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.