AUGUST SEO UPDATE
State of the Search Industry Update
August was another month without a published Google update list so this month’s update is more of a “state of the industry” update. According to the State of Search Marketing Report 2012, search has grown 19% since 2011 and is predicted to reach an estimated $23 billion dollars by the end of the year. This growth is expected to continue at a 13% rate through 2013.
7 is the New 10
Google did make one very important algorithm change this month. Now some search queries are only pulling seven results on the first page. These first seven results may also be less diverse and much more branded. For example a search for “pc tools” returns only seven organic results. The middle of August showed this change dramatically and SEOMOZ reported that almost one-fifth of the SERPs they tracked were showing only 7 results.
Google’s 86 June-July Updates included three updates specifically mentioning site clustering. Site clustering is showing multiple links from the same domain in the search results.
- #82541. [project codename “Other Ranking Components”] This is one of multiple projects that we’re working on to make our system for clustering web results better and simpler.
- NoPathsForClustering. [project codename “Other Ranking Components”] We’ve made our algorithm for clustering web results from the same site or same path (same URL up until the last slash) more consistent. This is one of multiple projects that we’re working on to make our clustering system better and simpler.
- bergen. [project codename “Other Ranking Components”] This is one of multiple projects that we’re working on to make our system for clustering web results better and simpler.
Google’s response to this 7 result change was:
We’re continuing to work out the best ways to show multiple results from a single site when it’s clear users are interested in that site. Separately, we’re also experimenting with varying the number of results per page, as we do periodically. Overall our goal is to provide the most relevant results for a given query as quickly as possible, whether it’s a wide variety of sources or navigation deep into a particular source. There’s always room for improvement, so we’re going to keep working on getting the mix right.
At GlobeRunnerSEO, we are watching these changes very closely and working very hard to make sure our clients continue to rank on the first page, whether there are 7 or 10 results on that first page.
Link Building—it’s about Quality and Quantity
This week we went to DFWSEM, the largest and most important search marketing professional group in the area. We discussed links and how even with the updates to Penguin being termed “jolting” in the near future, both the quality and quantity of links will remain important to rankings.
Social Rankings Devalued?
Google has devalued social signals recently because Facebook and Twitter have blocked Google from crawling their data at different times and as Matt Cutts put it, “We can’t use what we can’t see.” This does not mean that you should give up your social campaigns. Social media is extremely important in branding, reputation, and customer service. A strong brand presence on the web drives traffic and conversions. We and several of our peers at DFWSEM predict that social media will be the fourth pillar of SEO in the very near future, joining the well-established pillars: site architecture, links, and content.
Google+ and Google Authorship of articles and blog posts have not been devalued because Google can see this data. Google Authorship (linking your Google+ profile) to a blog article you have written automatically pushes your article’s rankings higher.
Bing, on the other hand, is incorporating more social results into their search results. Bing announced in September that Quora data will now be included in their search results.
Just For Fun
We don’t typically talk much about Bing and a client’s rankings on Bing; since Bing makes up only 25.3% of all organic searches (Google processes 68.8% of all organic searches). However, Microsoft is running a blind taste test to see if users prefer Google or Bing search results. Here’s the link to the test www.bingiton.com, let us know which search engine you prefer and we will tell you which engine’s results the GlobeRunner team preferred.
Resources
WHAT IS SEO?
In a world where we are so often identified by what we do as who we are, being in SEO doesn’t always help people draw the most accurate picture of what I do or who I am. So in an effort to provide a frame of reference for our own clients, as well as potential clients, I wanted to take a minute and lay out the basic framework of SEO.
SEO is Search Engine Optimization, or literally the efforts made in helping your web site to appear more prominently in Search Engine results, ie Google. The reality of our world is when people have a need, of any type, they immediately use search to begin to solve their problem. Search, and more poignantly, Google, has changed the way in which the world accesses and judges information, in so much that whatever results are returned for a particular search, are generally viewed as the best or most appropriate results. The bottom line is regardless of the product you sell, the service you offer, whether you are a business-to-business industry or a consumer facing industry, people, your potential clients and customers, are searching for your product, for information about your product, for reviews, for specifications, searching for answers. SEO helps connect your business with those customers searching for you.
SEO is not a fixed concept, nor is it an agreed upon set of rules or best practices. SEO is a dynamic and evolving industry that has seen tumultuous change and redirection nearly every year. What does not change is the fundamentals of where SEO takes place and what Google looks to in order to help “rank” your site. These ranking factors may change in weight, or how google values each factor, as well as entirely new factors arising. When we talk about SEO and ranking factors we talk about 2 main things: On-Site & Off-Site.
On-Site
When we talk about On-Site we’re referring to the actual coding and elements of your website: How your content is structured and organized, the particular elemental tags used to differentiate content on your site, from the way you tag your images to the url structure and page types you employ. Quality SEO is diving into each page, having a clear goal in mind and a coordinated effort for all elements of the page towards the particular page goal.
Off-Site
The other main factor is what is happening in reference to your site, out in the web. So in addition to how you structure your content and label it, Google also wants to see some authority on the web with regard to your content. The best way of weighting the value of a site’s content is by evaluating the number of other sites that link to that particular page and/or domain. This is the essence of backlinks, or other sites that link back to your website. The type of link and value of each type vary widely, but what remains consistent is the need for quality backlinks in order to move the needle. In recent years we’ve seen the emergence of social media as a factor, with Google going as far as creating their own Social Media Network in order to try and leverage the power of search with the power of social.
Bottom line, SEO is an evolving industry, which is here to stay. There were nearly 20 billion searches in the US alone last month, and this number is rising, not decreasing. If you’re currently engaging on SEO, kudos. If you’re not, then do a couple of quick Google searches for a keyword in your industry. Take note of whom appears at the top of those results. While you’re not making the effort, your competitor is.
Look for our next article, “What to look for in an SEO firm”, due later this week and when results matter, GlobeRunner SEO.
IS SOCIAL MEDIA THE KEY TO GOOD CUSTOMER SUPPORT?
A couple of months ago, I had a couple of trees in my yard that needed to be trimmed. I did a quick Google search to find a local arborist and gave him a call. After a quick chat to schedule and discuss some specific instructions, they came to do the work. However, they didn’t follow my instructions or complete the job as we agreed. I called them, but the company didn’t answer. So, I did what more and more people are doing these days: I left a comment on their Facebook page. I have yet to hear back.
Unfortunately, this is still a common problem with social media. Customer service is evolving. The traditional channels: a 1-800 customer service line and a customer support email address are no longer the first choice of today’s tech-savvy consumers. Customers are social, they want to interact with the companies whose goods they purchase.
According to Gartner, by 2014, customers will expect the same level of interaction with businesses through social media as they do through the telephone. Also, according to a recent American Express Global Customer Service Barometer survey, 83% of customers who use social media for customer service abandoned an intended purchase because of poor service or lack of response.
But it’s not just about meeting some customers expectations. Using social media as part of your customer service approach can also save money. By monitoring your company’s mentions on social media sites, you can catch potential problems before customers call in. By catching them early, you save the time and money required to deal with the call. If, for example, each call averages 5 minutes, and you catch 10 potential problems each day, the savings could be hundreds of dollars per day. And all because you met your customers where they’re already gathering online.
Social media isn’t going anywhere. Do you need help building a social media strategy for your business or monitoring your reputation online? We can help. Call us at 972-472-8497 or visit our website for more information: Globerunner.com.
HOW TO AVERT GMAIL INBOX FULL FAILURE – THE ULTIMATE GUIDE
We recently had an issue where one of our inboxes was nearly full. So we reached out and did some research to find the best method of reliably backing up a Gmail inbox and clearing it. We found that the best method is with getmail, a Linux utility that fetches mail through IMAP. It is very powerful and flexible, providing a lot of options. There are several different methods as well (outlined below).
Overall, we recommend using getmail. By trying several different approaches, getmail is by far the best. It is a little confusing at first, but not a hard pill to swallow:
How do you install getmail?
Ubuntu:
sudo apt-get install dovecot-imapd getmail4
Arch Linux:
pacman -S getmail
Centos:
yum install getmail*
Here are some resources for backing up gmail with Linux:
getmail:
- Matt Cutts explains how to backup gmail with getmail
- Linode documentation goes over getmail setup
- Getmail documentation
- Configuring getmail
If you don’t like getmail there are several different options out there:
BagoMa:
Fetchmail:
- Life hacker explains how to backup gmail with fetchmail
- Periodically backing up your email with fetchmail
W4RJ8XDCJ8DS
JULY SEO UPDATE
Google Updates
After a silent June, Google announced 86 changes/updates to their search algorithm this past Friday. As usual, we are going to highlight the changes that we are most interested in because they result directly to how we optimize and grow our clients’ web presence. No matter the changes, we are keeping up with what effects your rankings. There are several updates reinforcing that fresh, unique, and useful content is of the utmost importance to continuing to rank well. These updates include:
- Bamse. [project codename “Page Quality”] This launch helps you find more high-quality content from trusted sources.
- Bamse-17L. [project codename “Page Quality”] This launch helps you find more high-quality content from trusted sources.
- GreenLandII. [project codename “Page Quality”] We’ve incorporated new data into the Panda algorithm to better detect high-quality sites and pages.
- #82353. [project codename “Page Quality”] This change refreshes data for the Panda high-quality sites algorithm.
- #82666. [project codename “Page Quality”] This launch helps you find more high-quality content from trusted sources.
- Hamel. [project codename “Page Quality”] This change updates a model we use to help you find high-quality pages with unique content.
- Lime. [project codename “Freshness”] This change improves the interaction between various search components to improve search results for searches looking for fresh content.
Google also announced a few changes to the way they are ordering search results with this update:
- ng2. [project codename “Other Ranking Components”] Better ordering of top results using a new and improved ranking function for combining several key ranking features.
There has not been a lot of information related to this change released yet, but we will be continuing to monitor how these changes will effect rankings in the coming months.
Press Releases and Penguin and Panda
Press releases are one of the strategies that we use at Globe Runner to build links to your website. We try to write these press releases about current events in your industry and relevant to your business. Our primary goal with these press releases is to gain high quality links. In the aftermath of the Penguin and Panda algorithm updates, this is still a valid strategy, however, it is even more important now that press releases for SEO be written as normal, media focused press releases and not just stuffed with links or as promotional pieces.
Mobile Update
Mobile searches are increasingly popular and have extremely high conversion rates. A study featuring 6000 mobile users stated that 85% of users who searched for a restaurant on their smartphone purchased within 24hrs of the search. Results like these are why we at Globe Runner stress the importance of optimizing our client’s local pages like Google+Local, Yelp, Foursquare, Yahoo, and Bing local pages.
Social Media Update
Social Media is often confusing and many of our customers wonder about the effectiveness of their actions. The following graph, published by MarketingSherpa in their 2012 Social Media Benchmark Report, shows the effectiveness of each tactic to achieve objectives vs. the degree of difficulty to accomplish the task. The size of the circles represents the percentage of companies taking these actions.
At Globe Runner SEO, we specialize in social media integration with search engine optimization. Current with the industry trends our social media strategy focuses on first optimizing your business’ social sites managing your social campaigns, and encouraging blogger relationships. These strategies ultimately build your brand credibility which builds authority which in turn boosts your rankings.
One final Social update, Google+ is finally rolling out vanity urls for their Google+ and Google+Local pages. At last, Google+ pages will show the name of the place in the url. For example, our vanity url will be google.com/+globerunnerseo. Unfortunately, this is a slow rollout by Google and right now only the biggest players like Toyota, Delta, and Britney Spears have received their vanity urls. Look for this optimization in the coming weeks or months. We are monitoring this update to make sure our clients’ profiles receive their vanity urls as soon as they are available.
Just for fun
At Globe Runner we are tech junkies and love our smart phones and as you can tell, we are very much Google-groupies, following all of Google’s updates very closely. One of the more fun recent updates we were excited about was the update that lets you handwrite your search queries on your smart phone or tablet.
During the Olympics the Google Doodles have been interactive games based on the Olympic sports and these games have been a fun source of office competition before our morning meetings. However, our favorite Doodle was this one featuring our office’s favorite team building activity.
GLOBERUNNERSEO LAUNCHES NEW INTERNATIONAL DRUPAL COMMERCE WEBSITE FOR BLUELINE
How do you promote the use of traditional paper notebooks and planners in today’s digital age? One of our clients approached us with the need to deliver “pen and paper” product in a global digital store.
Blueline Incorporated has thousands of printed products – receipt books, accounting supplies, calendars, and notebooks with unique audiences in Canada, the United States and Mexico. After months of development, GlobeRunnerSEO has launched our most site ambitious to-date.
This project needed a proven Content Management System (CMS) with a commerce solution which could handle multiple currencies, multiple prices for each product depending on the country, and multilingual capabilities.
Since the client also has other branded websites with different product offerings, we needed to import the product catalogs from a single source to all of their brands (www.blueline.com, www.rediform.com, and www.brownline.com).
To achieve this, we used the Drupal 7 CMS (drupal.org) along with over 100 additional modules. Our team optimistically says “there’s a module for that – or there will be soon”. We relied heavily on Drupal Commerce, along with Multicurrency, UPS Shipping, and Feeds to import the products. We used the Internationalization modules to provide language translations to the site and also made every product and image translatable. The Omega theme framework was used as the backbone of the user interface.
To satisfy complex tax calculations, we used AvaTax, an integration provided by www.drupalsalestax.com . Where contributed modules did not satisfy our requirements we built custom modules to fit the business needs and preferences of our client.
GlobeRunnerSEO is primarily a internet marketing company. Obviously, we used a structure and numerous modules to optimize each product for best search results.
In addition to modules, the site required complex configuration to provide GeoIP look-up to ensure Canadian visitors see Canadian products and US visitors see US products. Coupons, Promotional Campaigns, Tax calculations, and product availability conditions all require use of Drupal’s powerful Rules framework.
The primary site launched in April 2012 after 5 months of development. After launch additional changes continued until July. At first, we used Drupal’s Multisite feature – allowing numerous sites to use the same codebase. However, in order to add unique SSL certificates to all three sites, the sites were branched out to three separate servers. And since our developers build sites on their local machines, and also have a staging and production server for each site, at times we had nine variants of the application. Additionally, since the client was adding content and customers were purchasing items, we created a workflow to protect live data while adding new elements. For this, we turned to the best practices of using Drupal Features, Drush, and GIT version control.
Our themes were designed by Alex Fox, our in-house graphic designer. Chris Lee worked on the site planning and built custom modules. Bobby Dean was the lead developer and themer. The project was managed by Sean Freebairn. Customer relationship was led by Hector Hernandez. This project challenged our team on many levels and also helped us learn many new things. We are proud to be a part of the Drupal Association and look forward to using knowledge gained for our future clients.
Blueline Inc knows that paper products are here to stay. And because of this new series of websites by GloberunnerSEO, they can depend on their digital Drupal platforms for years to come.
JUNE 2012 SEO UPDATE
June updates included two Panda updates, version 3.7 and 3.8, a first Penguin refresh, but there hasn’t been much chatter about those updates meaning they were probably pretty minor. Google did confirm that links still carry more weight and are more important to your core rankings than social media. Also, there are no “No Follow Penalties” from Google for including several no follow links on a site.
Other updates in the search engine blog-o-sphere included talk about how to manage multiple listings or locations on your website without having too much duplicate content. For example, many of our clients own businesses with multiple locations throughout the Metroplex. A question we are often asked is, “Can we use the same information on each of our unique location pages?” Matt Cutts, Distinguished Engineer at Google, leading the webspam team, says that rather than repeat the whole history of the company or a long pitch, it is best to just list the address and contact information for the location and 2-3 sentences about what is unique to that location. This will prevent Google from flagging your site for too much duplicate content.
Google Product Search has now become Google Shopping. Google is for the first time discontinuing their free product shopping search in exchange for a “paid inclusion model.” A paid inclusion model is “a model where companies pay to be listed, but payment does not guarantee that they rank well for any particular terms.” Product listings will now need to be created through Google AdWords in campaigns for Google Shopping. If you are already running Product Listing Ads, then you will be familiar with the process because Google Shopping campaigns will be very similar, so similar in fact, that once Google Shopping is fully released, Product Listing Ads will be phased out. Google Shopping will offer benefits of allowing merchants to advertise their special deals and offers as well as present potential customers with better quality pricing information.
One change to the shopping experience you may notice right away is Google has shifted shopping results to the top right of the page as opposed to the top of the listings. This will help keep organic results at the top of the page. See the below for an example of a search I did for “laptop computers.”
PPC Update
Online Marketing continues to be a growing and evolving space. It’s been reported that in the 1st Quarter of 2012 online advertising spend increased 12%, a healthy growth rate. This should come as no surprise, if you’re reading this summary then you’ve already made online marketing a priority in your efforts and chances are your competition has as well.
Globe Runner Update
Monthly reports will now be sent out on the 15th of the month rather than the beginning of each month.
Resources
Interview with Matt Cutts about what makes a quality site
Google Product Search to become Google Shopping
5 MYTHS OF B2C MARKETING
Business and sales are influenced by customer opinions, trust, awareness and perceptions which makes implementing B2C strategies into your marketing plan an important component. This is why we have outlined 5 common myths of B2C marketing so you can build a strong plan of action to get customers on your side and build brand ambassadors to do the dirty work for you.
Myth 1: Branding Works Better for B2B than B2C
Strategic branding is as important for B2C marketing as it is for B2B marketing. It doesn’t matter if you’re selling rainbows or mufflers, branding influences the decisions of customers and what they know about your brand. Yes, branding is good for B2B because it sets you apart from your competitors and allows you to put a stake in your claim, but customers want to do the same. What your branding tells them is your values and if it fits their values and beliefs.
Myth 2: LinkedIn Isn’t For B2C
B2C marketers aren’t confined to Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest. The Content Marketing Institute reported that 71% of B2C companies use LinkedIn as a marketing platform. There are a few ways to use LinkedIn strategically:
- Consider if it works for your business. Is your audience made up of young professionals or C-level executives? If your product is best for those in the workforce who can be found on LinkedIn, leverage this access to them because your products will most likely be of natural interest to them!
- Market wisely. You should market your product as helping individuals be successful in their personal and professional lives.
- Form strategic partnerships. It’s not just people on LinkedIn who signed up to connect. Companies also have pages and even if you are marketing directly to consumers your business may still need to work in partnership with other businesses to grow. You can build and cultivate relationships with key influencers.
- Find Suppliers and Staff. Since companies are on LinkedIn it’s natural that they would offer jobs there as well. You can use LinkedIn to find new staff and find suppliers for your own business.
Myth 3: Content Marketing for B2B is the same as for B2C
No way! Consumers prefer shorter content and content with pictures, content that evokes emotion and personality from the business and trendy information. Businesses want How-to type of articles and informative pieces that are also actionable. They want to be able to read an article, apply its advice to their businesses, and see some sort of change.
Myth 4: You Need a Big Budget to be a Big B2C Brand
Content marketing is affordable and can take your company far. Many small sized companies are finding content marketing to be a really successful tool, at a lower cost than more traditional forms of outbound marketing. In fact, 60% of B2C small business marketers are planning on increasing their content marketing budget over the next 12 months. Why? Content marketing is an effective strategy for building brand awareness and lead generation, so get on the content train! In addition to improving your SEO (when done right), content marketing is far less costly than many other traditional marketing practices but can provide the same if not better outreach.
Myth 5: They Love Us, Why Change?
People love your product but that shouldn’t stop you from evolving with technology. The information you put on your site and your social media needs to make sense to your readers and hold their attention. If you keep marketing your product or service the way you did a year ago, or at the pace we’re moving, a few months ago, you may be falling behind. Stay ahead of trends to stay on top of the industry as a thought leader.
What myths have you busted? What are you best marketing practices with consumers? How has content helped you engage your audience?
SHOP TALK: WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SOURCE TO GATHER INSPIRATION?
We wanted to start a new series of blog posts that involves everyone in our office. Because we all have different sets of skills and knowledge, the information we share may be beneficial or entertaining to others. So, keep an eye out for more of our ‘Shop Talk’ series.
What Is Your Favorite Source to Gather Inspiration?
Cody, SEO Specialist:
My most creative moments are born from discussions with other individuals. Websites developed for creative inspiration are great and all, but I truly enjoy a person-to-person discussion to find the inspiration I’m looking for. An intellectual conversation allows me to understand multiple perceptions about a certain topic.
Sean, Project Manager:
My most creative moments are in the bathtub… Well I’m a big guy so I’m never really in the bathtub, but anyway. I’m bombarded with information all day long whether it be thing I read or knowledge I learn from all of my very talented coworkers. It those quiet moments away from work and children that all that information solidifies and come together like a giant puzzle.
Chris, Lead Web Developer:
Often reading books on my kindle, stackexchange, instructional youtube videos, watching business oriented reality shows (e.g. shark tank) and reading code projects outside my domain can be the provenance of new found creativity for me.
Jonathan, Application Developer:
Music is one of my top inspirations. It isn’t so much that any specific music or artist makes ideas pop into my head; rather it puts me into a creative state of mind. I generally don’t like to work in silence, finding my work (whatever it may be) isn’t as strong as it would be otherwise. Another place I find inspiration is artwork, usually digital and concept art, cinematography, and graphic design. Something about striking visuals gets the gears in my head turning.
Kate, SEO Content Creator:
I find inspiration in documentaries. There is nothing like the realm of unscripted reality in the sense of exploration and narration. I feel passionate when I watch documentaries that invite in a motivation to see how others live and work outside my world.
Damon, Online Traffic Strategist:
Ultimately, while many forms of media and people feed my subconscious and provide the fodder for my imagination, my favorite and most tapped source to gather inspiration is my children. My 3 yr old sees the world in a way I once did, unfiltered and pure. Whether it’s the drive to meet a deadline, the seed that blossoms into my next great idea or the ever present reminder of my duty as role model, my children both inspire me in ways I never thought possible and serve as my inspiration in nearly all things I do.
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 34
- 35
- 36
- 37
- 38
- …
- 42
- Next Page »