January 4th, 2012 by WendySuto
Google Panda, which was released this past February, is a search ranking algorithm has changed the game of search engine marketing. Panda was aimed to rank higher-quality sites above lower-quality sites on Google. For instance, after the roll-out of Panda, CNET reported a surge in rankings of news and social networking sites, and a corresponding drop in rankings of sites containing large amounts of ads.
One of the biggest disadvantages of Google Panda over older ranking algorithms is that it weighs search results in favor of web pages with newer publication dates. This has resulted in an adverse effect on sites that rely on “evergreen” content, or content that remains valuable and relevant for a long time.
Evergreen content is crucial for the success of blogs and information-based web businesses. Not only is the content itself more valuable than most recently generated content, the value found in the comments of each post is often extremely informative and completely free to you, the owner. Over time, real experts and seasoned professionals leave evergreen comments that answer questions your traffic may be asking. But, because these comments may be months or years old, fewer searchers are finding them through Google.
Searchers are not being served by this update. When they seek information, Panda delivers newer, yet less valuable content in their search results, so they never see the in-depth evergreen information. I assume Google’s reasoning is that newer is better, and if your only goal is to stay on the cutting edge of current events, that makes sense. However, new content hasn’t had time to build that informative comment dialogue that only passionate subject matter experts can give over an extended period of time.
In the next blog post, I’ll explain some SEO tactics for the current Google Panda Era.
Tags: google panda update, seo
Posted in Google News, Search Engine News | No Comments »
December 27th, 2011 by WendySuto
User interest changes at the same pace as web trends, as the two are relevant in terms of consistency. When online users tend to search for key phrases more frequently than others, websites and businesses change their online strategies to adapt. One thing that you can expect from web marketing trends is how to reach your specific audience during the holiday season. As consumers are turning toward products and services more during the holidays, there are a few ways you can reach a more localized
audience through online marketing.
Be specific with your products and what region they are readily available. Of course, the wonders of the internet allow you to connect to a global market, but sometimes that just isn’t possible for what you offer. Include local keywords to your region so that people close to you can easily find your products and services when searching. Likewise, you can use the Google Merchant feature to blend in with local competitors and offers web users an option for buying locally.
Use the names of holidays to relate to your customers on a more personal level. The generic term “holiday” may seem more politically correct from a broad standpoint, but your customers will probably use words like “Christmas,” “Hanukkah” or “Kwanza” when looking for specific deals on products. Include any terms that may be relevant to your region, making sure you reach a full potential of local consumers.
Offer special deals on in-store or localized products and services. Encourage people to visit your location during the holidays, because your store is one of your best marketing tools. Customers still enjoy shopping in a brick and mortar store because they can try out products before they buy. There’s no denying the power of Internet superstores, but face-to-face customer service wins in many areas. Advertise your deals on your website to engage customers, boosting your holiday reach.
Tags: Local Internet Marketing, Local Search Engine Optimization, local seo
Posted in Local Search Engine Optimization | No Comments »
December 16th, 2011 by WendySuto
It’s no surprise that a large majority of Internet users these days are using mobile devices, such as smartphones and personal tablets. Because mobile browsing operates on limited hardware when compared with its related desktop counterparts, a mobile website must be designed with much simpler features in mind. For this purpose, you should optimize your mobile site in a similar yet separate way from the desktop version. You’ll still be including keywords, headlines and other standard text techniques, but you’re building a site strictly for mobile devices.
Exclude Flash from your mobile web design. Some high-end phone models may be equipped to handle Flash while browsing the Internet, but many will not. If a user navigates to your site and gets the annoying “Sorry, you need to have Adobe Flash to view this content,” he or she quickly becomes disinterested and continues on with the search. When search engine bots crawl your website for relevance on mobile SERPs, Flash deters any notoriety your site may have had. You shouldn’t forfeit the information before users have a chance to even use it.
Build a simple code with 100% validated XHTML 1.0 code. Your mobile website needs to be bold yet painfully easy to operate. Aside from tablets, mobile browsing usually offers limited visual space for users when compared with desktop computers. Valid XHTML code will be highly visible to mobile search engines, giving you the results you deserve every time. Likewise, a complicated CSS will clutter and confuse your human readers.
Submit your mobile website to Google or Yahoo! for instant spidering and indexing. That’s right, the top search engines have made your life a bit easier. After a recent Google report indicated that 1 in every 7 web users were using a mobile device, search engine giants have focused their attention on duplicating that same magic in desktop search engine algorithms for mobile users.
Tags: mobile marketing, mobile website marketing, Mobile Websites
Posted in Business Marketing Online, Mobile Websites, mobile marketing | No Comments »
