Posts Tagged ‘SEO’
Tuesday, January 31st, 2012
When Google introduced its Panda update changes to its site ranking algorithm in February 2011, it immediately sent some spammy or content farm sites spiraling downward in Google search results. Later updates to Panda, which is intended to increase the quality of results searchers get, followed from April 2011 to the two in January 2012.
Following Panda, we noticed right away that fewer searches took us to those poorly written content farm sites with their twisted grammar and copy written primarily to attract clicks. Just about anyone involved with Search Engine Opitimization has to pay attention to how Google ranks sites.
Attempts to fool Google with so-called “black hat” SEO techniques have occasionally worked for a while, but result in business crushing downgrades when discovered, as retailer J.C. Penny learned the same month Panda was introduced. Panda continues to be a topic of wide discussion on blogs and tech sites and among SEO professionals and Internet marketers.
Killer Infographics created this to explain Panda in Plain English:
Single Grain – A Digital Marketing Agency
Tags: content farms, Google Panda, Google search algorithm update, Internet marketing, J.C. Penny, SEO
Posted in Google, infographic, Internet/New Media, Marketing | 3 Comments »
Thursday, January 5th, 2012
 SEO firm National Positions has published a new report, the “Top Internet Marketing Trends of 2012,” identifying what’s changing in the world of online marketing and how companies need to adapt to create more leads and boost sales.
Top 10 Internet Marketing Trends of 2012 are:
Number 1: Value Based Marketing. Companies will demand an Internet marketing strategy that shows tangible results. It’s not just about rankings and traffic; it’s about leads, sales & measurable results that prove ROI. Key Performance Indicators must be used to track the success of your company’s marketing campaign.
Number 2: Rich Snippets. Google will provide more information about your website to searchers without them having to click to the site. This hurts your marketing efforts because it reduces page views and makes your sales funnel a bit smaller.
Number 3: Vanishing Data. Google will hide more information about your website in Google Analytics. This makes will make it more challenging to sift through the pertinent data to find the Key Performance Indicators that matter.
Number 4: Mobile Marketing Grows Up. Mobile marketing will continue to grow at an amazing rate. Customers are now using mobile search to do their shopping, especially for local products and services. As a result, mobile optimized websites are going to be a necessity for your success. 71% of users search after seeing mobile ad, 53% purchase due to mobile search and 90% of mobile search results in action.
Number 5: The Rise of Local Search Marketing. Local search and Google Local in particular will be more important than ever. Google will continue to make local results a more crucial component of its search algorithm. As a result of so many mobile users looking for local products and services, mobile and local are intertwined. Thus, a new marketing strategy called “MoLo.” There are 4 Billion local searches on Google per month, 61% of all local searches result in a purchase, and 55% of consumers use their mobile device to buy local products/services.
Number 6: Social Media Merges With Search. Google+, the search giant’s new social network, will impact search engine rankings. As a result, Google+ is going to be a key part of your company’s SEO strategy in 2012. Overall, social engagement across all platforms is important for a balanced SEO campaign.
Number 7: Video Content Matters. Video is more important as the web moves mobile and becomes more interactive. Videos are now a bigger part of Google’s search results as Google learns to index video content. Videos account for 50% of all online traffic as of January 2012. Not only do videos boost your company’s visibility, but they promote engagement. Customers exposed to videos are 437% more likely to engage your brand.
Number 8: Don’t Let Others Tarnish Your Reputation. As the Internet becomes more valuable, so does your company’s online reputation. This is because your business can be harmed by the reviews and comments angry customers post online. 90% of consumers trust online reviews, and 78% search a company online before buying product or service.
Number 9: Nurture New Leads, Don’t Waste Them. As your online market becomes more competitive, leads are harder to come by and more valuable. Every lead must be nurtured via email marketing. This is because 50% of qualified leads aren’t ready to buy immediately after being contacted. Meanwhile, lead nurturing emails have 10x the response rate as do stand-alone email blasts.
Number 10: Your Linking Strategy Must Evolve for SEO. Linking remains a pillar of your search engine exposure, but link diversity is now more crucial than ever. Simple anchor text links must be replaced with varied anchor text links to look more natural and gain the approval of the search engine crawlers. Reciprocal linking, once shunned by the search engines, is now helpful if performed with the right link partners.
For more information on “The Top Internet Marketing Trends of 2012” see: www.nationalpositions.com.
Tags: linking strategy, local search marekting, mobile marketing, National Positions, rich snippets, SEO, top online marketing trends, vanishing data, video content
Posted in best practices, Business advice, Internet/New Media, Marketing, Studies, surveys, reports | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, January 4th, 2012
 Dave M. Mastovich As we kick off 2012, MaSSolutions offers these 12 New Year’s Marketing Resolutions to help you and your company:
- Embrace Social Media as part of your Marketing & PR strategy. Focus time on creating content relevant to your target audiences and on learning about your marketplace. Less Angry Birds and fun Facebook stuff, more content development and information gathering.
- p,Use LinkedIn as a resource for Pre Call Prep prospecting, networking and competitive analysis. The online professional network is a must for entrepreneurs, marketers and senior leaders.
- Build a keyword rich LinkedIn profile that tells your story and also enhances Search Engine Optimization.
- Instead of just signing up and following celebrities on Twitter, organize your followers by category and scan for valuable content. Retweet what you think is valuable and use other information to enhance your marketing and selling efforts.
- Develop a content strategy for Twitter. Decide what key messages you want to convey and develop a schedule to do so. Continually create an inventory of tweets to increase awareness and follower base.
- Use Facebook for more than pushing information out. Keep abreast of what interests key target audiences and create two way conversations by asking their opinion. Make customer success stories shareable. Address negative comments quickly and honestly.
- Contrary to what some may think, email isn’t dead and can be an important part of your marketing and selling strategy. Segment your target audiences and create email messages that show what’s in it for them.
- Commit to staying current with Social Media tools. It doesn’t have to be a huge time investment–an hour or two a week that’s convenient to you can make a big impact.
- The tenets of successful messaging apply to Social Media. Tell your story with clear and succinct messages that resonate with your target audiences and stay consistent with your overall brand.
- Make customers and employees an extended part of your Marketing Team. As Social Media becomes more a part of our lives, we use our online network to share opinions quickly and easily. Manage these relationships and leverage Social Media so customers and employees spread the good, rather than bad, word about products and services.
- Incorporate Mobile into your integrated marketing strategy. Online purchasing is moving to mobile. Google estimated 44% of last-minute holiday shopping came from smartphones or tablets. Mobile provides a great opportunity to market to unique, segmented audiences at or near their time of purchase.
- This year, make sure you live up to your New Year’ Marketing Resolutions.
David M. Mastovich, MBA is President of MASSolutions, an integrated marketing firm focused on improving the bottom line for clients through creative selling, messaging and PR solutions. He’s also author of “Get Where You Want To Go: How to Achieve Personal and Professional Growth Through Marketing, Selling and Story Telling.” For more information, go to www.massolutions.biz.
Tags: Angry Birds, David Mastovich, facebook, LinkedIn, LinkedIn marketing, marketing resolutions for 2012, SEO, social media marketing, Tiwtter, Twitter marketing
Posted in Angry Birds, best practices, Business advice, Facebook, Internet/New Media, Marketing, social media, TechLife, Twitter | Comments Off
Thursday, December 22nd, 2011
 So what gifts can you give your web site this holiday season? Killer Infographics came up with this infograpic to help you focus your attention on gifts that might keep giving you better site traffic all next year.
Mintleaf Web Design Studio
Tags: best practices, buttons, gifts you can give your website infographic, how to improve your website, images, Killer infographics, navigation, Security, SEO, typography, web site improvement tips, why carts are abandoned
Posted in best practices, Business advice, infographic, Internet/New Media, Marketing | Comments Off
Tuesday, November 22nd, 2011
 Shane Johnston, Capstrat VP By Allan Maurer
So, when you hear talk about digital marketing tactics, what term makes you roll your eyes and curse under your breath? That’s one of the questions communications agency Capstrat asked the marketing and technology pros who attended the recent TechMedia Internet Summit in Raleigh, NC.
“Far and away, of ten choices, they said QR codes,” says Shane Johnston, a vice president and account director at Capstrat. QR codes (Quick Response Codes are those bar codes you scan for information or to go to a web site). “A lot of people think they are overused and misused and don’t pay off,” Johnston adds.
In the survey, 23 percent said QR Codes caused the most eye-rolling, while 14.6 percent said social media, and 10.9 percent said SEO.
Capstrat received about 240 responses to its survey, a statistically significant number of the 1,800 or so people who attended the Internet Summit Nov. 15-16.
“We tried to keep it a bit entertaining and snarky,” Johnston says of the survey. It asked questions such as, “What trend is the next Justin Bieber-in its adolescence now but sure to hit its prime soon.
Mobile headed for prime time
No surprise there: 25.7 percent said “mobile marketing,” followed closely by “location-based marketing,” with 25.2 percent. “Only one vote separated the two,” Johnston notes.
 The 2011 Internet Summit in Raleigh filled the ballrooms at the Convention Center. Which tactic is the most misunderstood (the Kanye West of digital marketing, the survey suggests). Social media nabbed 28.3 percent of the votes there, with only analytics at 11.9 percent even close among the ten other choices.
Asked which marketing trend will fade like a fake tan in the next year, QR Codes again won the voting with 37.1 percent, followed by banner advertising at 25.9 percent.
Personally, we think banner advertising gets a bad rap. One of the things we hear from digital marketing experts and measurement firms such as comScore is that for certain campaigns (such as selling package goods), banner ads can be as effective as TV advertising in moving goods off store shelves.
One marketing expert who spoke at the event said, “You hear a lot of talk about people not clicking on banner ads, but if its an ad for something they’re looking for, they click on them.”
Which buzzword is most misused?
What would you respond if asked, “Which digital marketing buzzword do people – like that annoying intern – misuse all the time?”
Those responding to the survey said “cloud,” (25.7 percent), with “engagement” (18.9 percent), “thought-leadership” (16.7 percent) and “new media” (14.9 percent) also getting significant responses.
“What’s the bright shiny tactic your CEO keeps grabbing for? Survey said: Social media (24.5 percent) followed by analytics at 12.3 percent.
Ok marketing wizards, what new technological magic will transform digital marketing in the next two years? The Internet Summit attendees said “digital wallets,” (22.5 percent), mobile (19.3 percent) and new platforms (such as tablets), 19.8 percent.
After using our new Amazon Kindle Fire tablet for only a few days, we suspect new platforms may be a major factor, ourselves.
Bad news for traditional marketing
Here’s some bad news for print, TV and radio media. Asked if they could slash spending in one area, which they would choose, a whooping 41.7 percent said “traditional media.” But online media took its lumps too, because “banner ads” came in second at 25.5 percent.
A majority (20.3 percent) said that if they could, they would throw more money at customer relationship management (20.3 percent), analytics (18.9 percent) and social media (18.7 percent).
And finally, a result we applaud (can you hear me clapping?): most said their number one source of digital marketing news is online publications (37.4 percent) followed by blogs (21.8 percent) and soical media (22.7 percent).
Tags: Capstrat, cloud, Internet Summit, location-based marketing, mobile, SEO, Shane Johnston, social media, thought-leadership
Posted in Cloud, Events, Internet/New Media, IT, Studies, surveys, reports | 1 Comment »
Friday, November 11th, 2011
 Gary Vaynerchuk keynotes the 2011 Internet Summit in Raleigh next week, which is nearly sold-out. Fewer than 50 seats remain for next week’s Internet Summit, which is bringing hundreds of digital media and marketing thought-leaders to the Raleigh, NC Convention Center Nov. 15-16.
The event, which attracts a capacity crowd, offers take-away insight into social media marketing, search engine optimization, ecommerce trends, email marketing, we and mobile analytics, big data, cloud computing, startup fund-raising and much more.
You’ll have access to visionary thought leaders who will share their insight and experience with you. Hear from the founders of companies like Twitpic, TheLadders & HowStuffWorks! Not enough? How about a Keynote from Top rated SXSW keynote and ‘Social Media King’ Gary Vaynerchuk?
That’s just a sampling of the more than 120 speakers and presenters that will be on hand.
We interviewed just a handful of the many presenters. For a preview of what thought-leaders will be presenting at the event see:
The Internet Summit’s Talented Speakers & Presenters include:
- Gary Vaynerchuk, Co-Founder, VaynerMedia
- Marc Cendella, Founder & CEO, TheLadders
- Marshall Brain, Founder, HowStuffWorks
- David Payne, Chief Digital Officer, Gannett
- Noah Everett, Founder, TwitPic and Heello
- Ro Choy, COO, Formspring
- Liz Strauss, Co-founder, SOBcon & LizStrauss.com
- Brian Hitney, Developer Evangelist, Microsoft
- David Perry, Business Development Executive, Google
- Jack Krawczyk, Sr Product Marketing Mgr, StumbleUpon
- Traug Keller, Sr VP of Production, ESPN
- Catherine Cook, Co-Founder, myYearbook
- Eric Ranta, SVP of Value Engineering, SAP
- Micahel Cristinziano, VP Strategic Development, Citrix
- Doug Smith, Dir Product Management, Taleo
- Malin Huffman, Head of Product Development, NetSuite
- Jerry Cuomo, CTO WebSphere, IBM
- Lee Congdon, CIO, RedHat
- Jeff Ragovin, Chief Revenue Officer, Buddy Media
- Peggy Fry, Chief Revenue Officer, Clearspring Technologies
- Mike Relm, Founder, Relmvision
- Bob Young, Founder & CEO, Lulu.com
- Donna DeMarco, Co-Founder & VP, Viddler
- Emily Keye, Marketing Strategist, Bronto
- Tammy Gordon, Dir Social Communications & Strategy, AARP
- Markus, Renstrom, Head of SEO, Yahoo!
- Dr. Manuel Aparicio, CEO & Co-Founder, Saffon Technologies
- Julianna DeLua, Enterprise Solutions Evangelist, Informatica
- Tony Haile, General Manager, Chartbeat
- Ryan Mannion, Chief Technology Officer, Politico
- David Giambruno, SVP and CIO, Revlon
- Gaurav Howard, Sr. Dir Product Marketing, Marketo
- Michael Lubek, CIO, GE Global Applications
- Angela Connor, Social Media Manager, Capstrat
- Ryan Allis, CEO, iContact
- Prerna Gupta, CEO, Khush
- Kevin Dando, Dir Digital & Education Communication, PBS
- Clint Smith, Co-Founder & CEO, Emma
- Matt Crenshaw, VP of Marketing, Discovery Communications
- Scott Gunter, VP of User Experience, Usability Sciences
- Lindsay Wassell, Partner & Consultant, KeyphraSEOlogy
- Steve Ashley, VP Internet Marketing, Market America
- Dennis Gullitto, APM Product Marketing Manager, Compuware
- Scott Baker, Sr. Mgr Virtualization & Cloud Engineering, NetApp
- Jeramiah Dooley, vArchitect, VCE/Cisco Virtualization
- Gerard Bush, Chief Creative Dir, The brpr Group
- Ted McDonald, Analyst, Verisign
- Rob Ousbey, VP Operations Seattle, Distilled
- David Gudai, VP of Marketing, Storkie
- Glenn Mersereau, Dir of Internet Marketing, PHE
- Jim Tobin, President, Ignite Social Media
- Kevin Pomplun, CEO, SkyGrid
- Sherry Bastion, Web Creative Director, Lenovo
- John Lovett, Sr Partner, Web Analytics Demystified
- Drew Diskin, Dir of Interactive & Web Strategy, Penn Medicine
- Lynette Montgomery, VP Ecommerce, Burt’s Bees
- Noah Dinkin, Co-Founder & President, FanBridge
- Jessica Bowman, SEOinhouse.com
- Todd Moy, Sr User Experience Designer, Viget Labs
- Donna Bedford, Global SEO Lead, Lenovo
- Francis Shepherd, Media Evangelist
- Dallas Lawrence, Chief Digital Strategist, Burson-Marsteller
- Karen Albritton, President, Capstrat
- Thuy LeDihn, Senior Marketing Manager, .ORG
- Adam Covati, Co-founder & CTO, Argyle Social
- Kyle Scott Richardson, Social Media, NC National Guard
- Cara Rousseau, Social Media Manager, Duke University
- Loren Baker, VP of Marketing, Blueglass
- Matthew Muñoz, Partner & Chief Design Officer, New Kind
- Jill Whalen, CEO, HighRankings
- Jason Caplain, General Partner, Southern Capitol Ventures
- David Heaney, Senior Associate, TomorrowVentures
- John Lawrence, Partner & CFO, Longworth Venture Partners
- Brooks Raiford, CEO, NCTA
- Roger Krakoff, Managing Partner, Cloud Capital Partners
- Charles Nicholls, Chief Strategy Officer, SeeWhy
- Jeff Campbell, VP & Co-Founder, Resolution Media
- Gary Storr, Business Architect & Solutions, Nortel
- Jeff Spivey, VP Board of Directors, ISACA
- Doug Hanna, CEO, A Small Orange
- Lisa, Braziel, Strategy Director, Ignite Social Media
- William Blackmon, CEO, LinkMein
- Chris Condayan, Public Outreach, Am Society for Microbiology
- Kyle Scott Richardson, Dir of Social Media, NC National Guard
- Jill Carlson, Marketing Manager, Argyle Social
- John Lane, VP Strategy & Creative, Centerline Digital
- Michael , Gowan, Associate Dir of Web Strategy, Duke Medicine
- Dana Kirchman, SVP Head of Client Operations, Lumi Mobile
Internet Summit is an outstanding learning experience mixed with prime networking opportunities and entertaining keynotes.
There’s even 5 additional hours of intense session digging deep into Social Media, SEO & Search, User Experience & Design and Analytics when you add the pre-conference to your registration.
Tags: AARP, Buddy Media, Capstrat, chartbeat, Clearspring Technologie, cloud computing, David Payne, David Perry, ecommerce trends, email marketing, ESPN, Gannett, Gary Vaynerchuk, Google, Howstuffworks, Internet Summit, Khush, Marshall Brain, measuring social, Microsoft, mobile presence, myYearbook, NC, NetSuite, Noah Everett, online advertising, paid search, Politico, Raleigh, Red Hat, reputation management, SAP, SEO, social media marketing, startup strategies, TheLadders, Twitpic, usability, web & mobile analytics, Yahoo
Posted in Amazon, Apple, best practices, Business advice, Carolinas, Cisco, Cloud, Education, entrepreneurship, Events, Facebook, games, Government/Defense, Internet/New Media, IT, Legal, LinkedIn, Marketing, Microsoft, Mobile, mobile games, North Carolina, smartphones, social media, Studies, surveys, reports, Tech Culture, TechLife, Telecommunications, video, Viewpoint | Comments Off
Friday, November 11th, 2011
 Last year, Google completed its Google Caffeine update, which allowed for a far faster indexing ability for new content across the web. Now, Google claims to be building on that update by introducing a new algorithmic improvement which will decide when a search request requires a more updated, or “fresher”, results page.
This new update affects about 35% of searches, but as Google has also reported, that means there may be just one or two different result listings in 35% of searches. Bottom line: the average searcher will probably not notice the change, but websites with a large online presence may see a significant gain or loss in their rankings.
For another take on this see: Google’s SSL change
As one might expect, some of the “winners” of this algorithm change include news sites and online retailers. However, we are surprised to see pizza chains and communications companies among those who came out on top:
|
|
| Domain |
SEO Visibility 10/30/2011 |
SEO Visibility 11/06/2011 |
Percent |
|
| last.fm |
1.232.115 |
1.386.908 |
12,56 |
|
| overstock.com |
774.752 |
814.747 |
5,16 |
|
| lonelyplanet.com |
377.565 |
412.446 |
9,24 |
|
| rockhall.com |
36.387 |
62.61 |
72,07 |
|
| marthastewart.com |
147.258 |
170.392 |
15,71 |
|
| wikiquote.org |
292.471 |
315.054 |
7,72 |
|
| dominos.com |
65.37 |
86.572 |
32,43 |
|
| papajohns.com |
81.411 |
101.561 |
24,75 |
|
| squidoo.com |
386.806 |
406.93 |
5,20 |
|
| soundcloud.com |
211.331 |
229.032 |
8,38 |
|
| playstation.com |
159.381 |
176.529 |
10,76 |
|
| comcast.com |
170.841 |
187.415 |
9,70 |
|
| hotels.com |
195.153 |
210.944 |
8,09 |
|
| vzw.com |
40.428 |
54.978 |
35,99 |
|
| guitarcenter.com |
89.295 |
103.49 |
15,90 |
|
| cox.com |
80.679 |
91.86 |
13,86 |
|
| buy.com |
152.926 |
163.761 |
7,09 |
|
| citibank.com |
109.88 |
120.652 |
9,80 |
|
| scottrade.com |
22.257 |
32.891 |
47,78 |
|
| aim.com |
67.757 |
77.448 |
14,30 |
|
| southwestvacations.com |
18.632 |
27.985 |
50,20 |
|
| boostmobile.com |
31.092 |
39.996 |
28,64 |
|
| hawaiianair.com |
27.076 |
35.97 |
32,85 |
|
| nationalcar.com |
17.583 |
26.454 |
50,45 |
|
| skype.com |
89.053 |
97.38 |
9,35 |
|
| garmin.com |
62.918 |
71.229 |
13,21 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Just as with the “winning” sites, those sites on the losing end also came from diverse industries, and some news sites were also unexpectedly included:
|
|
| Domain |
SEO Visibility 10/30/2011 |
SEO Visibility 11/06/2011 |
Percent |
|
| comcast.net |
367.672 |
283.036 |
-23,02 |
|
| state.ny.us |
204.599 |
151.322 |
-26,04 |
|
| univision.com |
117.392 |
65.72 |
-44,02 |
|
| usmagazine.com |
254.976 |
210.329 |
-17,51 |
|
| newseum.org |
95.132 |
58.367 |
-38,65 |
|
| the570.com |
50.775 |
23.214 |
-54,28 |
|
| americanexpress.com |
132.096 |
109.808 |
-16,87 |
|
| lyricspick.com |
49.287 |
29.36 |
-40,43 |
|
| capitalone.com |
112.678 |
95.609 |
-15,15 |
|
| peoplestylewatch.com |
63.439 |
48.143 |
-24,11 |
|
| Realtor.org |
44.23 |
30.849 |
-30,25 |
|
| jezebel.com |
76.736 |
63.698 |
-16,99 |
|
| plentyoffish.com |
43.898 |
30.987 |
-29,41 |
|
| radioshack.com |
54.039 |
41.279 |
-23,61 |
|
| gizmag.com |
54.231 |
41.63 |
-23,24 |
|
| anandtech.com |
50.435 |
37.963 |
-24,73 |
|
| independent.co.uk |
67.858 |
55.691 |
-17,93 |
|
| cpsc.gov |
73.974 |
62.175 |
-15,95 |
|
| nj.gov |
78.117 |
66.367 |
-15,042 |
|
| stylelist.com |
26.766 |
15.038 |
-43,817 |
|
| justinbieberzone.com |
35.292 |
23.903 |
-32,271 |
|
| shoplocal.com |
53.484 |
42.522 |
-20,496 |
|
| hamstersoft.com |
28.616 |
17.74 |
-38,007 |
|
| bncollege.com |
53.543 |
42.925 |
-19,831 |
|
| mbnanetaccess.com |
62.795 |
52.32 |
-16,681 |
|
| blogger.com |
50.426 |
40.172 |
-20,335 |
|
| netscape.com |
52.276 |
42.035 |
-19,59 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
This update is one of the major ways Google is attempting to make their results as relevant as possible for users, and also to keep one more step ahead innovations from competitors such as the Yahoo!-Bing Search Alliance. It also offers another reason why website owners must stay on top of search engine behavior and changes.
Tags: americanexpress.com, comcast.net, Google Caffeine update, Google search algorithm update, Last.fm, lonelyplanet.com, newseum.org, overstock.com, search engine opitmization, SEO, state.ny.us, univision.com, usmagazine.com, winners and losers from Google update
Posted in Google, Internet/New Media, IT, Studies, surveys, reports | Comments Off
Tuesday, October 11th, 2011
 TechMedia’s Internet Summit is bringing 120 digital media, marketing and business mavens to the Raleigh, NC, Convention Center Nov. 15-16, but discounted early registration for the event, which is shaping up as the largest ever, ends this Friday, Oct. 14.
With more than 75 individual presentations, 5 forward looking panels, and keynotes by NY Times best-selling author & ‘Social Media King’ Gary Vaynerchuk and Gowalla co-founder Josh Williams the event promises to give your business savvy a boost.
Over 120 industry innovators and thought leaders from prime brands like Google, Microsoft, ESPN, StumbleUpon and many more, will be on hand to share their insight, spark new ideas, and expand your understanding on issues and topics that matter to you.
The Internet Summit expects nearly 2,000 attendees at Internet Summit 2011 making it the largest Digital, Media & Tech Conference in the Southeast — offering you unparalleled opportunities to connect and network with your peers and business colleagues.
Tags: 2011 Internet Summit, discounted early registration, ESPN, Events, Gary Vaynerchuk, Google, Gowalla, Josh Williams, marketing savvy, Microsoft, NC, Raleigh, SEO, StumbleUpon
Posted in Amazon, Apple, Blogging, Business advice, Carolinas, Cloud, Education, entrepreneurship, Events, games, Google, Hardware, Internet/New Media, IT, LinkedIn, Mobile, North Carolina, Tech Culture, TechLife, Telecommunications, Twitter, video | Comments Off
Wednesday, August 31st, 2011
 Simon Heseltine By Allan Maurer
WASHINGTON, DC – AOL has an enormous amount of content posting daily, including the Huffington Post, and it wants as many hits on each story as possible. The man in charge of AOL’s search engine optimization efforts, Simon Heseltine, says one key is adaptability. “Working in SEO is a constant education,” he says.
“You have to keep your finger on everything all the time. Google changes its (SEO) algorithm daily. Some changes are minor, some very noticeable. But change is inevitable and it can change very quickly.”
People figure out how the algorithm is ranking stories and take advantage of it, resulting in once but no longer successful tactics such as keyword stuffing. Google not only changes the algorithm daily, tweaking it, the company also runs Panda from time to time. The initial run knocked out a lot of content farms relying on SEO tricks instead of high quality content.
Heseltine, a director of search at a DC agency prior to joining AOL, writes a regular column for SearchEngineWatch.com on a variety of topics within the marketing industry, and has previously written for other industry sites, such as SearchEngineLand.com (for their in-house marketing column). Simon teaches SEO at Georgetown University in Washington D.C. as part of their Digital Media Management program.
Will discuss how social affects SEO at Digital East
He is among dozens of Internet, digital media, social media, and marketing experts who are participating in Tech Media’s Digital East conference at Tysons Corner, VA, Sept. 28-29. He will discuss the effects of social media on AOL’s SEO efforts at the event.
We asked him to share four quick SEO tips with us.
Four SEO tips
Make sure the search engines can crawl your site
First, he says, “Make sure your site is crawlable (by search engine spiders). It’s amazing how many sites the engines can’t actually crawl because of a mistake with the site’s architecture or robo settings preventing the engines from crawling it.” This is no joke.
WordPress, the blogging system bringing you the TechJournal and tens of thousands of other blogs online, has a privacy setting that has to be checked to allow search engines. When we shifted from a different content management system to WordPress, it was not turned on immediately and of course led to a serious loss of traffic.
“When people move from a staging site to production, a lot of people forget to move the site to public so the engines can crawl it,” Heseltine says.
Find the right key words
Second: “Make sure you type in the right key words. Find out what people are looking for that is relevant to your story and make sure that’s what you target.”
Use key words
Third: “Make sure you use those key words in the headline and the content.
Link to yourself -
And fourth, “Make sure you link to yourself.” By that he means link to your site’s previous content to “spread readers around your site.” There are software products that will help do that. It is otherwise a time-consuming to do by hand. We have noticed that we get hits on that past content when we link to it in newer stories, however, so it does work.
Heseltine doesn’t stop there. “This is important,” he adds. “Write for readers, not for search engines.”
Regarding social media and SEO, which he will discuss more fully at Digital East, Heseltine says, “Even if you are not going to use a particular social network now, reserve your name on them. You don’t want spoofing (where a third party grabs the name and posts using it).
He also offers a warning: “If anyone out there is actually looking for an SEO company and you see a “guarantee” they can get you into the top five or ten results, run, don’t walk to the nearest exit. With all the changes the engines make, no one can guarantee to get you in the top five or ten.”
He didn’t say this, but even if they can, if the company uses so-called “black hat SEO” tactics, they’ll eventually get caught and your company’s Internet rankings may suffer accordingly – which is what happened to retail giant JC Penney.
Tags: AOL, Black Hat SEO, Google SEO algorithm, Huffington Post, JC Penney, Panda, SEO, SEO guarantees, Simon Heseltine, tips on SEO
Posted in best practices, Business advice, Events, Internet/New Media, Marketing | 6 Comments »
Wednesday, July 27th, 2011
 James Schramko Ever since Google Plus’ beta entry into social media networking in June, the world’s largest search engine provider has been busy incorporating its new platform onto the web. Sydney-based internet marketer James Schramko, who has been experimenting with Google+ since day one, says that Google is integrating social media into search engine optimization. He explains:
“Google is trying to improve user experience through the +1 button. The number of pluses an article receives, for example, helps Google to determine the quality of the content and thus give the site a better rank. It is similar to the Facebook Like button in a sense that your friends can see what you’ve +1′d.
But that’s not all. Those in your circles can now see a small image of you immediately within the search results, which is a fantastic way of associating oneself with content you deem of value. The image is a compelling enough reason for friends to check out whatever it is you’ve +1′d.”
The report further indicates that the Google’s new network is the fastest growing social media platform to date. However, users accessing Google+ only spend an average of just under six minutes on the site per visit which still isn’t anywhere close to Facebook’s 22 minutes.
Users Not ready to leave Facebook
According to Schramko, these statistics show that users aren’t ready to leave Facebook just yet, though Google is slowly handing out compelling reasons to give solid FB fans something to consider.
James says “Google has included a stunning feature which will associate an author with content he posted by displaying an author profile on the right of the search engine results. This makes it easier to establish authority on the web. This is definitely something worth integrating if you’re in the online business.”
Responses to Google+ is mixed, according to experts. Not everyone welcomes the idea of having to painstakingly transfer all contacts from one platform to another, says Schramko, especially since Facebook has blocked tools that would make migration to Google+ a lot easier.
“Facebook’s move is understandable. They are, for the first time, experiencing what it is like to have a heavy contender. For us users this can only mean one thing – better services. It is good to have competition – the best in us usually surfaces when our existence is threatened,” Schramko says.
More on James Schramko and tips on online marketing at www.InternetMarketingSpeed.com
Tags: Google, Google incorporating SEO in Google+, James Schramko, SEO
Posted in Google, Internet/New Media, Viewpoint | Comments Off
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