just a few months ago could get hit any day. Your safest bet is to do your own legwork to find individual directories, or to hire a trusted source to make your submissions manually.

Do: Track Your Submissions

You can streamline your process and avoid duplication by tracking directory submission as part of your link-building efforts.

Don’t: Try to Do it All

Make sure the directories you submit to are niche-appropriate. Ten quality links are going to do a lot more for you than 100 bad ones. Be selective. Otherwise you risk wasting effort, not to mention what happens if Google catches you running with a bad crowd.

Do: Realize that You Get What You Pay For

If your plan to save money on directory submission is to hire the cheapest company out there, you’re better off not doing it at all. When you hire Dirt Cheap Submission, Inc. (not a real company), you aren’t hiring experts to find the appropriate directories. You’re hiring a computer program to input your company information and blast it out to every corner of the internet, including the seedy underbelly.

Directory Submission is Part of the Bigger Picture

Where once directory submission was a quick-and-dirty practice for bringing in both good and questionable links, it is now part of a targeted online marketing strategy. Not only do you have to submit to the right directories, you have to make sure that what visitors – and Google – find there is a quality website that answers a need.

Keep that in mind, and you can successfully integrate directory listings into your overall online marketing and SEO efforts.

Filed Under: Online Marketing Tagged With: , , ,

It’s Not Really SEO That You Hate

April 26, 2013 by

SEO-provides-actionsI had an interesting experience the other day while doing some online research. I ran across a website discussing why writers and content marketers hate SEO. As a writer myself, that was news to me. Hoping it was a lone opinion I did some searching. I discovered pages upon pages of discussions about how SEO forces writers to create bad content and punishes those who write well.

Now, I know I don’t hate SEO, so I asked our Senior Copywriter Nathan Williams, who leads content marketing initiatives for clients in a wide range of industries, for his feelings on the subject. Here’s what he had to say:

“It’s interesting that a copywriter would say they hate SEO, because the two work hand-in-hand, at least in my experience. From the copywriting perspective, SEO is the afterthought. If the SEO tactics are on the level, the copywriter just has to make sure the keywords won’t disrupt the flow or distract from the point.

It’s not fair to say that copywriters hate SEO, because that opinion is painting with a really wide brush. And there’s no need to feel that way. SEO provides actions, targets and priorities, and copywriters use that information to tailor the content. The two sides must work together, or both fail.”

What SEO Copywriting Isn’t

Nathan’s point really emphasizes what separates true SEO from the kind of black hat tactics that give websites a brief bump followed by a long, hard fall. There’s a mindset out there that search is a system to be gamed, and for some reason a terrifyingly large number of people in the SEO biz think that gaming that system is a better choice than working within it.

That’s why you’ll still find sites out there hiring bargain basement copywriters with no real skill or experience, and using spinning software to create meaningless, garbage content. Meanwhile behind-the-scenes they are buying links, hiding keywords in code, and participating in all sorts of unsavory practices meant to trick search engines and serve up content that does not answer the question posed in the search query.

The real irony in this is that they are likely putting more effort into those tactics than we on the white hat, ethical SEO side are by just following the rules and creating quality content.

It’s Not SEO’s Fault

Keyword stuffing and creating nothing content around random terms is not what we signed on for, and the results are not what clients sign on for, either. Any copywriter is going to be unhappy in a system like that.

But what Nathan talked about, and what the rest of us who work on the copywriting side here at SEO Advantage know, is that when your behind the scenes SEO and coding folks are doing their jobs well, all you really have to do is write relevant content with a few placement adjustments here or there. We probably spend less than 10% of our copywriting time thinking about keywords, because if what you are writing truly speaks to the question asked in the search query, the keywords don’t have to be stuffed. They flow organically.

If, as a copywriter, you find yourself at odds with SEO, then the problem likely isn’t with the system itself, but with the way you are being asked to manipulate it.

Filed Under: Copywriting/SEO Content Development, Online Marketing Tagged With: , , ,

Copywriting and White Space – Making Readable Web Content

April 9, 2013 by

If you’re a company trying to build an online presence, you’ve certainly heard how important developing content is. Blog posts, buying guides and keyword landing pages are just a few examples…

Content not only helps you build rankings in the search engines, it also helps you build credibility for your brand and a loyal following. When people see you’re developing engaging, informative content, they’ll remember you as someone who’s willing to listen and take initiative to help customers better understand important points about what you’re offering.

Likewise, search engines will see how youre making strides to provide your audience with engaging, informative content, and reward your site accordingly.

While many strategies and techniques are specific to your business or industry, there are some general ideas you need to keep in mind when writing web copy – one of the most important, yet most overlooked, is white space.

What do you mean by “white space”?

whitespacequote_seoaWhite space can be defined as a break in copy. It has a couple of different purposes.

One, it helps the readers better comprehend what you’re trying to say. They can skim sub-headings, bulleted lists, and other elements designed to help communicate information in a clear and concise way.

The other purpose is to give the eyes a break – how many times have you encountered a page with just long-block paragraphs and immediately clicked the back button in frustration?

In our fast-paced, information-driven world, our senses are literally overloaded with all kinds of messages at all times of the day. We have to discriminate what’s deserving of our attention, and disregard the things our senses and minds tell us are not important.

We do this through scanning…

If your piece – be it a blog post, an article or a landing page – doesn’t provide an adequate break, it will seem dull and intimidating, no matter how well it’s actually written.

What do I need to do to ensure my site’s content has adequate white space?

We don’t want to imply that long paragraphs are bad – if you have a thought that requires a little extra explanation, by all means, take the extra space.

A few ways to boost white space include:

  • Limit paragraphs to 5-7 lines – if you have an extra-long paragraph, consider putting a one-sentence paragraph just below it to either make your final point, or a follow-up point.
  • Include sub-headings – to break up different concepts within your piece, use sub-headings. This allows the reader to scan your piece’s important points without having to read it word for word – your readers will thank you. Including keywords in headings and sub-headings are also beneficial from an SEO perspective.
  • Include a bulleted or numbered list if it makes sense – Another way to add “white-space” and make your piece scannable is by using bulleted or numbered lists. These help draw attention to important points and communicate information quickly. Be careful though – bulleted and numbered lists don’t always fit.

These are general points to consider when drafting content for your website. If you’re writing an e-book or more formal piece of content, you can have longer paragraphs for example. Also, you really won’t have much in the way of sub-headings with a press release (except in the beginning).

The important thing is to remember that you’re writing for real people, not search engine bots. You need to be mindful how you’re content will appear to a new visitor.

Is it easily digestible with a quick scan?

Is it easy on the eyes and not too “in your face” or intimidating?

Keeping these things in mind will help you develop exceptional content for your site. While there are many other things to consider, this is one of the fundamental tenets of writing for the web – and one of the key differences between print and online media.

 

Filed Under: Copywriting/SEO Content Development, Tip of the Day Tagged With: , , , ,
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