Tag: SEO

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Google Update Their Algorithm to Benefit Information Rich Sites

Google just did a massive update on their search algorithm which impacted what sites get pushed to the topic of organic results this past week. The bottom line is that the change will benefit information rich sites but hurt those without original content.

This is what Google said exactly: “This update is designed to reduce rankings for low-quality sites—sites which are low-value add for users, copy content from other websites or sites that are just not very useful. At the same time, it will provide better rankings for high-quality sites—sites with original content and information such as research, in-depth reports, thoughtful analysis and so on.”

For our own site and those of our customers, this is very good news. When you build content that is more than just focused on your own business and services you enrich your own readers’ experience and now improve your own chances of placing higher organically on Google.

Of particular note is the comment “with original content and information such as research, in-depth reports, thoughtful analysis and so on.” This is good news for clients that we have worked with to create in-depth articles and mini white papers which we have then in turn additionally used as link bait articles and have archived back on their website as HTML pages and PDF files.

This is also be good news for blogging clients where blogs are informative and information dense content but only if the blog resides on the same website server as the website files and is found in a directory in the root of the parent website.

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Sometimes What You Really Need Is Not SEO

I had a client contact me this past week and ask me to perform SEO code optimization services on his website as he felt he was not getting enough business and thought it was due to low search engine placement. As part of our process of working with a client, we did a statistical analysis of his site to find out exactly where his placement was and if SEO was really what he needed versus maybe link building.

What we found out was that he owned the number one and two spots on both Google.com and Bing/Yahoo on nearly every single keyword. We also reviewed his website traffic and found it to be relatively high, and then we carefully reviewed his website content. After our review it was clear that the issue was not the website look or feel, not the optimization, or the organic placement, but rather the website content was not communicating his authority or longevity in the industry. was rife with typos, and did not include a strong call to action.

For an e-commerce website typos and website layout issues are the kiss of death. A lack of attention to these details sabotages all the good things you do and creates an impression about you online that is not necessarily as professional as you would want. All of these issues may even impact your sales as e-commerce is all about trust, transparency, authority, and confidence.

If you feel like you are not getting enough leads or sales it is important to work through a process to clearly identify where the issues that are impacting your performance are. Don’t throw money at one thing that ends up not being the real root of your problem. Take time to analyze and then act smartly!

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Social Media More Than Fluff

Danny Sullivan, a pillar in my industry and writer for SearchEngineLand, just interviewed Google and Bing engineers about what they use from Facebook and Twitter in regards to signals that may impact organic placement. I found the article extremely interesting and I think you will too. You can read the full piece here.

The huge take away on the article is that both Bing and Google evaluate and use information, popularity, and activity on both Twitter and Facebook. This is particularly good news for clients of ours who were early embracers of social media and have now built up popular accounts and do regular status updates. The pay off of social media has not been fully realized yet, but the impact on future organic search placement is huge.

Both search engines are now evaluating both PageRank and now SocialRank or HumanRank or SocialRank. Neither have determined a name yet, but are clearly watching, gaging, and weighing social media activity of businesses on both Facebook and Twitter. It is now boiling down to Web Authority and Social Authority (how many updates you do, frequency of updates, number of followers or friends) will now appear to impact positively organic search results.

Both search engines revealed that the links on Twitter and Facebook, even though they are nofollow, do mean something to their search algorithms in regards to Web Authority. Twitter links may in the very near future even be considered as some version of acceptable link building program.

If you are not involved with Twitter or Facebook at this time, you had better take a careful look at this insightful analysis that Danny Sullivan has done as I would recommend at this point you get in the game and do so quickly. Early embracers should give themselves a big pat on the back for seeing a trend and the importance of it and acting to take advantage of the new technology which has now given them an edge over their competition.

We do offer social media services at very affordable rates. We invite you to review our own Twitter and Facebook services.

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Paying Monthly for SEO Services? What Exactly Are You Getting?

Now that you have had your website optimized and you are improving your organic search placement, it’s time to ask your service firm exactly what are you getting for your monthly service fee.

It is not uncommon for a business that has had optimization done by an SEO firm to be paying a monthly service fee of anywhere from $300 to several thousand dollars a month. But what are you really getting for this monthly service fee? Do you even know?

For $300 a month times 12 months that’s $3,600 a year, not an insignificant amount of cash, it is important to know what you are getting. To find out, it is key that you ask the right questions to evaluate the answers in order to identify if this expense is warranted or is just an income stream for your SEO firm that they are hoping you will not challenge.

Here are the pointed questions you should ask your own SEO firm:

  1. What is my monthly fee paying for? If this is for link work, how many links did you get me last month and the month before?
  2. If this is for your code to remain on my web page and is just a monthly subscription fee to keep the code there let me know this clearly. What happens when I stop my services with you?
  3. I understand that no one can pay their way to the top of Google so if I am paying you $300 a month and $3,600 a year exactly what am I getting for my money? Anything?
  4. If you say you are tweaking my code weekly or monthly for my $300 investment. I would like to see what tweaks you actually did last month and the month before. Were these done only to my home page?
  5. If I stop my services with you what exactly on my home page will be changed if anything?

Pretty pointed questions if you ask me, but questions that you as a business owner should ask and know the answer to, to make sure that you know exactly what your SEO investment is doing. It is important for you as a business owner to know that many SEO firms have this model for pricing and that they do not do much on a monthly basis to help you retain or improve placement after their initial work is done. This is an income stream for them and they just hope you are not asking the questions to pin them to the wall to really tell you, if they even will, exactly what they are doing monthly for you for this payment.

I would be highly surprised to hear that the things that an SEO firm does to earn the $300 for a monthly subscription fee is actually worth the actual cash value if your webmaster billed you by the hour to do the same things. Especially if your SEO worked does not include blogging, content creation, or any changes you can notice on your website. You may simply be paying $300 a month for a “feel good” report at the end of the month to encourage you to continue to pay monthly services.