Follow Us
Facebook Twitter Linkedin
    Hyperdog Media Logo
    Contact Us

    jadmin

    How to Keep Google’s Panda from Ruining Your Rankings

    by

    It used to be that Google let many crawling problems slide. Not anymore! Their Panda Updates, now almost 3 years old, penalize websites for communicating poorly with Googlebot. Panda 4.0 just rolled out last month, and has gotten quite a bit of press. Here are some tips to prevent a penalty on your clients’ sites. Panda is always evolving, but typically penalizes: “Thin” content: If you heard “thin is in,” think again: Google DISLIKES pages with little content. Before Panda, the recommendation was that articles should be around 250 words in length. After Panda, those were increased to a minimum of 450 words in length. As time has passed, some studies have shown Google favoring pages 1000 words in length! Of course, you shouldn’t sacrifice readability to meet such a quota: Keep content easy to browse and skim. How do you Panda-proof content? Pages should be built out into 450-1000 words. Where that’s not possible, try consolidating content. And don’t forget to 301 redirect the old locations to the new URLs! Duplicate content: Google doesn’t like to find two pages that say the exact same thing. Google doesn’t like to find two pages that say the exact same… well, you get the point. It’s easy for sites to accidentally expose duplicate content to search engines: Tag pages, categories, and search results within a website can all lead to duplicate content. Even homepages can sometimes be found at multiple URLs such as:https://www.hyperdogmedia.com/https://www.hyperdogmedia.com/https://www.hyperdogmedia.com/index.htmlhttps://www.hyperdogmedia.com/index.htmlThis can be very confusing to Googlebot. Which version should be shown? Do the inbound links point to one, but onsite links to another?Never fear, there are easy fixes: a. Block Googlebot from finding the content – Check and fix your internal links. Try to prevent Google from discovering duplicate content during crawling. – Use robots metatags with a “NOINDEX” attribute and/or use robots.txtb. Use 301 Redirects to redirect one location to another. 301 redirects are a special redirect that passes on link authority one from URL to another. The many other kinds of redirects simply send a visitor to a new location, and are usually not the right solution for duplicate content issues.c. Canonical tags can also help These tags help Google sort out the final, canonical URL for content it finds. Where content is on multiple websites, canonical tags are still the solution: They work cross-site! Sitemap.xml files in disarray Google allows webmasters to verify their identity and submit this special xml file full of useful information. Webmasters can list the pages they want Google to index, as well as: – Define their pages’ modification dates – Set priorities for pages – Tell Google how often the page is usually updated Here we are able to actually define what Googlebot has been trying to figure out on its own for eons. But with great power comes great responsibility. For webmasters that submit (or have left submitted) an outdated sitemap.xml file full of errors, missing pages, duplicate or thin content the situation can become dire.The fix? Put your best foot forward and submit a good sitemap.xml file to Googlebot!a. Visit the most likely location for your sitemap.xml file: http://www.domain.com/sitemap.xmlb. Are the URLs good quality content, or is your sitemap.xml file filed with thin, duplicate and missing pages?c. Also check Google Webmaster Tools: Is Google reporting errors with your sitemap.xml file in Webmaster Tools? Large amounts of 404 errors, crawl errors The sitemap.xml file is just a starting point for Google’s crawling. You should certainly have your most valuable URLs in there, but know that other URLs will indeed be crawled. Watch carefully in webmaster tools for crawl errors, and use other crawling tools such as MOZ.com to diagnose your website. Preparing your site for future Panda updates requires thinking like Googlebot. And once a website is in “tip-top shape,” ongoing vigilance is usually needed. In this age of dynamic websites and ever-changing algorithms, you can’t afford to rest! PSST! Need a Free Link?Get a free link for your agency: Would you like our monthly take on the changing world of SEO delivered to your inbox? Subscribe to the Hyper Dog Media SEO Newsletter HERE! When you subscribe, each newsletter will contain a link idea for your business!

    Make your content easily shared, linked and read

    by

    Technical SEO is increasingly about helping people share content from a website. After all, content should be shared, linked to, and – dare I say – read. Perhaps a more appropriate usage term is “consumed,” since content strategy increasingly includes visuals, podcasts, webinars and multimedia. Many sites are not optimized to take full advantage of new and evolving distribution channels for existing content. The “Social Sharability” and “Social Visibility” of content can be maximized by using these techniques: Share buttons: To share the specific URL being viewed. Follow buttons: To follow the website’s brand on social media networks. Facebook Open Graph tags, Twitter cards, Pinterest “Rich pins”: These social networks have specific tags that can be added to on-page website code. Once implemented, posts about your website will feature larger images and tailor-made descriptions to make posts more visible in newsfeeds when shared. Schema.org: Google has indicated that implementation of Schema.org code on your website is of high importance. Much like the other social network cards, tags and pins, URLs using Schema.org code have much better presentation, draw more attention, and are shared more often. Schema.org can also maximize your site’s presence in search results: These tags power the review stars and other features in the search results themselves. Content should be readable and consumable, especially on mobile devices. PSST! Need a Free Link? Get a free link for your agency: Would you like our monthly take on the changing world of SEO delivered to your inbox? Subscribe to the Hyper Dog Media SEO Newsletter HERE! When you subscribe, each newsletter will contain a link idea for your business!

    Google Moves Against Guest Blogging – March 2014

    by

    Google made two more moves against guest blogging in the last month: 1. Google penalizes a site connecting content marketers and webmasters Content marketing is all about getting your information out to interested webmasters. Google recently penalized a site that simply connects those with content to those with websites. The content varied in form: guest posts, infographics, eBooks, etc. What was the issue exactly?! Having a meeting place to connect great content with great websites SHOULD be win-win. It’s a much better option than spam email hawking content or seeking links from any webmaster that will listen. So, is it wrong to try to connect authors and publishers? Is the editorial value of a link lessened where it was easier to connect to the webmaster? 2. Google penalizes an entire website based upon one guest post it considered off-topic Doc Sheldon, a longtime SEO copywriter, was penalized based on a single guest post he hosted. The posting was about social media to Hispanic audiences, but aroused the interest of Google. And not in a good way. Social media marketing is closely aligned with SEO, and the penalty feels arbitrary – if not confusing. Is Google spreading Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt? Only one thing is clear: Webmasters and business owners are being held accountable 100% for the content on their own website. So what to do? Create a content generating, curating, sharing machine. Sharing content can be a minefield these days, but a safe way forward is: 1. Post full versions of your content to your site, but also Google+, LinkedIn, and promote your content at other relevant places around the web. 2. Tag your content with rich snippets, Facebook open graph, and Twitter cards to increase it’s “sharability” and categorization. Get a free link for your business: Would you like our monthly take on the changing world of SEO delivered to your inbox? Subscribe to the Hyper Dog Media SEO Newsletter HERE! When you subscribe, each newsletter will contain a link idea for your business!

    February 2014 Summary of Search:
    Do as I say, not as I do

    by

    “Do as I say, not as I do” Sometimes Google does things it warns others not to do:1. Don’t be top heavyGoogle just updated it’s “Top heavy” algorithm. For sites that show many ads at the top, or make users scroll to see content, penalties can apply. 2. Don’t scrape content from other websitesMatt Cutts of Google is actively seeking reports of what would be considered “scraper sites”. One SEO responded with a screenshot of Google scraping wikipedia. 🙂http://www.seroundtable.com/google-scraper-site-report-18184.html In other news, Google will now start showing restaurant menus for those keyword searches. But the restaurant brands do not know exactly where Google is scraping this data from, and how to update it.Read the whole scoop here: http://searchengineland.com/now-official-google-adds-restaurant-menus-search-results-185708 3. Links on user generated content sites that pass pagerankFor most sites, Google insists that links created by site visitors are “nofollow”. But Google+ allows links that are curiously “dofollow”. Other sites could indeed be penalized by this. 4. Sell LinksAlmost $17 billion of Google’s almost $17 billion in revenue from last quarter was from “selling links”. But of course, they aren’t “dofollow”. A couple more items have garnered Google’s attention:1. Rich snippets should be used for good, not evilGoogle has been levying a manual penalty against sites using rich snippets in a spammy fashion.http://www.link-assistant.com/news/rich-snippets-penalty.html 2. Don’t try to insert too many keywords with your business listingThere used to be an distinct advantage in having your keywords in your business name. Now Google wants to make sure the business name you use in your business listing matches you business name.– Your title should reflect your business’s real-world title.– In addition to your business’s real-world title, you may include a single descriptor that helps customers locate your business or understand what your business offers.– Marketing taglines, phone numbers, store codes, or URLs are not valid descriptors.– Examples of acceptable titles with descriptors (in italics for demonstration purposes) are “Starbucks Downtown” or “Joe’s Pizza Delivery”. Examples that would not be accepted would be “#1 Seattle Plumbing”, “Joe’s Pizza Best Delivery”, or “Joe’s Pizza Restaurant Dallas”.See more: https://support.google.com/places/answer/107528?hl=en So what to do?Create a content generating, curating, sharing machine.1. Post full versions of your content to your site, but also Google+, linkedin, and promote your content at other relevant places around the web.2. Tag your content with rich snippets, facebook open graph, twitter cards to increase it’s “sharability” and categorization. PSST! Need a Free Link?We’d like to help you promote your own business, hoping more work for you brings more work our way! Join our newsletter for our suggestion this month: It’s a site with a pagerank of 9!

    Two announcements that may alter your online marketing strategy. January 2014 Summary of Search

    by

      There were a couple of announcements from Google’s Matt Cutts this month that shook the world of digital marketing.    1. Guest blogging out?In calling out spammy guest blogging practices, Matt Cutts wrote about “the decay of a once-authentic way to reach people.” Guest blogging and multiple author blogs tend to do many things right, but Matt pointed out that some SEOs using guest blogging have gone to the dark side recently. Where they have gone wrong: Automation – Where online marketing practice becomes easy to automate, it becomes easy to abuse. Any gaming of Google’s algorithm is really where abuse begins. Lack of relevance – Many guest bloggers were targeting any old blog, and spamming instead of outreaching. If high numbers are part of your guest blogging outreach, consider you may be spamming instead of trying to connect authentically. Good outreach means trying to build relationships, not creating large quantities. Doing it “just for the links” – Google doesn’t have any problems with the marketing of quality content through outreach, content promotion, etc. When the content is high quality, it makes sense for it to be offered, shared, distributed. This test is key: Is the resource or practice helpful even when it doesn’t provide links? Going forward, content marketing should be about the content, and should be about the marketing. See what I did there? Spread good content to relevant people and you’ll never go wrong in Google’s eyes. Probably.(See more http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/guest-blogging/)    2. Does social media effect rankings on Google? The short answer is “no”. It’s long been assumed that “social signals” referred to popularity and activity on sites like twitter and facebook. It turns out that is incorrect(in 2014). For some people, Matt Cutts dropped a bombshell when he announced that twitter and facebook were treated like any other site. Before you close your facebook account though, consider what this means: Of course, you should continue using social media. If you were involved before just to increase your rankings, you were offtrack. There are many reasons to use social media for connecting with prospects, partners, and content. Similarly, your email does not improve rankings, but you should still use it. In being treated like any other site, having a large number of pages on the site linking to yours can help bolster the authority of your own page. Let’s call these other pages linking to your page “followers” or “follows”, “friends” or even “retweets”. That network of links can convey authority on any site. Unfortunately, facebook and twitter are blocking Google’s crawling in many ways. Some might not even be necessary. So it will be interesting what information we uncover in the future. Google+ does not block Googlebot, of course. And the internal links from your circles and overall activity are indeed likely to be used in a future Google algorithm. Matt Cutts gave help debunking a study last summer that assumed a relationship between Google+ shares and higher rankings. The study redo concluded that both shares and rankings were correlations, and there wasn’t a relationship of causation there. In the future, authority from inbound links may be replaced by Google+ social signals, authorship, etc. Google says maybe 10 years into the future, but that’s 3 years in internet time. :)See more in Matt’s video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udqtSM-6QbQ    Get a free link for your business: Would you like our monthly take on the changing world of SEO delivered to your inbox? Subscribe to the Hyper Dog Media SEO Newsletter HERE! When you subscribe, each newsletter will contain a link idea for your business!  

    Spam-Fighting Always Continues – December 2013 Summary of Search

    by

    Spam-Fighting Always Continues Google’s Matt Cutts promised a month free of major updates, but added that “spam-fighting always continues.” Indeed, there were some complaints from webmasters around the 17th and 19th that could have been Google taking out another link network. This month, Google made an example out of Rap Genius. The site was offering traffic for blog links. To participate, you had to link to their Justin Bieber page. And somehow feel good about yourself. Oh, and send them the link. Rap Genius would then tweet your link to their followers, sending traffic to your blog. Google caught wind of the link scheme, and severely punished Rap Genius in the rankings. The moral is that Google will always, usually, catch you! So how do you invest in search engine traffic for the long term? 1. Create Content Google wants compelling content: images, blog posts, videos, podcasts, surveys and more. Good content is long (1000 words plus for articles) and holds your visitor’s attention. Google does not want visitors leaving the site quickly (but will probably forgive if it’s an ad click!). 2. Tag Your Content Search engines are getting better at understanding what we humans create on the internet. But communication directly with “search engine bots” has never been easier. These technologies could be better implemented on almost every website: – Internal linking structures – Sitemap.xml – Title tags – Meta descriptions – Rich snippets   – Authorship 3. Get the Word Out Content outreach and marketing has never been more important. Content today is where websites were in 1998: Many build, and then are disappointed at the results. Good content competes against a dizzying array of distractions in an always-connected world, and must be actively marketed – even AGGRESSIVELY marketed – to make an impression. Content must be spread via social media (especially Google+), and marketed specifically for links. These are “earned links” and outreach for the purpose of links wonderful way to promote your content. As a bonus, this promotion of content will also promote rankings! Get a free link for your business: Would you like our monthly take on the changing world of SEO delivered to your inbox? Subscribe to the Hyper Dog Media SEO Newsletter HERE! When you subscribe, each newsletter will contain a link idea for your business!

    Summary of Search, October 2013

    by

    (Not provided) Google recently started encrypting all searches, and is now showing “(Not provided)” in Google Analytics for most organic traffic. Some referral traffic will show up from Google.com, and is also organic traffic (But analytics cannot tell if the browser is being ultra-secure). There is no easy solution, but at the next Boulder SEO MeetUp we will be leading a presentation and discussion of alternatives.   Penguin Update Around October 4th, there was an update to Google’s search algorithms. It’s being called Penguin 2.1 (or sometimes Penguin 5) and is a major update. The Penguin updates penalize “over-optimization” and “web spam”, both on websites and looking at website links.   What is “over-optimization?” Using keywords too much in title tags and content Links with anchor-text (the blue underline) focused around too few phrases Anything with your site’s link profile that does not show a narural amount of diversity (duplicate pages titles, inbound links only from press release sites, etc).   What is “Web Spam”? Link networks / schemes Links from de-indexed and banned websites, including old directories, blogs & article sites.   While the impact is supposed to be 1% of English queries, the effect is very large considering the number of Google keyword searches!   The approach we recommend is: 1. Protect Authority link building is the only protection against both negative SEO and Penguin penalties in general. Authority links are gained primarily from great content, promotion and involvement. One authority link can beat hundreds of spammy links in the algorithm of “the new Google”.   2. Defend Find and remove as many unnatural links as you can manually before disavowing the rest. Watch for “Negative SEO” campaigns where an unscrupulous competitor might be creating links to your site just to penalize you!   3. Build Over the long term, these strategies will also help protect from Google penalties, and are, of course, great marketing initiatives: Great content: Copy writing has gone through an evolution and cheap content is not going to cut it. Could it ever though? Promotion & Outreach for Social Media Marketing & Inbound Links: Since the web’s inception, much content has been posted with little regard to promotion. Social, link building, and other outreach initiatives are vital to maximize dollars spent on premium content. Brand Name Searches: Google knows big brands are searched. Their “buzz” is a signal of authority, although not yet on par with link building. User Engagement: Once a visitor is onsite, engage them. Keep their interest and involvement. Good design and excellent content have never been so important. Google has been watching this for some time. Multi-tiered approaches: Spread marketing dollars broadly across many initiatives. It creates a variety of signals to Google that you are legit.   Bing While Google+ is trying to understand social connections & influence from it’s own network, Bing is leveraging Klout. Bing has announced deeper integration with Klout and more control regarding how profiles show up.   Get a free link for your business: Would you like our monthly take on the changing world of SEO delivered to your inbox? Subscribe to the Hyper Dog Media SEO Newsletter HERE! When you subscribe, each newsletter will contain a link idea for your business! .

    Summary of Search, September 2013

    by

    Google announced that it rewrote pretty much it’s entire algorithm last month in that “unnamed update.” It’s the biggest change since 2001. Seventy percent of the Search Engine Results Pages were affected! Compare that to Penguin, in which something like 3 percent of SERPs were affected. The new Google algorithm is code-named “Hummingbird.” Many of the basics are the same: 1. Content should be accessible / easy to navigate for search engines. 2. Keywords should be properly tagged, with special boost to those using: a. Semantic markup b. Rich snippets c. Google authorship 3. Authoritative links According to one expert, “Quick SEO” is firmly in the past. We couldn’t agree more: Google has been strongly advocating this direction for some time. And the Panda/Penguin updates began steering the industry more than 2 years ago. Panda & Penguin aren’t going away: They are parts of the new algorithm and are likely to get additional updates in the future. Across our clients, we saw very little change. Certain keywords had light movement up or down on August 20, but not by much. If you follow Google’s rules, you don’t get hit.   WHAT’S NEW IN HUMMINGBIRD? 1. Mobile/Voice/Location queries Google expanded it’s ability to deal with mobile/voice & location based queries like: “What’s the closest place to buy the iPhone 5s?” They also have more comparisons showing via the “knowledge graph” for queries like: “space needle versus empire state building” 2. “Entity search” In keyword based queries of yesteryear (and even “yestermonth”), google sometimes couldn’t figure out queries like “windows replacement” and “windows 7 replacement”: Is it a PC user or a homeowner asking? Google is using a database of facts about specific, unique entities (people, places, businesses, events, etc) to figure out how to return the best results. Think about the broad keywords you are targeting, and consider how you can “talk around” these topics. 3. Hashtag search The only posts that will show up on Google searches are those that were shared publicly, or shared with you (if you’re a Google+ user). Clicking on one of the Google+ posts leads you to Google+ where the search is reproduced. There are also links at the bottom of the sidebar to perform the hashtag search over at twitter or facebook, but these are bumped below the fold in less than 2 seconds – as new Google+ posts fill the sidebar.   MOVING FORWARD: 1. Create content around your “entities” Engaging, shareable, linkable content is now more important than ever. Do you have every kind of content about your subject? Consider videos, images, lists, podcasts, infographics, and articles regarding the entities you want to be found for. These are likely your broad keywords, but don’t go too broad. 2. Tag content with semantic markup & rich snippets Google is smart, indeed. But semantic markup & rich snippets make it easy for Google to understand the correct answers for their users questions. Rich snippets have grown in importance, and are now “must have” for search engine visibility. While Google is still working out the kinks in authorship for brands, it’s becoming increasingly important that authorship be implemented. 3. Content Marketing Link Building & Social Media Marketing Having great content was never enough, and it still isn’t. There are more ways than ever to get the word out. Some will even help you win authority links.   Would you like our monthly take on the changing world of SEO delivered to your inbox? Subscribe to the Hyper Dog Media SEO Newsletter HERE!

    Summary of Search, August 2013

    by

    Summary of Search Is Google backward compatible? The previous advice from Google, given in their 2008 Starter Guide for SEO, is now “out the window.” Google previously recommended that the underlined text of a link (aka “anchortext”) contained keywords, but now finds that somewhat spammy. The new Google direction is all about authority link building, not keyword-focused link building. It’s nice to occasionally say: “There was only one major update this month in Google.” It’s an as-yet unnamed update that changed the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages) in a way similar to Penguin 1.0. Google did, however, roll-out out an exciting new feature with this update: Special placement in search results for “high-quality, in-depth content” that is properly tagged. See their example:   How do you take advantage of this special placement? Try this: Tag everything to make it easy for google to figure out: Use schema.org “article” markup: http://schema.org/Article Provide authorship markup: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/3280182 Include pagination markup, if applicable (rel=next and rel=prev) Create a Google Plus page, linked to your website: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/1708844 Provide information about your organization’s logo: (organization markup) http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2013/05/using-schemaorg-markup-for-organization.html Create compelling in-depth content (so easy, right?) Lengthy – Google has given no numbers, specifically, but we recommend text content of 1000-3000 words in length. Engaging – Google is likely looking at many metrics, including time on page, as signals of engagement. Popular – Content that is popular has inbound links, shares, likes, plus-ones, etc. And it probably has links to it from the site’s homepage or other important pages on the site. See more about the announcement at: http://insidesearch.blogspot.com/2013/08/discover-great-in-depth-articles-on.html Google is communicating about penalties much better than in the past, too: They have added a feature to Webmaster Tools which will alert webmasters if a manual penalty has been levied. Recent interviews have revealed that disavowed links are not stored. This means that old disavowed links must be included in every new batch submitted. Disavowing some links appears to be a normal part of modern SEO. Multiple reconsideration requests are okay, and are considered independently of past requests every time. Would you like our monthly take on the changing world of SEO delivered to your inbox?  Subscribe to the Hyper Dog Media SEO Newsletter HERE!

    Summary of Search, July 2013

    by

    Remember those tactics that worked so well? And what about the old recommendations in the webmaster guidelines? Well, it’s time to take another look at all of those tactics with the new Google! Google released a “multi-week update” that continued into July, but the “Panda Recovery Update” got far more interest. Google Panda has been heavy handed since it’s inception, and Google finally released a kinder, gentler version. Duplicate Content We see many different ways to deal with duplicate content. Based on results we have seen, we have this recommendation: Use canonical tags whenever possible to deal with duplicate content. Other methods like nofollow, noindex, and robots.txt are prone to leaks or are too aggressive. Despite many Google help articles recommending duplicate content be removed, Matt Cutts this month noted: “I wouldn’t stress about this unless the content that you have duplicated is spammy or keyword stuffing.” Over-Optimization We are seeing more penalties for on-page over-optimization since Penguin 2.  the good news is, they are easily reversed:     Diversify those title tags!     Limit yourself to 2 separators like the | (pipe) character in the title tag.     Do not repeat anything more than once in a title tag.     Do not use excessively long title tags. Try to stay between 60-69 characters.     Look in your code for hidden comments, and usage of keywords with a dash between them (URLs, image names, etc). Consider whether excessive. Authority Links With Google’s upcoming (and continued) emphasis on authority links, we recommend these long term strategies: Link Building for Business Development: Make connections that also build your Google rankings. Think trade shows, associations and resource pages. Content Marketing Link Building: Use compelling content to create brand awareness and links! Think videos, infographics and guest blogging. Would you like our monthly take on the changing world of SEO delivered to your inbox?  Subscribe to the Hyper Dog Media SEO Newsletter HERE!