Category: Google

Posted on

Coming Soon Custom Vanity URLs on Google+

The current URL of your Google+ page is long and ugly, but the Google+ team does say that they are working to re mediate this issue.  at Google writes in one of his Google+ status updates that Google is currently trying out new vanity URLs on select brands at this present time.

Google+ vanity URLs will be in this format Google.com/+NancyMcCord (this URL does not exist yet, but you can connect with me on Google+ for now on this ugly URL: https://plus.google.com/104147012849953819334#104147012849953819334/posts.

You can read Saurabh Sharma’s full announcement online. Make sure to read the comment thread as it is interesting.

The first step in the process is to request Google+ verification. Here is the link to start.

So stay tuned when custom vanity URLs are available on Google+ I’ll make sure to let you know.

 

Posted on

Placement on Google is All About Web Authority Not SEO Tactics

Since 2005 I have been focused on building web authority website as I felt that this was the best way to truly place on Google and insulate myself and my clients from search engine algorithm changes. I named my blog the Web Authority just for that reason. Authority websites communicate transparency and confidence to the potential client. Now it seems that my focus on organic placement is finally being embraced by mainstream SEO gurus.

In this last year if your website placement dropped because of the Panda and Penguin Google updates your only way to re mediate traffic is to move into Google AdWords and drive traffic to your poorly placed site or spend time and money and rework your content while changing your online marketing strategy.

I have recently read an interesting article written by Jill Whalen on SiteProNews that speaks to the same focus that I have taken in regards to authority building strategies. She very succinctly spells out what works now and what does not. The article is certainly worth a careful review.

This is the bottom line from my own view point of what you should do to get organic placement on Google

1. Re mediate your problems first. If you have duplicate content, duplicate websites, poorly written or thin content; get rid of it now!

2. Create a content building plan. Invest in creating rich informational content and share your expertise on your website through a regular plan of content building. Share your expertise, share your view point with white papers, blog posts, and new pages on your website, cross link where appropriate.

3. Work your social media plan. The key is to connect not just to vomit out updates on social media. Interaction and creating a rich network is key. I like Google+ and Twitter for my own uses one as Google spiders these and adds updates to their index. I see more of my updates from Google+ in the Google index and so I make sure to try to connect there. Additionally as Google+’s personal pages are where the real action is and your AuthorRank is tied to it as well as the fact Google allows no automation to Google+ personal pages your voice there is legitimate and Google knows this and rewards it as such. Keep your follower to following ratios in check. Make sure you have a difference with more followers than following. Google will reward your efforts with a higher SocialRank.

Authority sites do not get built in one week, one month or even in several months. It takes time to create and build and tweak content that gets rewarded for placement. As an example of an authority website, I invite you to visit my own and review the depth of informational content and writing style for transparency. The same tactic I have taken for my own business can work for yours. Just ask me how!

Posted on

Did You Know Most Infographics Have Hidden Links?

Infographics are the new web rage, but did you know that most have hidden embedded links in them? The next time someone offers to allow you to use their infographic or solicits your posting their infographic on your website or blog, be aware that you may be unknowingly promoting their hidden link agenda.

The marketing of infographics with hidden links has proliferated so much on the web that Google is now discounting links from infographics. You can read more on this topic in this interesting article on links and infographics at SiteProNews.

First if you don’t know what an infographic is, here’s one as an example on search engines.  They are a visual story that is interesting to look at and contains graphs and data. Usually a site will embed the whole image in a blog post or on a website page. Another view of just the same image so you can see the length.

Here is the crux of the problem:

“…black hat SEO pros saw an opportunity to trick the search engine. They simply create any infographic based on the current trends and link irrelevant text or images back to the target websites. For example, the infographic would be about Euro 2012 but the image of some footballer would link back to a payday loan website. The intention is not to get as many clicks as possible but to generate as many links as possible. So this is how links are hidden behind irrelevant images or text. The links grow as the infographic is shared by real users without noticing the hidden link. While it is no harm for the people sharing the infographic because they find the information good to be shared, for Google a spammy link is being spread which confuses the bots and may make it rank the payday website in the example high based on this.” More information. 

As a result, Google has now discounted links coming from infographics. Although you may still want to use an infographic on your website or blog as they can be interesting and informative, remember that when you link to spammy sites, your own PageRank and website authority are impacted by linking out to poor quality sites.

So, just be aware that really interesting graphic you were just approached to put on your website, may actually have a dark side to it. Just be aware of the down side!

Posted on

Subdomains versus Subdirectories Per Google

Ever wonder how Google views subdirectories or subdomains when it comes to placement on Google.com? In this video Matt Cutts the Google spokesperson to my industry, talks about using each and how Google indexes each.

Previously some webmasters set up multiple subdomains in an effort to have Google show more results, but Matt Cutts now says that this is not a strategy that Google rewards. Google now recognizes subdomains as part of your parent domain listing on Google.com and “squenches those listings now all together on the search results page”.

Further he says the historical reasons on why you would have previously wanted to set up your website with subdomains do not apply as much on Google today. His personal preference and mine as well is to structure your website with subdirectories and not subdomains. However, he ends the video stating whichever tactic is easier for you, you should use that way for your own purposes.