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    Jim Kreinbrink

    Summary of Search, January 2013

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    Summary of Search, January 2013 It’s almost been 2 years since the first Google Panda update, and it looks like there is a new update about every 4 weeks now. Update 24 was released on Jan 22nd, impacting 1.2% of English queries. Branding and Content Other updates have included a “brand signal update” on the 17th. Some felt this update more than the Panda update 5 days later! Image search Google rolled out changes to their image search interface, touting these changes as better for webmasters. The consensus among webmasters has been that visitors from image search are down, and that’s not a good thing. Google hasn’t been forthcoming in how this was to help – were they trying to help reduce server bandwidth?! At any rate, Google is not likely to change image search interface back. Moving Forward Businesses expect perhaps less marketing over time, that there will be efficiencies and even possibly a “maintenance mode” for online marketing. With the new Google, nothing could be further from the truth: 1. Google continues to reward branding expertise, social signals, and authority linking. 2. Even larger brands have to pay ever more attention to their technical SEO. No longer can duplicate content or thin content be overlooked. 3. Google expects sites that engage users: Videos, images, animations, and other forms of engaging media are important in the new Google. New SEO Approaches: If you have a content creation initiative (or can get one started), our Content Marketing Link Building is the best way to go. If not, see our Business Development SEO Cycle. 1. “Content Marketing” Link Building cycle: KW Research Help with analysis. Content Creation Integrate/tag with keywords, as well as connect you with copywriters. Content Publishing Make sure content being posted is being indexed by search engines. Content Sharing & Distribution Get content indexed, and create links to the content to build authority. Share and distribute to maximize link authority. Campaign measurement Provide analysis, always optimizing the approach. 2.”Business Development” SEO cycle: KW Research Send possible link ideas every month, based on your keyword targets and industry. Business Development Link Building Provide possible sponsorships, “hub pages” in your vertical, and related conversations in forums and blogs. Link Contact Information Provide the best contact/submission info, which can be as hard to find as the link! Link Outreach Strategies Suggest approach, based on our experience in link outreach. For companies, link outreach is best done in-house – but let us know if you need us to do the outreach instead. Campaign measurement Our end-of-month reports will help measure and optimize the approach for each next month.

    Summary of Search December 2012

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    In 2011, Google said they wouldn’t make large changes around the Holidays. This year, all bets are off. Google released Panda update 23 on December 21, impacting 1.3% of English queries. Another change Google made on December 13 attracted quite a bit of attention. Google could not confirm there was an update, but the most logical assessment might be seomoz’s idea that it was a “PMD update” affecting domains that partially used their targeted keywords. Last month, we summarized 3 kinds of content that Google Panda updates penalize: Scraped content, thin content that isn’t unique, other forms of duplicate content. Befriending Google Panda 1. Improve the site’s text content Remove all lower quality content. Invest in good copywriting, written for prospects instead of search engines. Copy should connect with the right audience, solving problems and informing them. Keywords should be used naturally, prominently, but not according to any specific density formulas. If you need help finding a copywriter, let us know: We recommend Laurie Macomber at Blue Skies Marketing. 2. Fix the site. Broken links, grammatical errors, misspellings, and other aspects of the site must be fixed. 3. Enhance the “richness” of the site. Use internal links to communicate keyword relevance. Videos, images, animations and other forms of media can also communicate relevance. Google’s Penguin update SERoundtable recently conducted a Penguin Recovery Poll: 94% Of Google Penguin Victims Did Not Fully Recover http://www.seroundtable.com/google-penguin-poll-16162.html 81% said they had no recovery while 13% claim a partial recovery and only 6% claim a full recovery. That is based on over 500 responses to our poll. Disavowing links 1. Disavowing links may be seen as a confession. Consider carefully before using the tool. 2. If your site only has spammy links, do not disavow them: You will have no links. Bing snapshot is much like Google’s knowledge graph. Google’s weakness appears to be freshness of data, but only time will tell which service has the most accurate up-to-date answers at the top of SERPs.

    The month in Search

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    There haven’t been any Penguin updates this last month, but Google Panda 3.9.1 happened on August 20, 2012. We didn’t see any impact to most client rankings. Penguin v1.2 update is still expected to happen any day now, and (Google Spokesperson) Matt Cutts says to expect a bumpy ride. The early revisions of Panda were wild and somewhat “wooly”. Is page 1 top 7 now?! Around mid-month, Google started showing only 7 results, and from fewer sites, for a good chunk of queries(Estimated: 18%). Page 1 now means “top 7” for many searches. The percentage of users clicking through from positions 8-10 has been negligible in most studies, but this is a major change in how results are displayed and another clear departure from the 10 blue links of yesteryear. Change is the rule Rankings are more volatile than ever. One SEO shared: “Something like 80% of the Top 10 SERPs we measure change every night, to some degree.” On August 10, Google posted 86 changes they made in June and July. Many were small, but those of interest to us involve the boosting of “trusted sites” (usually means large brands) as well as changes to sitelinks. The new clustering and boosting of trusted sites is often creating monopolies for larger brands. Google used to only show 2-3 links maximum from the same website. Now it is possible for larger brands to dominate the top 7 or 8 results. “Transition Rank” Patent Application Google has a new patent application regarding “transition rank.” It’s aimed at punishing Black Hat SEO techniques through random ranking changes: “Some of the techniques used by rank-modifying spammers include keyword stuffing, invisible text, tiny text, page redirects, META tags stuffing, and link-based manipulation.” Many SEOs are speculating this has been part of the algorithm for some time.

    July 2012 Changes in the World of Search Marketing

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    There weren’t any Penguin updates this month, but a couple of Panda updates to “refresh”. Google makes these updates and claims 1% of queries are affected. It sounds small, but is actually billions of queries. Google has in the past used a team of Quality Raters to examine certain search engine results pages, and has expanded that concept to regular web users. There are recent sightings of Google popups asking about the quality of the results. This could be tied into Google+, and could become a powerful social search feature over time. Google Penguin is perhaps a greater threat than Google Panda lately, and a Google Penguin Update v1.2 is likely coming soon. While Google Panda targets thin and low value content, Google Penguin targeted content and links that have been over-optimized. Google Penguin seems to penalize: Over optimization, where keywords are used too much on a page or site. “Spammy links”, like comments on blogs/forums that don’t seem relevant. Anchortext of links that is too homogenous. Links from spam/malware/bad neighborhood sites Footer links In order to Penguin-proof future Google rankings, we are recommending diversifying links in these areas: Diversity in anchor text Branded anchor text Diversity in the kinds of links acquired. Balance low and high PageRank links. Mix in some image links and nofollow links too. Google just last week said they do not look at how many nofollow links a site though. We have seen nofollow links as well as 302 redirects showing up in webmaster tools lately. So there may be changes in the works as to how Google deals with these. Since Google Penguin Update actually penalizes websites for links that may have not been created by them, for them, or for their best interests – the “Negative SEO” industry is getting quite a boost. Some SEO companies are also offering “link pruning” services, where they take the time consuming task of contacting websites to ask them to STOP linking – with varying results. Bing, for it’s part, has created a tool to disavow bad links. Google is said to be working on a similar feature in Google Webmaster Tools.

    Denver Search Engine Optimization Meetup – Don’t Miss!

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    The Denver Search Engine Optimization Meetup is launching 2010 with a bang. The meetup has grown substantially over the last two years, and is collaborating with two other meetups for the January 21, 1010 event. The Denver SEMPO Meetup is hosting a presentation from Todd Barrs of Spyglass, LLC (a local Conversion Optimization Consultant). This event will also be  the start of a new Denver/Boulder Conversion Optimization January Meetup , to cover website conversion topics every month. From the meetup page: Join us at the January Denver SEMPO meetup for a fantastic introduction to conversion optimization! Google’s introduction of Website Optimizer in 2006 has since increased the awareness and availability of conversion testing in the marketplace. Yet, so many organizations still fail to harness the power that a properly executed conversion strategy can bring to a website. Successful conversion strategies begin with a thorough customer analysis, and the alignment of website goals with visitors’ needs. Hope to see you there! Jim Kreinbrink

    Denver SEO Meetup – 1 Year Anniversary

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    It’s been one whole year since our President Jim Kreinbrink founded the Denver SEO Meetup. We have now had 13 meetups, with 119 members and growing. Expectations about the number and types of SEOs we’d meet have been exceeded, as noted Denver SEO professionals large and small have attended. Among our top lessons: 1. We have great synergies with attendees from related industries Several great contributors to the Denver SEO Meetup aren’t even SEOs – they are affiliate or internet marketing professionals from the Denver/ Boulder area. Or SEO folks looking to hire/ be hired. While the group is targeted toward full-time SEO professionals, it’s been a happy accident that we’ve also attracted so many other great members. 2. Denver Web Designers and Webmasters attend, expecting a learning group Several webmasters have attended or joined the group, and left disappointed when free SEO training wasn’t offered. All Denver SEO experts started as beginners at some point, but the meetup is really targeted toward socializing – not educating. Unfortunately, there have been hurt feelings. We have heard the cries, and are working in conjunction with Colorado SEMPO to provide a mixture of educational programs in addition to this social event. 3. SEOs like beer, wine and socializing, not laser tag The Denver SEO meetup was initially a lasertag group. Of one. It didn’t take long to figure out that should change. 4. Denver SEOs are normal people. Even the “Black Hats”. Especially the “Black Hats”. Denver SEOs have families, pet sites, hobbies, etc. Even the black hats. More than just search engine optimization rules their worlds. Some of the best SEO conversations have started about families, pets, travel, and things without any acronyms whatsoever. If you are a Denver SEO Firm, search marketing agency, SEO freelancer – or a curious Black Hat – consider this an invitation to join the group. To socialize, network, and relax a little. Hope to see you there!