Webmasters and SEO staff who feel wrongly penalised by the keyword stuffing Penguin update can now report their concerns to Google.
Engineer Matt Cutts has tweeted a link for webmasters to flag problems with the Penguin search engine update – accepting that some genuine, honest sites have been negatively affected by the algorithm tweak.
The post gives people the chance to flag sites which are now ranking well, despite being full of nasty spam, as well as providing a feedback form for those who felt their site suffered unfairly after the launch.
Google search engine updates are released regularly to improve search results for users. That involves a series of complex algorithm changes designed to weed out those who use unfair tactics to manipulate the search rankings.
The latest tweak, Penguin, has directly targeted sites utilising keyword stuffing strategies. The ramifications for Internet marketing are clear: focus on natural, quality content.
Webspam sites usually have huge paragraphs of random keywords, odd hyperlinks jammed into unrelated content, or hidden text boxes full of key phrases.
Google recognises that many ‘white hat’, genuine SEOs can struggle to rank against these webspam sites – so Penguin was designed to level the playing field. It was also supposed to give websites who haven’t dabbled in search engine optimisation the chance to rank for their selected keywords.
Many websites reported huge Google ranking losses after Penguin launched on April 24. Three days later, Google has tweeted a link for webmasters to flag sites which they think were unfairly downranked.
The form requests a sample URL for the affected website, associated search queries, and a comments box for feedback. You can access the form here.
Everyone agrees that improving the quality of information on the Internet is a good thing. Those firms employing high-quality SEO copywriters shouldn’t have been affected by this update. Adhering to Google’s best practice guidelines for search engine optimisation minimises the chances of being negatively affected by its search engine updates.
It’s simply a question of playing fair.
News brought to you by ClickThrough – a best practice Internet Marketing Agency.
Google’s latest webspam algorithm tweak now has a name: the Penguin update.
The search engine has tweaked its system to try to weed out sites using webspam to manipulate the rankings.
But the update has seen many genuine sites downranked, with some less genuine ones suddenly appearing nearer the top of the results pages.
Some SEOs have dubbed the update ‘Titanic’ – in a cheeky nod to the way it has sunk strong sites.
Those Internet marketing firms affected by Penguin (of which, ClickThrough Marketing is not one), are now working on ways to re-establish sites that got hit by Penguin – whilst attempting to understand what factors Google is using to differentiate between quality content, and spam.
Introducing the update, Matt Cutts, from Google, said the idea was to level the search engine optimisation playing field – to penalise sites with huge swathes of keywords on a page (known as ‘keyword stuffing’), and those using link building schemes to fake veracity.
Google’s last big update like this was Panda – an equally cute animal name for an equally harsh update. Panda was designed to look at the quality of web content – meaning sites using ‘spinning software’ to robotically generate content would be found out, and lose ranking as a result.
Panda smashed through a host of previously well-ranked sites: many article repository sites were affected (due to the fact quality control on such huge volumes of copy is nigh-on impossible).
Using automatic means to verify the quality of content can be a difficult thing to rely on – and obviously, some genuine sites would be negatively affected, whilst some less genuine ones would see a boost.
Anyone working in SEO is acutely aware that Google is forever moving the goalposts. The vicious circle will no doubt continue, running along the lines of: Google releases an update, websites lose ranking, webmasters find a new way to increase ranking, Google releases another update, websites lose ranking… and so on and so on.
As time goes on, the indifferences caused by these updates will be rebalanced – especially if quality site owners continue to produce quality content. At least, until the next raft of search engine updates.
News brought to you by ClickThrough – experts in SEO, PPC, Multilingual Search Marketing and Website Conversion Enhancement services.
Internet marketing companies and search engine optimisation experts are poring over their websites today, after Google released its latest algorithm changes, designed to weed out “webspam” sites which manipulate search rankings.
Google’s latest tweak will punish sites using dirty tactics to trick search spiders – such as keyword stuffing
Most reputable SEO companies use “white hat” techniques for search engine optimisation and Internet marketing. But various nefarious webmasters ride roughshod over their good work: creating unnatural copy which reads like a random selection of words, or stuffing completely unrelated keyword links into articles.
“Good” SEO involves a mix of techniques – including ensuring onsite copy contains the right keywords in the right volume, writing the right title tags and descriptions, and a mix of regular, quality content updates; meaningful blog posts and newsworthy press releases.
Inbound links are another metric Google uses for PageRank – based on the premise that users will happily share links to sites which host trustworthy, valuable and informative content. Sites full of spammy rubbish clearly wouldn’t be linked as they are useless.
Linkbuilding schemes are a relatively complex area, but a good strategy will ensure the right websites for your industry are hosting links to your content. “Bad” linkbuilding schemes include buying backlinks from random sites, or participating in link schemes where vast swathes of sites backlink to each other in a bid to dupe Google’s algorithm.
It seems Google is actually manually reviewing sites which its algorithm has flagged as having “unnatural links”. Around one-million messages have been sent to webmasters who Google suspects have dabbled in black hat link schemes. The fact Google has done this send-out manually shows how important it is to get this right: webmasters who’ve built links with great content may still be flagged by the robotic algorithm – human review checks whether the spiders were right.
The latest update will see these “bad” SEO practices penalised – so sites who use honest, white hat techniques don’t get pushed down the rankings by cheats.
“The change will decrease rankings for sites that we believe are violating Google’s existing quality guidelines,” said Google engineer Matt Cutts in a blog post. “We’ve always targeted webspam in our rankings, and this algorithm represents another improvement in our efforts to reduce webspam and promote high quality content… our advice to webmasters is to focus on creating high quality sites that create a good user experience.”
News brought to you by ClickThrough – specialists in Search Engine Optimisation and Internet Marketing.
The world of Internet marketing is constantly changing: and the lead player in search marketing, Google, often drives these changes, whether webmasters want them or not.
For the end user, most Google tweaks result in a better search experience: for SEO staff, though, it can be a minefield of checks and changes to maintain ranking.
Google updates have the propensity to panic webmasters. The last big change, the Panda update, was met with alarm and confusion, and a pinch of disappointment. Panda was designed to weed out “poor” content – stuff that Google didn’t see as relevant, well-written, trustworthy, or original content was suddenly wiped out the search results overnight.
For sites with a good search engine optimisation strategy, the change made little difference. For others, who had perhaps built ranking through more questionable means, the game was up.
And this is where the good side of Google’s tweaks are clear: no search user wants to land on a site which claims to give trustworthy advice or information, only to find it’s actually entirely made-up, untrustworthy or stolen copy which is ranking because it’s spammier than a ham sandwich.
Article repository sites felt the pinch of Panda the most – they’d previously enjoyed excellent ranking based on hosting a huge amount of third-party content, covering topics from “How to clean your car engine” to “How to wire a plug”.
The problem was, the volume of third-party content made it virtually impossible to fact-check. And so, whilst a site may have had a percentage of excellent, informative and original content, those third-party pieces which were plagiarised, poorly produced or irrelevant, and uploaded without checks, would have dragged their ranking down.
Panda stepped in to do the user’s job for them: recognise poor quality, spammy results, and hide them.
Now, the game is about to change again – as Google looks to weed out sites which have put search engine optimisation over user optimisation.
Matt Cutts, Google’s spam chief, already revealed algorithm changes were afoot which would be able to tell if a site was “overly optimised” in order to achieve a good Google rank. These sites, Cutts said, would be penalised for “playing the game” instead of providing meaningful, useful content – helping to “level the playing field” for honest sites who struggled to rank against spammy, but less relevant, competitors.
The other thing with Google, though, is that they like surprises: whilst Cutts revealed the update was on the horizon, he didn’t spell out exactly what constituted “over-optimisation”.
Webmasters, then, have been left to fill in the gaps – using their existing knowledge of SEO strategy to separate what might be classed as a gentle SEO tweak to a full-on trick.
It’s likely Google could look at a range of SEO factors – some may be penalised more heavily than others. Spammy articles with unnaturally high keyword density are likely to be downgraded, along with those using repetitive anchor texts, duplicate content or who have created an “unnatural” linkbuilding strategy using inorganic or paid inbound links.
Other things to watch out for, which are likely to come under Google’s scrutiny, include excessive redirects, keyword overuse, mutual link schemes and thin affiliate work.
Google isn’t interested in punishing webmasters: but it does want to ensure that information it provides to search users is pertinent, quality and trustworthy. As long as your website is playing fair, is relevant and has fresh, quality, unique content, the latest tweak should leave your site unscathed.
News brought to you by ClickThrough – specialists in Search Engine Optimisation and Internet Marketing.
Social media giant Facebook claims seasonal advertising is to blame for its first dip in quarterly revenue in two years.
The network saw revenue fall by 6.5% quarter-on-quarter in the three months to March 31, according to Marketing Week.
Revenue remained over the $1bn mark – hitting $1.06bn – and was still strong year-on-year, up by 45%. However, profit dropped year-on-year to $205m – down 32% from the end of 2011.
Facebook says that dip is due to seasonal Internet marketing campaigns – as brands cash in on the festive rush. The company has also splashed out large sums in recent weeks as it prepares for its stock market IPO. It paid $300m for social photo app Instagram earlier this month. The spend on new acquisitions has overtaken its 45% revenue increase and eaten into profits, Facebook said.
The site also increased spend on marketing and sales, investing $123m more year-on-year to increase its appeal to potential investors ahead of the IPO.
Paid advertising makes up 82% of Facebook’s total income – and has risen by 37% year-on-year. Facebook now has more than 900m active monthly users – generating some 3.2bn likes and comments every day.
News brought to you by ClickThrough – a best practice Internet Marketing Agency.
Pay per click marketing strategies have been given a boost by a new Google tool which claims to show whether a paid ad has been viewed or not.
PPC, or paid search, involves a strategic approach to keywords and display. Unlike organic online marketing, known as search engine optimisation or SEO, which can take months to build, PPC provides a far quicker click journey directly to a sale.
Users searching for a specific products can be given a choice of paid ads – so if they’re searching because they know they want to buy, marketers give customers a direct avenue to the purchase the products they want.
It’s therefore important to ensure potential customers get the right information about right products when they click your PPC ads. Getting the correct landing page could mean the difference between a sale or a bounce.
Whilst strategies understandably focus on these important facets of paid-for internet marketing: like click rate, bounce rate, and conversions, it’s not always been possible to report on the actual visibility of an advert.
Now, Google has said a new tool will give marketers even more information about their PPC marketing campaigns.
The Active View addition is designed to show marketers when an ad has been viewed – meaning advertisers could only pay for adverts that users see. Of course, traditional marketing has always had a more “fish in barrel” approach: pay for advertising (on TV, in newspapers, on radio), and hope that interested customers see or hear your ad.
Online marketing provides a greater opportunity to measure ad engagement. The effectiveness of a full-page ad in a national newspaper could be measured by a spike in inquiries or sales following publication, but this is hardly hard and fast analysis.
If Google is able to program Active View to give a real statistical analysis of ad views – rather than an educated guess – it could become an invaluable way to cut spend and increase conversions at the same time.
Google’s quantification will use the Interactive Advertising Bureau standard: a “seen ad” will be seen on-screen for more than a second.
Even without the ability to track ad views, paid search marketing remains an incredibly effective form of internet marketing: one which can create incredible returns with the right strategic approach.
News brought to you by ClickThrough – a provider of SEO Services & Pay Per Click strategies.
Search engine optimisation remains one of the most effective forms of internet marketing.
All good internet marketing strategies should pay attention to organic search initiatives to ensure a steady flow of search traffic to a target site.
Whilst paid search is becoming more prevalent amongst both search engines and social media networks, organic queries remain the biggest source of traffic, according to stats from Search Engine Journal.
They’ve broken down some of the more surprising SEO stats to show just how important a good optimisation strategy can be: even if it doesn’t yield results immediately, a patient, strategic approach will eventually pay dividends.
The stats show that 70% of links clicked on by search users are organic, with 70% to 80% of users saying they never click on paid ads. 75% said they never scroll past the first page of results.
Companies who post regular blogs have, on average, 434% more indexed pages than those who do not – but only 81% of businesses consider their blogs to be an important asset.
Search remains the number one source of traffic for a website – it’s a better drive than social media by 300% according to a study by Outbrain.
More than 100 billion global searches occur every month, with Google owning 65-70% of the market share.
Mobile devices are becoming a popular choice for search, too: there were 97.3 million mobile internet users in 2011. This year, that number is expected to top 113.9m. Of those users, 72.8m will be “mobile shoppers” in 2012.
The figures speak for themselves: SEO remains an absolutely vital component of online marketing.
News brought to you by ClickThrough – experts in Search Engine Marketing & Internet Marketing.
Facebook marketing is getting more expensive – even though less users are clicking on ads on the giant social network, according to a new report.
Research from one Facebook-focussed agency and verified by Cambridge University claims advertisers are forking out 15% more per click now than at the same time last year.
The study looked at Facebook advertising in 190 countries, involving 235 brands.
It found that costs per click had risen by around 23% in the top five countries, US, UK, Canada, France and Germany in the first three months of 2012, whilst the average cost of acquiring a Facebook fan has risen by 77% in the UK.
The rise in ad costs comes against an actual decrease in clickthrough rates on Facebook ads – around six per cent less Facebook users are clicking on paid ads now than at the start of 2011.
Facebook is launching a much-anticipated stock market flotation, with a valuation of around $100bn. Having access to 800m+ global users is a huge bargaining tool for Facebook – but the key is whether the social network can make money out of its popularity. Around 85% of Facebook’s revenue comes from advertising.
The business-end of the rise of social networks will mean an increased focus on paid-for advertising, making conversions a more important facet of social media marketing.
The study also shows that the UK is now the second most profitable social network advertising market, overtaking Canada and now just behind the US.
One of the biggest trend changes on Facebook is the number of clicks on news items – the launch of the social reader app has seen clicks rise 196% in quarter-on-quarter comparisons.
In terms of click costs, the research also revealed that the financial services industry is paying out more than anyone else for Facebook ads – around three and a half times more than the average food or drink marketer pays.
News brought to you by ClickThrough – experts in SEO, Pay Per Click Services, Multilingual Search Marketing and Website Conversion Enhancement services.
Forget the outcry about SOPA – one of Google’s co-founders claims Facebook, not political meddling, is the “greatest threat” to internet freedom.
When the US congress began looking at SOPA – the Stop Online Piracy Act – the world-wide web went ballistic: claiming the act was so loosely worded, it could lead to political infringement which would, amongst other things, usurp the American right to free speech and shut down the “open web”. The anger spread quickly and countless sites protested about the legislation.
Whilst most webmasters may tell you they’re still keeping an eye on the political rumblings regarding SOPA-style legislature, over at Google, it seems something else entirely is causing a bee-in-the-bonnet-style headache.
Funnily enough, that something is Facebook.
According to Sergey Brin, who co-founded Google with Larry Page, the social network site is creating a “walled garden” which could lead to a loss of freedom on the net.
Brin claims Facebook’s rules are very restrictive, so much so that had they been applied to the web during the development of Google, the search engine may never have come to fruition.
He told the Guardian there were “very powerful forces” who opposed an open internet – naming Facebook and Apple specifically, and claiming “it’s scary.”
The comments came after several US employers were chastised in the past few weeks for asking prospective staff members for access to their social media profiles.Whilst Facebook was quick to point out such intrusion was against its terms of service, the debate has continued as to whether employers should, or shouldn’t, be granted access to personal information.
Brin has widened the debate, claiming Governments are trying to access, and control, public communication. In China and Saudi Arabia, for instance, this state censorship is prevalent and largely decried by the West. Ironically, the issue of such censorship is creeping into democratic Western countries now.
In the UK, several online instant messengers were hauled over the coals during UK parliamentary inquiries which followed last summer’s riots. The riots followed violent anti-government uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, amongst others, which were largely attributed to the dissemination of information via sites like Twitter and Facebook.
Brin, who was originally against Google operating in China, where the Government is renowned for censorship and propaganda, said simple shifts in online behaviour, such as people using apps in Facebook or via Apple devices, were restricting web freedom.
“All the information in apps – that data is not crawlable by web crawlers. You can’t search it,” he said, an effect which could greatly affect future search engine optimisation campaigns.
And he has a point. But then, Google has a vested interest in searchable information.
Brin’s underlying message is backed by the 14 million-member online activist site Avaaz – but his attack on Facebook has been seen as something as a cheapshot.
He claimed Google could never have been developed under Facebook’s “restrictive” rules – saying the success of Google hinged on an “open, transparent web”. Brin criticised the ‘walled garden’ effect of sites like Facebook, and said that effect would, ultimately, lead to a less open Internet.
But, oddly, he didn’t mention Google+, Google’s recently-launched, and far less popular social network rival to Facebook.
News brought to you by ClickThrough – experts in SEO, Pay Per Click Services, Multilingual Search Marketing and Website Conversion Enhancement services.
Social media usage continues to rise, without any sign of reaching a saturation point in the near future, as Christian Arno points out in an article published on Search Engine Watch.
Arno pulls together statistics from a number of different sources to paint a picture of social media usage in 2012 – and generally speaking, it’s good news for those engaged in social media marketing. Some of the key statistics that he mentions are:
The article also looks at the continuing dominance of Facebook in 2012, pointing out that:
It looks like Facebook will rule the roost for some time. However, despite easily beating Twitter in terms of total users, Facebook is behind in terms of growth in the US. Twitter’s growth in the US will be four times greater than Facebook’s over the next two years, according to predictions made by The Realtime Report.
News brought to you by ClickThrough – a best practice Internet Marketing Agency.
