It’s the bain of any SEO or webmaster’s existence…your site for some reason has been penalized by Google and you’re experiencing a drop in rankings or site traffic. It may seem that all you have worked for may be slipping away. Your boss is unhappy or worse, that client you labored to obtain is getting nervous or upset.
No reason for despair if this happens to you. Rather, look at it as a process of discovery as to why you’re site’s dropped…you may be surprised at what you find out.
Here’s a method you can use to aid in your quest of finding the source of your problem and getting right with Google…watch the video below for more details.
Are you sure it’s a penalty?
There’s a good chance that it’s not even a penalty per se but more of a technical issue. Maybe there’s a crawl problem or you forgot to include keywords in some of your content. Check and see if Google is indexing your pages by typing a keyword phrase, a colon then your web address (keyword:http://www.yoursite.com/) and see if they’re indexing your pages.
Try and identify whether you’re experiencing a rankings drop or a traffic drop…doing that will help you determine what you can do to fix the problem.
Are any links you have causing the problem?
Links are big part of building rankings in the search engines so it stands to reason something could go wrong and cause a drop in rankings or traffic. There are a couple of possible reasons for this.
The first is a more outright penalty for having links from sites that make it look kind of obvious that you’re employing spammy/black hat type practices. They frown upon this and you can consider it to be more of a direct penalty.
On the other hand, you have many sites linking to you that were acquired legitimately through Google’s eyes that may not be valued as much or not at all for whatever reason. Maybe they’re engaging in bad linking practices or another site linking to them is. Either way, the link value you were getting isn’t there anymore so it will be prudent to get rid of that link to try and remedy the problem.
Getting right with Google
Once you’ve identified the problem, now you need to get back on the right side with Google’s spam team. Getting back in is usually based on three factors:
Severity of the penalty or mistake
Is this the first time or is it a repeat problem?
Are you a brand name or little guy?
The more severe the error the tougher it will be getting back into Google. If you’ve engaged in any spammy/black hat practices for example you will have a harder time getting back in. First timers are given a little more leniency than repeat situations. And of course, size matters in this world so if you’re a big brand name site like Sony, Walmart, etc. you will have an easier time.
But if you’re a little guy and it’s the third time on a pretty bad penalty, you’re probably toast…you’re really at the mercy of the Google gods so the best thing to do is when you contact their spam team, be completely honest about any mistakes, etc. and what you discovered as your problem.
It’s possible they may ignore you and at some point, you will need to decide what to do. If you go a couple of months and you’re not getting anywhere with Google after you’ve discovered your problem, consider redirecting your site through a 301 redirect and starting over.
As you see, there are many reasons why you could be experiencing trouble with your Google rankings…watch the video for more details and other technical reasons as to why.
Many of us in the business of online marketing spend the bulk of our time racing to the top of a search engine results page for a particular keyword phrase…the very term “search engine optimization” invokes the idea that search engines should be the sole focus of your online marketing efforts.
But should it be all search engines all the time?
While the idea of this post is taking a somewhat critical tone toward search engine optimization, I’m not telling you to forget about all of the other tips you find here in our SEO knowledge center and elsewhere. However, you have to eventually ask yourself why you’re spending time and money marketing your business online. Too often, we get caught in the trap of thinking that our websites are the end rather than the means.
I’m sure I’ve mentioned before on here but I’m mentioning it again – making sure your web pages are “search-friendly” isn’t the only criteria to successfully marketing your business online. Rather, the most important part is to understand the type of content your customers are looking for and to provide it.
Think about your business for a minute – how many customers out there have no idea what you do or why they would ever need you?
Suppose you’re an estate planner on Long Island just outside New York. Your answer may be “yes” to the preceding questions since searchers consistently find your site by using “estate planner long island” or “estate planner nassau county” as their search terms.
But what about terms searchers may use before they even know what an “estate planner” is (or whatever it is you do)?
Could there be another cache of potential customers using “elder care trust” or “Medicaid asset protection”? Chances are you may be missing out on an extraordinary edge over your competitors.
Continue to compete with your competitors using generic keywords for your industry/location but branch out a little bit with more general keyword phrases that can help customers learn that what you offer is what they need – you might capture a lead before they even know to specifically search for an estate planner for example.
In the end, don’t simply copy what your competitors do and expect that to work well for you. Optimizing your site for the same exact words they do can’t possibly work for all of you. Differentiate yourself by thinking more broadly about what your customers need.
If you start optimizing content and messaging to what your customers really need rather than solely focusing on the search engines, you’re putting yourself in a good position to accomplish what you’re really looking for – an increase in the bottom line.
For the most part, corporate websites are pretty static that end up becoming drain that doesn’t deliver good value to visitors and prospective customers. As social networking continues to grow, having a “social” feel to your website becomes more important.
One of the biggest advantages of social networking – it’s the biggest and best word-of-mouth advertising medium you could ever ask for. Unfortunately, many websites still do not provide the capacity to share web pages and instead rely solely on testimonials, quotes and videos.
As more and more web users become “social” online and interact with their friends, you will need to factor this into your online marketing strategy. Many people look to their friends for insights and advice when they’re purchasing something – whether it’s online or in a traditional retail environment.
Continue reading for 4 ways you can make your website more social.
More interactive product reviews
Take a page from Amazon or Best Buy’s playbook, even if you’re a B2B company that sells your products through a distributor – make it simple for customers to provide reviews of the products they purchase. Replace your plain old testimonials with review functionality on product pages. Customers can help you sell by putting insights about your product right next to information you provide.
Encourage commenting
Give site visitors a sense of ownership and show that you care about their needs and concerns by allowing people to comment and share ideas. This can be as simple as allowing comments on your corporate blog to creating custom forums. Dell has a great one called Idea Storm where they gather feedback for future product development.
Allow customers to curate content
Developing, posting and maintaining a full website of engaging content can be quite the challenge. It’s time consuming and/or very costly to do. Save on this expense some and make your site social at the same time by allowing customers to submit industry related content they generate themselves or find elsewhere online. Allowing customers to do this means you’re providing improved thought leadership along with increasing brand recognition.
Make your own social network
If your site already requires customers to login to place orders or get technical support, why not make it more social? Amazon is one company that does this very well – coming about as close to their own social network as possible. Customers can login and find forums, product reviews and more. Making your “customer only” areas more social will help transition this part of your site from a place people only come when required to one where customers find real value.
As social networking becomes a bigger part of marketing online, those who implement things like this will find themselves ahead of the curve in regard to their search engine rankings – ultimately leading to more on-site activity and quality sales leads.
We spend a lot of time here discussing all sorts of organic search and SEO strategies for building “natural” rankings in the search engines. But we wouldn’t be doing our jobs if we didn’t mention directories.
Directory listings are more like catalogs that, unlike major search engines, require you to submit your site if you want to be included in their listings. They’re a great way to begin acquiring links and driving traffic to your site…whether it’s new or old.
There’s literally a plethora of directories on the Internet for you to choose from. Some allow you to submit your site for free while others charge a one-time or annual fee. Even if they charge, the investment is worth it if you’re just starting out since links from these sites will also help lift your organic search rankings off the ground.
The two largest directories online include: DMOZ and Yahoo! Search Directory
DMOZ – Also known as the Open Directory Project (ODP), it’s free to add your site to DMOZ. While it is free, it also may take up to a year for your site to get listed, which causes frustration for many webmasters. Regardless, a link from DMOZ can be quite valuable so list your site here first and then move on to other things.
Yahoo Directory – Not to be confused with the actual Yahoo! search engine which delivers actual search results, the Yahoo! Directory is perhaps the oldest directory on the Internet. Links from the Yahoo! Directory are extremely valuable in helping build your organic rankings. Commercial sites must pay $299 annually to be included but the links from the directory and other Yahoo! properties around the world make it worth the investment.
Of course, it’s likely there are other industry specific and blog directories out there for you to choose from.
For the most part, the submission process to most directories is relatively easy and since links from them validate your site in the eyes of the search engines, the time involved is well worth it. But once you get listed in a few of the major ones, the relevancy boost levels off pretty fast.
In short, it’s not important you get listed in all directories – listing in just a few directories will give you about as much rankings boost you can expect.
In a post from way back on December 4th, we alerted you to a new addition to Google’s ranking algorithm – site speed.
At the time, Google added site speed to their Webmaster tools utility, comparing your site against others in your niche in terms of how fast they load. At that time, Google said it would be adding this factor to its algorithm in the coming months.
Well that day has arrived so now we can begin to get a clearer picture on how this will affect rankings. Will faster loading sites enjoy rankings over another site that may take a second longer to load?
According to various forums on the topic that have been brewing through today since the implementation of this factor was announced last Friday, this new ranking factor should hardly impact anyone except for a few specific queries (that we don’t know about right now unfortunately). In fact, the change has been in play for about 2 weeks so you would know by now if page speed is affecting your rankings.
Google will measure page speed two ways: (1) How a page responds to the Googlebot and (2) Load time as measured by the Google Toolbar.
Different posts on WebMasterWorld, DigitalPoints and Google Webmaster forums confirm that this isn’t a major factor in the over 200 elements that make up Google’s ranking algorithm. However, there are some good tips in there if you think you’re rankings are being affected by this change.
As a web copywriter, I spend the bulk of my time trying to phrase information in a way that’s appealing to people who encounter it. But there’s one thing that many of us copywriters fail to acknowledge – good design helps support content.
If a site seems drab and visually unappealing, it’s to be expected that a person’s time on that page will be very short. That wonderful article or landing page you labored over for hours sits languishing online like a fish out of water.
Now if you’re exclusively a content developer like me, you don’t have to know all the ins and outs of good design. What you do have to understand are some basic fundamentals of what works and what doesn’t so you can be sure that great content you develop shines to its full potential. And knowing it helps when you’re working with a web designer either on your own team or with another company.
Continue reading for some good general guidelines of organization, formatting and designing your web pages. These tips were part of a whitepaper entitled Best Practices for Conversion: The New Engagement Funnel in 7 Steps.
1. Scrutinize your competition
Go through your competitor’s web pages and look at their copy and layout. Document places you feel stumped and then compare this page with yours. Revise or eliminate sections to make yours better.
2. Place most critical page elements within the first 300 pixels
According to usability research from many sources, over half of site visitors do not look “below the fold.” Therefore, get right to the point and keep your value proposition within your screen’s first view.
3. Keep your layout simple
Increase reader comprehension by using a one-column format with ample margins and white space. Limit paragraphs to five lines…dense copy discourages reading. Simple layouts are also more conducive to search engine crawlers and in turn, rankings.
4. Be obvious and use standard usage conventions
Site visitors shouldn’t have to think very much to understand your message and how to use your page. Be clear when describing links and use a standard underline format when linking to another page, like your shopping cart for example.
5. Make sure your page loads quickly
If a page isn’t loading quickly, most visitors will get frustrated and leave – and the more ‘junk’ you have on a page, the longer it will take to load. You should strive for no more than 8 seconds on a dial-up connection (yes, there are many people who still use dial-up to get online.)
Learn more about these and other elements to consider when designing your landing pages. Remember, your landing page is potentially the last place your visitors will see before purchasing. If your goal is lead generation, it’s step 2 in the process. It doesn’t matter if there are only a couple steps or many in your marketing funnel, your landing page needs to excite visitors and build confidence in your products/services and company.
Recently, an innovative SEO engineer by the name of Errioxa claims he uncovered an odd way Google handles links. His testing confirms that using internal text anchors like the one shown below means Google will credit the unique anchor text for each unique anchor link.
<a href=”http://www.domain.com/page.html#LINKANCHOR“> (Unique anchor text is underlined)
We’ll try our best to explain what’s going on here so beginners beware, this may seem a bit confusing.
Say you have a homepage and you want to link out to another page on your site that has information about cars and trucks. In the past, Google would typically only credit the first link on the page and ignore the other two. Meaning, if the first link has cars and second has trucks as its anchor text, Google would only use cars to define what the page is about and ignore the trucks (2nd) link.
Errioxa discovered that if you have three links to your cars and trucks page like the ones shown below, Google will ignore the first and credit the other two. This observation lines up with Google’s recent interest in internal anchors, which are sometimes within the site’s URL you see displayed on a search engine results page.
In the above example, someone searching for cars would be taken directly to your specific page on the topic…this is a big help to users but also may be a way to get more unique anchor text attributed to your page that focuses on multiple topics.
More experimentation needs to be done to measure the true effectiveness of this approach. We hope to do this when and where we can and report back any results.
We could very well find this to be a good strategy for better control of a site’s links, which is why Google started paying attention to internal anchors in the first place since they provide their users with a streamlined way of accessing information on a website.
Web pages shouldn’t be considered static – meaning, you have to regularly tweak its look or update its content to keep it current.
Heat mapping is one such metric that effectively shows you how visitors interact with your landing page. Heat mapping software programs use computer algorithms to simulate where people look and click on your page.
Using a heatmap can allow you to do several things, including:
Determine exactly where links and ads should go
Get more visitors to purchase a product or fill out a form
Predict how site visitors will interact with your page in the future
Make Web usability testing easy to implement
Heat mapping shows the density of user clicks using a red to green color-coded system. Red indicates a large number of clicks while green indicate fewer clicks.
Here’s a sample heatmap from a U.S. government website.
Not all heat mapping programs are considered the same and while we may recommend one here, we do not guarantee individual results.
Google Analytics offers a tool that shows general web site usage statistics. However, it does not track click ratios for individual links. For instance, if you have two links on the page that go to the same place, Google’s tool will combine the results.
CrazyEgg is another utility that’s much better than Google since it is a visually-based program that allows you to see your page’s effectiveness at a glance. It gives you an idea of how your site is performing from your audience’s perspective, the only perspective that really matters in the end.
Whatever you do, heat mapping is definitely a great tool for helping you increase conversions.
Inevitably in the life time of a website, you’re going to have pages that are no longer relevant. Perhaps the information is simply outdated or you don’t offer that particular product or service anymore.
What’s a webmaster to do in this instance?
If you’ve spent any time online, there’s no doubt that you have encountered a webpage saying “Error 404” or something like that. Whether a URL was typed in wrong or you were simply looking for something that didn’t exist anymore, a 404 error message indicates to you and the search engines that this page no longer exists.
Having a lot of 404 redirects isn’t necessarily a bad thing in the eyes of Google and other search engines…however, 404 redirects should be setup in a way that’s inviting to the reader and encourages them to stay on your site.
According to Google employee John Mu, 404 redirects are not a problem for the search engine, especially if the page helps a user find related information within the site.
With respect to site visitors and conversions, static 404 redirects are very uninviting, breaking the conversion process much of the time. Let’s say you sell power tools and someone is looking for a particular model band saw but the product is obsolete and is no longer manufactured. If that prospective buyer finds a link to their preferred saw on your site clicks the link and comes to a static page that says “Error 404” and nothing else, they will most likely go elsewhere to find their saw.
Static 404 pages are also a problem for search engine spiders since they find pages on your site through following links. If there are no links on a 404 page, it will not know where to go.
Five must haves for a 404 redirect page include:
An apology for the error (even if the visitor is at-fault)
A search box that’s prominently displayed
A link to your site map
A link to your home page
Links to other main areas on your site
The above example could include a picture of a carpenter who’s frustrated that he can’t find a tool he needs on a job, adding some humor and empathy to the customer’s predicament.
If you’re 404 redirect pages are static, spruce them up by including a template of your site along with some of the elements mentioned above.
The point is – do not have static 404 redirect pages. They could cost you dearly both in terms of search engine rankings and conversions.
There are literally millions of websites circulating the Internet with several who are in the same industry or niche you’re in. They all want to get to the top of the search engines, knocking you out of their way in the process.
So if you have accomplished the feat of achieving top rankings in the search engines, you need a strategy to keep you there. Continue reading to learn 5 strategies you can employ to maintain your top position in the search engines.
1. Increase link-ability
Success in SEO depends a lot on having great content with lots of inbound links. But getting to #1 isn’t an excuse to take it easy. You need to maintain your ranking page’s link-ability if you’re going to stay on top.
Some ways you can encourage links to your site include: improve your site design, continue building good content and temporarily remove advertising. Too much advertising on a webpage can potentially turn people off.
2. Find new links on your own
Look for additional linking opportunities by guest posting, article marketing and good old fashion asking. If you’re at the top for a certain competitive keyword, you can leverage your position to get additional links.
3. Get more clicks and conversions by tweaking site elements
Getting to #1 isn’t the sole goal of online marketing and SEO. You may have a page that’s ranked #1 for a certain keyword but it won’t stay there long if you’re not getting enough people to click on your site. Tweak title tags and metatags to draw attention but don’t do it too much since search engines take time to adjust to these changes. Doing this too much may cost you your #1 position.
This is also the time you should test different things on your homepage to see what works better in terms of conversions. For instance, is a blue “buy” button better than a green one?
4. Expand keywords for more ranking opportunities
Another way to maintain your #1 ranking is to expand the scope of keywords on your ranking page. This will dilute your keywords somewhat but it shouldn’t affect your position if you follow the tips outlined in step #1 and #2.
Let’s say your top keyword is “green clocks” – add “green clocks in California” for more specific searches. The majority of searches are done using long-tail keywords so if you narrowly focus on one keyword, you may lose your #1 ranking as fast as you got it.
5. Future proof your SEO
Something that may work today may not work tomorrow. Google is always changing their algorithms based on new trends and technology. You need to stay ahead of the curve by knowing what’s going on out there and adjusting your site accordingly.
In addition to good content and quality links, Google and others are starting to also focus on: traffic/user engagement, branding and social media.
Employ these kinds of strategies when managing your websites to improve the chances of holding on to your #1 ranking in the search engines. Learn more about these 5 strategies to maintaining #1 search engine rankings here.
Enjoying phenomenal growth over the last year, social networking site Facebook has now overtaken Google’s homepage as the Internet’s most visited site.
This event signals what many have been saying for awhile – the Internet is becoming more sociable than searchable. Facebook and Google combines accounted for 14% of all Internet visits last week according to online marketing research firm Hitwise.
A year ago, Facebook accounted for 2% of all Internet visits but as of last week, accounted for 7.07%. Google accounted for 7.03% of Internet visits. In addition to visits, Facebook membership has grown tremendously as well, surpassing 200 million subscribers last April, doubling that to 400 million in just under a year.
“The true value of Facebook and social networks is just becoming clear to marketers,” said Augie Ray, analyst at Forrester Research.
Hitwise’s data only counted visits to Google’s homepage, not its other properties like Gmail, Google Maps, YouTube and its new social networking site Buzz. Developed as a response to Facebook, subscribers can logon to share videos, feeds and other items from their other social networking accounts.
Take all of Google’s sites into consideration and they account for 11.03% of Internet visits last week.
Facebook’s trajectory as seen on the graph indicates that it will soar past Google in the next few months. Social networking sites come and go though, as seen by MySpace’s decline in the last couple of years. But last December, users spent an average of 5.5 hours per month on social networking sites, an 82% increase over the year before according to the Nielsen research firm.
Data like this confirms the importance of adopting social media into your overall online marketing strategy. Building a good Facebook profile and exploring other outlets that can benefit your business is no longer a taboo thing, it’s definitely entered mainstream thought in the online marketing world.
As we’ve discussed before, you have to be aware of duplicate content issues so you can avoid being penalized by the search engines. Google, Yahoo! and Bing go to great lengths to return a diverse set of results for their users…if they detect duplicate content, they try to determine the original article/piece and display it for their searchers.
There are several things you can do to avoid duplicate content…one of course is avoiding shady SEO practices and outright plagiarism on your site.
Continue reading to learn 7 ways you can avoid getting into trouble with duplicate content.
1. Using other people’s articles
Some webmasters simply pay for or get permission from an article’s original author to post the piece on their site unaltered. If you do this, make sure the article truly has relevance to your site.
Add your own comments or rewrite what’s already there to ensure unique content. At a minimum, run the piece through a duplicate content tool like CopyScape to see if there are any other pages on the Internet similar to that one.
2. Develop your own unique content
The easiest way to avoid duplicate content is to develop your own unique stuff. Your readers and search engines will love you for it. Develop a schedule to steadily add new and fresh content to your site.
3. If you’re running an ecommerce site, develop your own product descriptions
Many ecommerce sites use product descriptions supplied by manufacturers, which is an obvious duplication in the eyes of the search engines. These descriptions may appear on hundreds of different sites out there. Although a tedious task, rewrite these product descriptions in your own unique language to avoid duplication issues.
4. If you have a blog, do not have your date or category archive pages indexed
This feature is standard on most blogging platforms but you can block it from happening through your robots.txt file. These features hardly bring you more visitors or higher page rankings.
5. Block search engines from indexing duplicate copies on your site
Many websites include “printer-friendly” versions of articles and web pages, which could potentially cause duplicate content issues. Using your robots.txt file, block directories or files you do not want the search engines to touch.
6. Use 301 redirects if you have recently redesigned your site
Using 301 redirects to channel traffic to your new site is critical to avoiding duplicate content issues with the search engines. Whenever you move a webpage, use a 301 redirect to point your visitors and the search engines to the proper page.
7. Be careful when syndicating your content
Distributing your content to affiliates is a great way to build your brand and draw in new visitors and customers. To avoid duplicate content issues with this, post the content on your website first so the search engines crawl it first before it appears on other sites. Include a link to the original content on any syndicated site to guarantee the original remains indexed.
Taking these steps to avoid duplicate content issues is in essence preventive maintenance. If you own a car, you change the oil regularly and spend a little bit to avoid having to spend much more in the future.
Employing the above practices with your site will ensure you deliver the most relevant, unique content to your users and the search engines without threat of removal or suppression if it’s reprinted somewhere else online.
An eye-tracking study recently conducted by online marketing firm OneUpWeb concluded that most searchers were not even aware of real-time results.
Real-time search results were recently introduced into search engine result pages on Google and Bing. Much discussion by the SEO and online marketing community ensued – and many were scratching their heads wondering how it would be a wise investment for the search engines and a benefit to online searchers.
OneUpWeb’s research confirms many of their concerns.
Their study involved 44 people broken into two groups – “consumers”, or those looking to buy a specific product, and “foragers”, those tasked with simply looking for information on a product. Last month’s study sought to answer the following three questions.
Does the average Internet user recognize and understand real-time results?
Are consumers finding and clicking on “real-time” results?
What are consumers saying about real-time results?
According to the eye-tracking study and further interviews, the majority of participants were at least indifferent to real-time search, stating that it didn’t provide them with much. Around 73% of the consumer group didn’t even look at real-time search results…53% of the forager group did not look at real-time results.
Take a look at the eye-tracking study below to see where the searchers’ main focus of attention was. Real-time results can be seen at the bottom of the screenshot.
The U.K’s Guardian newspaper reports that real-time search agreements with Facebook, Twitter, etc. have cost Google around $15 million and Bing around $10 million. It would seem at this point that their investment isn’t proving to be worth their time.
While many techies and insiders praise real-time search results as the next big thing, the general public doesn’t seem to understand what the buzz is all about.
A new theory about Google is swirling around regarding how quick the search engine crawls and indexes new content. Is the delayed crawling/indexing a penalty? Or is it a bug?…no one really knows for sure but there’s much discussion about it.
To quickly summarize what’s going on, webmasters are complaining about how they’re posting content and waiting – around 7 days to be precise – for Google to crawl and index their new content.
Not everyone is spotting this problem so that’s why some are speculating that Google is penalizing sites for doing something it sees as wrong. Another possibility being circulated is that there is an indexing bug triggered by certain types of sites or code sets.
Respondents to a webmaster’s complaint in the HighRankings forum contend that he needs more links pointing to his site. The frequency of content could also be a factor – sites who post new content regularly will see the Google crawler index their page more frequently.
Perhaps this particular webmaster has included a SEO-plugin on their page that embeds “no-follow” and/or “no-embed” tags and that’s what is taking so long…some of the sites evaluated suggest this could be the problem.
Are you running into any problems like this?
Also, we invite you to take a look at highlights from the just completed SMX West search expo conference in Santa Clara, California. While some of the events centered on pay-per-click, you’re sure to find some great SEO/online marketing tips as this conference draws some of the best and brightest in the industry.
When thinking about duplicate content, we generally only consider written content. Is what you are posting on your website original? Simply copying and pasting something from somewhere else is a big mistake- that much is obvious.
But something you may not consider to be duplicate content may be considered such by search engines like Google, Yahoo! and Bing. You see, they’re trying to return diverse content to their users …they have a vested interest in ensuring what they display on page 1 is helpful and diverse for their users.
That is what you have to consider – what do search engines consider duplicate? Not doing so could spell disaster for your site’s rankings. Site penalties can occur if a site is simply structured the same way for instance.
Continue reading for 6 not so obvious types of duplicate content to ensure you are not penalized for such an infraction.
1. Two websites share the same structure and content
Two websites having the same structure (i.e. same three column template) and the same content on a single page or site wide with the same linking scheme is prone to trouble. This is by far the most extreme example of duplicate content but the easiest to identify.
2. Identical structure with paraphrased content
Another scenario where two sites have an identical structure but the content is not 100% identical. Copywriters and content developers may see this as a grey area. But Google has a zero tolerance policy on this issue…content from one site simply cannot be a rehashed version of the same thing from another site.
3. Identical structure with similar content
In structural terms, it’s pretty clear two sites are identical. In this situation, the content on each site still has too close a resemblance. If it appears the content is managed in a similar fashion and presented in the same scope, the site(s) may be penalized.
4. Partially identical structure with similar content
While it may seem like splitting hairs, Google is very meticulous. Site A and Site B may only have a few pages that are identical but if the content between the two sites is sufficiently similar, they may take action and not index one of the sites.
5. Identical structure with reminiscent content
In this scenario, both sites have a similar structure and linking scheme while the content is relatively similar. Some content developers may think simply using a Thesaurus to change a few words may avoid detection but the search engines can spot this kind of move.
6. Unique structure with pieced together content
Two sites may have their own unique site structure and linking scheme but their content is simply scraped together from different sources the writer found. Search engines will flag this as duplicate content and act accordingly.
Image, videos and other document formats are sometimes ignored by the search engines since most don’t have the capability to spot duplicate forms of these types of content. They sometimes attempt to remove duplications based on file size, image size and file name however. Therefore in the future, it will be important you think about this as technology continues to evolve.
It should be obvious that simply copying and pasting content to your site is not only dishonest, it is robbing the original creator of that piece without due credit and compensation. But these other scenarios where search engines may flag your site are just as important. While you may not think your site is a duplication of another, what the search engines see is really what matters.
As far as propelling your website to the top of the search engines, they don’t. While Meta tags have no significant impact on actual search engine rankings, they do provide value in how your website appears on a search engine results page (SERP).
Meta tags are basically text included in the source code of an HTML document that’s intended to describe the page to a search engine for the purpose of cataloging its content. There are two types of Meta tags – description and keyword
So do Meta tags matter?
Yes they do as the description found within the tag indicates what you want someone to see on a search engine results page. They help a searcher easily determine whether or not your page is relevant to their needs. Without it, many people will simply move on and think your site doesn’t offer them any value.
If you do not include a Meta tag in your source code, the search engine will glean your page and cherry-pick words it thinks best describes your page. This doesn’t work too well however and can result in terrible descriptions being displayed on a SERP.
You should be very careful in how you use a Meta tag though. Many SEOs have abused these tags in the past thinking it would garner them a competitive advantage. To avoid any potential problems, avoid repeating keywords and use only those words relevant to your site’s theme. Beware of any trademark infringements and check with legal counsel before using another company’s trademarked terms anywhere in your source code.
Typically, the character limit for both description and keyword Meta tags is 250, which includes spaces and commas. Anything past the 250 mark is generally ignored by the search engines.
Just be careful – improper use of a Meta tag could result in your site being penalized by the search engines.
Ever wonder how a search engine like Google disseminates web pages on the Internet to produce the best results possible for its searchers?
This week, engineers, product managers and executives at Google will be meeting to determine how they can make their search engine smarter. As you know from our recent post on the topic, Google has made many changes over the course of its 10+ year history.
Google has become synonymous with search, commanding around 2/3 of search traffic. But that isn’t making them slow down as they strive to “organize the world’s information” as the company’s mission statement says. None of the upstarts like Facebook, Twitter, Yelp and others present a threat to Google in their own right. But going forward, search will not simply be dominated by Google but rather incorporate a combination of services.
The biggest threat to Google however is Bing, Microsoft’s revamped search engine. They’re trying to fill in places they feel Google’s algorithm falls short, namely in the health, reference and shopping sectors.
While Bing is increasing market share, Google is still miles ahead of them in the simple task of dissecting a search and returning relevant results. Using contextual signals, Google has been able to master the ability to figure out what a searcher is looking for.
Google culls data from all of its searchers to achieve these ends by seeing the search terms people use along with what they re-enter into the search if what they’re given isn’t satisfactory.
And the most incredible thing, Google makes these changes under the radar. Searchers have no idea that their searches are constantly dissected and that the company is always trying new things to improve its algorithm.
Occasionally, we drop in on different presentations circulating online to give us insight into the state of the inbound (i.e. online) marketing industry. HubSpot’s 2010 report gives us some good insights into what’s going on.
The bottom line is this – inbound marketing techniques cost much less, around 60% in fact, than traditional media (outbound marketing) techniques. Therefore, considering the economic climate in 2009, social media and blogs in particular saw tremendous growth over the course of the year.
As you will see in the webinar, the cost per sales lead for inbound marketing channels is much lower. To illustrate, 63% of survey respondents say that the cost for generating a lead through blogs and social media came in lower than expectations…compare that to only 34% of respondents who say the same regarding telemarketing.
Results from HubSpot’s study also indicate that 51% of companies plan to spend more on inbound marketing in 2010. Much of this is due to the poor economy, as companies look to get more for their marketing dollar.
Another trend you will notice – smaller companies spend a higher proportion of their marketing budget on inbound marketing channels like blogs, social media and SEO.
The next section of the webinar focused on changes in business blogging and social media. One graph in particular illustrates the importance of good business blogging. As you will see, the more a company posts something on their blog, the higher the chance they will snag a new customer.
In the end, all inbound marketing channels have to work together in order for your efforts to be successful. You can’t simply focus on your blog without ensuring it is crawled and indexed by the search engines, for example. And you can’t simply focus on SEO without providing timely and valuable content to your readers.
Check out the webinar from HubSpot here – it takes about 30 minutes to watch the presentation but it’s well worth your time.
Communicating information using charts and graphics provides a useful and fun way to learn about new things.
Search engine marketers now have a handy resource they can use to maximize search engine rankings and online conversions. These easy and fun charts from ProspectMX provide an easy-to-use reference for creating great websites.
Their original chart, “Link Building 101,” has some great insights into how you can get other sites to link to you. Examples of link bait, how to find good sites to link to and the most beneficial social media/news sites are just a few of the things you will find here – all presented in a fun environment that’s sure to pique your interest.
Prospect’s newest chart, “Universal Search Optimization,” gives some great tips on mastering the web’s newest way of ranking web sites, etc. Learn about ‘local search’, image/video optimization, press releases and more. Going forward, search results will increasingly include photos, videos and news, not just individual websites.
Take a look at Prospect’s charts today…print one out and post it on your wall!
Quick and easy reference materials like these are great to have when you’re stuck trying to get your website to the top.
Other sites linking to yours are one way search engines evaluate your site to determine where it should be displayed in a search engine results page. The more incoming links a site has, the more important the search engines see it.
But it depends on the type of links too – simply having a bunch of links pointing to your site isn’t going to pass muster.
It’s possible to go out and pay lots of money and do other nefarious things to get links to your site. Search engines like Google and Bing can see this, as they can differentiate between sites that have natural links to it versus ones that have artificial links.
So what’s the difference between the two?
First, the anchor-text, or the keywords that contain a link, is very diverse with natural links. One link to a site may contain “search engine optimization firm” and another may be “online marketing experts” for example. Artificial links though will have more uniform anchor-text…all of the links pointing to a site will only have one or two terms for its anchor-text.
This is one red flag to the search engines that you have an artificial link structure which in turn, causes your site to lose the rankings battle.
Another difference between natural and artificial links is the rate at which links appear. Sites with a natural link structure will see consistent increases in their link count while sites with an artificial link structure will see sudden and dramatic increases then a lull in activity.
Sites designed around a natural link structure do not have reciprocal links. Meaning, the site linking to them did it voluntarily and does not expect a link back in return. Almost all links in an artificial environment are reciprocal.
And finally, natural links point to resources that can be of further use to the reader. Artificial links mainly point to link farms and other places that serve no purpose in making the site more useful for its visitors.
Remember these differences when thinking about your site’s link structure. You should strive to create the most natural looking link structure as possible. From a search engine’s point of view, the best links are those that are unrequested…search engines reward those pages and sites that get voluntarily links for great content.
We’ve been discussing over the last few months changes in the online marketing world that can possibly have an effect on how search engines rank and display websites.
Things like the unveiling of personalized search as a standard feature of Google to the rise of social networking applications are just a couple of examples of such changes. It’s fair to say that based on our research and experience, social networking and bookmarking utilities have gained a big foothold in the online marketing equation.
Take all of this, along with the release of Google Buzz and some proposed partnership agreements between Google/Bing and social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook, and you’ve got some indications that a major shift is underway in how the search engines rank and display search results.
Over the years, search engines have evolved a lot from their beginnings. For example, keywords were the only consideration in ’95 but by ’97, search engines began looking at a site’s links. Next, around 1999 and Google’s inception, the PageRank algorithm was introduced. By ’02, anchor-text links were important and by ’05, temporal data, or when links were obtained and the age of the content, became important ranking factors.
But with the events of the last couple of years, it’s becoming apparent that a site’s “social graph” is becoming as important a ranking factor as its “link graph.” Search engines, primarily Google and Bing, are relying more on social networking sites to gauge the popularity and usefulness of a website’s content.
Take a look at SEOMoz’s newest Whiteboard Friday video for more insights into the changing world of search.
Search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo! find your website through other sites linking to it. A site with a large number of quality sites linking to it signifies a certain importance to the search engines, boosting your rankings in the process.
There are many ways you can acquire links to your site. They can be purchased from a link farm, or you can get people to link to you through social networks like Facebook, StumbleUpon and Digg. In the end, the highest quality links come from sites in a similar industry whose audience will find your content appealing and useful.
Allowing the structure of links to your site to become too homogenous can cause many negative consequences for your site and its rankings. Links coming from only one type of site, or only to your homepage or links that all have the same anchor text links are all red flags to the search engines that your site has an unnatural link structure.
As a result, search engines will penalize your site, perhaps even de-listing it from the search engines.
To avoid trouble like this, you should attempt a general 80/20 link balancing act, which means:
80% of your links should come from sites that are topically relevant to yours with the remaining 20% coming from unrelated or marginally related sites
80% of incoming links should go to your homepage with the remaining 20% (at minimum) going to sub-pages within your site
80% of links should have your keywords in the anchor text while the remaining 20% having a less optimized link, like “click here” or your URL as the anchor text
80% of your links should be one-way and the remaining 20% reciprocal
Of course, these are just general guidelines but a good rule of thumb to avoid any problems with the search engines. You don’t want your site to appear over-optimized to the search engines so you need to balance your link ratios to avoid this red flag.
Just what is the best way to unveil a new or vastly expanded site to the world? What I mean by “best way” is the best method for achieving high search engine rankings quickly.
There’s no universal way to answer that question. Every SEO/SEM has their own strategies that they implement, test and tweak. Simply throwing something up there and forgetting about it is a terrible idea.
But an interesting way of rolling out a new or renovated site was explored on a recent WebMasterWorld discussion thread. A senior member of the community, Wheel, is expanding a site he manages from 21 to approximately 5,000 pages. He’s looking to take a new approach to rolling out his site – let Google index all of it up front then go back and use Google and the site command to determine which pages to internally link to.
A popular SEO tactic is linking to other pages in a website from popular keywords. This gives you added boost in the search engines for that keyword phrase.
What’s different about Wheel is that he’s going to post all of his pages once and let Google go ahead and index them. He says he’s doing it this way because he has so much content that it would be impossible to sort through it all. Therefore, he will go ahead and get it all indexed then use his site command with keywords…[site: wheeldomain.com keyword+here]… to find the pages that contain that specific word(s) he wants to rank for. He will then choose the strongest pages and link to other pages on the site with that keyword.
Interesting method indeed, which drew mixed response in the forum since this method may initially seem backwards to most search engine optimization professionals. Some say Google will degrade his site outright while others think it will be wise to unveil the site in bits and pieces rather than all at once.
One reply to Wheel’s question at the bottom is pretty interesting – I suggest taking a look at it.
Often dubbed “the new YellowPages” by techies and SEO professionals, local search through Google Maps is one form of online marketing that’s slated to see astronomical growth in the next few years…it’s even perhaps a revolution of sorts in waiting with the casualty being the fabled phone book and YellowPages.
Think about it…how often do you search for local businesses using your phonebook anymore?
But going forward, people won’t be using their computers to search for local businesses online. No, they’ll be using their SmartPhone – Blackberry, IPhone and more. And 2010 will see a plethora of new SmartPhones sweeping the market from all major service providers.
What’s the consequence of this? For any local business that relies on YellowPages to advertise their business, it means a shift in how people find them. If their listing doesn’t appear in Google Maps and online, they will be missing out on a lot of opportunities.
To illustrate, a recent training course at Planet Ocean witnessed a demo of the power and ease of Google Maps’ smartphone utility. A 35-year old attendee used his phone to access Google Maps and search for orthodontist in the area he was located – all possible because most smartphones come equipped with a GPS tracking device.
Therefore, all he had to do was enter the keyword into the search and the device automatically displayed locations of orthodontists closest to his current location – along with directions on how to get there!
And these listings come equipped with customer reviews and other relevant information for making a buying decision!
The moral of the story is this – smartphones are in actuality mobile computer devices jam-packed with features one would normally not associate with a “phone”. Could this be the newest “gold rush” to hit the U.S.? In the real gold rush in Alaska in the late 19th century, real fortunes were made not in gold, but selling the tools to mine for gold.
So if you’re in search of opportunities in online marketing and SEO, it would behoove you to consider local search and how your business must be able to harness it or lose out to more prepared competitors.
Optimizing press releases for the search engines can give your website a big boost in traffic and profits – if it’s formatted and presented correctly.
Press releases don’t need to be exclusively about big news events at your company only but rather serve as a vehicle to notify the public of recent developments at your company like a product launch or change in staffing.
Continue reading for 7 steps you can employ to generate a surge in traffic for your website with a press release optimized for the search engines.
1. Keep it short
Keep your press release short and to the point, generally between 400 and 500 words. Most news sites will not accept a press release that’s long winded. Press releases should serve as a brief synopsis of the topic at hand that includes a link to where the reader can learn more.
2. Write it yourself
If you feel comfortable writing and English is your first language, you can write it yourself without much difficulty. Just follow some successful examples as a guide on formatting, etc. Reading tips about structure and format can help but it won’t match what looking at one in the flesh will do. If you’re not comfortable writing it yourself, consider hiring a firm that specializes in online copywriting or a freelancer.
3. Write a headline that grabs attention
Headlines serve as a preview for the reader, foreshadowing what the press release is about. Therefore, it’s important the headline grabs the reader’s interest so they will continue reading. After all, it’s well known in the copywriting world that many people do not actually read things online word for word.
Titles are also a great opportunity to place strong keywords that will draw the attention of search engines.
4. Get the reader hooked in the first sentence(s)
You have a narrow window of opportunity to draw the reader into reading the rest of your press release. Keep it simple in the beginning by simply stating what you’re going to talk about and why it should be important to them. But beware of using too many adjectives and adopting a sales tone as press releases are actually news stories. Editors and news services will ignore your press release and it will receive no exposure if it is too sales-y.
And strategically place keywords throughout the body of your press release to garner more attention from the search engines.
5. Be accurate with your statements
Be sure that information you include in your press release is factual and verifiable. Erroneous information will harm your credibility, perhaps permanently damaging your credibility. Therefore, facts should be presented in a clear and concise manner and be easily verifiable by the reader.
6. Make your press release stand out from the rest
Press releases don’t have to be completely boring. There are ways you can format it to appeal to more readers and the search engines. Finding a hook to make the reader desire more information will accelerate the progress of your press release.
7. Distribute your press release to different outlets
There are many outlets to distribute your press release besides posting it on your website. To get the most traffic and profits from your PR, you need to spread it around. There’s no telling how far a press release can go once it’s viral. Check out our articles on free and paid press release distribution in our search engine optimization knowledge center for more.
Social networking sites like StumbleUpon, Digg and Twitter are great ways to let the world know about your company’s news. Link to the PR or post it on these kinds of sites too for additional traffic.
A constant stream of well prepared, optimized press releases can be a boon to your site’s rankings and traffic. Harnessing these steps when you’re preparing a press release will help you maximize your online marketing potential.
WARNING – We’re going to stray a bit from SEO today and venture a little bit into the philosophical.
However, it goes without saying that Google’s new personalized search strategy is making waves among search engine optimization experts. How will personalization for anyone using Google, not just members logged into their accounts, affect the search results they see?
Answers to this question and many others like what this new feature means for websites who use organic search marketing channels will probably take a bit of time to answer.
Google has maintained user history for quite some time now – installing a “cookie” on a user’s web browser, which logs your searches with the engine. Now, they are taking this data to personalize your search results without your knowledge up front. While the cookies can be disabled on your browser and the personalization setting disabled in Google itself, most users and clients won’t take the time to do it since they probably don’t understand what’s going on in the first place.
One webmaster/SEO discussing the topic on a forum says it’s not an easy task to keep Google search history turned off – once this user turned his Google search history off, it somehow was turned back on without his knowledge.
Which is what leads to so much concern about this change – a user’s privacy and how it is compromised with this sort of policy – a big concern among webmasters and SEOs to say the least, as evidenced by a discussion on Google’s change at WebMasterWorld.
What are the implications on one’s privacy with a move like this? Before, users had to “opt-in” for personalized search results. They could request this personalization if they wanted to. Now, it’s “opt-out”…so now unsuspecting web users are having their prior search history and location dictate the results they see.
Not only does this carry consequences for privacy, it also can limit what someone sees. Now, their access to all available sources will be limited to what Google thinks they want to see, not what they need to see necessarily…a new precedent indeed.
We’ve probably made scant mention of it here before but it’s an important concept to understand on its own, and that is proper keyword density.
In 2003, Google did a major update to its ranking algorithms. SEOs refer to this as the “Florida update,” as it marks the day when search engine optimization became difficult. Before November ’03, SEOs would simply say you should liberally use keyword phrases on your pages. The Florida update changed all of this.
Now, web pages that use keywords too aggressively are filtered out of search results altogether (Matt Cutts explains a little more in the video below)
“Over-optimization” describes over-use of keywords in your site’s copy. Not only does excessive keyword use get your site filtered out of search results, it makes your copy look unprofessional to readers. Most people who see a web page with the same phrase in every sentence won’t take it too seriously.
Instead, modify keywords and use variations of your main phrase in your site’s copy. Four ways you could accomplish this include: singular vs. plural forms of keywords, use synonyms, add relevant modifiers and change the order of the words.
There are tools available to help you find different variations of the same keyword phrase. Take advantage of these tools from Quintura, Google and/or Bing to research different ways you can phrase keywords.
There’s also a very easy way to locate extra keyword phrases and that is when you are typing your main phrase into Google, search suggestions appear below the input bar. You can diversify your keyword phrases with these suggestions for a quick solution.
Either way, do not over-optimize, that is use the same keyword phrase on a page too many times. Your readers will pick up on it and your site will get in trouble with the search engines. While we can’t tell you a magic number, read your copy as if you’re an outsider. You should be able to tell pretty easily what’s too much and what isn’t.
It’s always interesting to see the trends in marketing online. How are people looking for information online?
For me, it continues to be a Google search using keyword phrases that closely describe what I’m looking for. I find searches like these to be very useful most of the time and if not, I can tweak the words I’m using to find what I’m looking for.
So it’s no surprise to me that organic search continues to be a preferred means of locating information online – and growing too.
According to new data from comScore, over 131 billion searches were conducted worldwide in December, 2009, a 46% increase over December ‘08. Searches in the U.S. alone grew by 22%, despite the country’s now two-year old recession.
And the U.S. continues to be the largest country on Earth when you consider online searches. While growth for 2008-2009 was much larger in countries like Russia (92%), France (61%) and Brazil (53%), the U.S. still accounts for the lion’s share of online searches.
So where do these searches originate from?
Well as we’ve reported here, Google still handles the majority of online searches – over 67% in December, 2009 with 58% growth between 12/2008 and 12/2009. And not just search engines are included in this list, which reflects a large number of searchers who go beyond the “core” search engines Google, Yahoo and Bing. Ebay came in 5th with 2.1 billion searches, growing by 58% year-over-year. Facebook handled 1.6 billion searches, a 43% increase year-over-year.
Data like this underscores the importance of optimizing websites for the search engines. It’s clear that an increasing number of Internet users rely on organic search to find what they’re looking for online.
I’m pretty sure I’ve used the phrase “best practices” here on the search engine optimization e-blog a time or two and now feel like kicking myself for doing so.
Intuitively, best practices don’t make any sense in the SEO profession.
Best practices grew out of organizational management techniques that became popular in the mid-to-late ‘90s. The idea was that certain groups who achieve “best practices” could then teach those practices to the entire organization.
From a practical point of view that makes sense…but in order for “best practices” to work in a strategic sense, the environment must be relatively static and homogenous…two characteristics online marketing & SEO don’t have at all.
Something that works today may be obsolete by the middle of next week in this business.
Instead of working under a static rule set that’s worked in the past for something (old) and has been popularized (is average), which is what best practices essentially are, use metrics to experiment with what works and what doesn’t.
It’s appealing to think there’s a magic formula of best practices you can employ and then just sit back and watch the sales come in.
But the Internet, you and your competitors are constantly changing.
In the end, “best practices” can offer the value of a good starting point to begin experimentation but nothing more. Establishing a good feedback loop and basing your decisions on results of your experimentation means you will go much farther than just re-hashing someone else’s “best practices” plan.
Focus on your business and be ready to constantly modify what works and what doesn’t.
One question that those of us in the search engine optimization profession constantly wrestle with is whether to provide prospective clients with a ranking guarantee. Many firms will not budge without that guarantee, which makes a SEOs life even that much more problematic.
Forum discussion at Crea8site illustrates the dilemma.
As optimizing websites for the search engines becomes more complex and personalized search options from Google and Bing gain more popularity, viewing success through the prism of search engine rankings alone can be disastrous. The science of SEO has evolved way beyond simple keywords and listings.
Actual traffic and conversions are the important considerations but traffic is the only thing the SEO can realistically do. Without traffic and conversions, your clients will eventually become frustrated and stop investing in their website.
In order to make a SEO firm/client relationship work, each party needs to work in tandem on pricing, rankings, content, service, etc. to get maximum yield from their investment.
