Now, as site owners, SEOs and business owners work to correct their mistakes and recover their rankings, other search changes during April come to light. On Friday of last week, Google revealed that more than 50 changes occurred in search during the month of April (including the larger scale ones mentioned above), with some of them concerning international search functionality, but with many of them affecting search results here in the US. Let’s go in-depth with a few.

Domain Diversity

Google has tweaked the algorithm such that search does not, in the future, return too many results from the same domain. The tides are certainly shifting, and some strategies that allowed certain sites to dominate the first page of Google with multiple search results on one page may no longer be applicable (or possible). How to mitigate this change? With Google focusing on local so much more, with people using their phones to search while on the go all the time, you might restrategize and try focusing on hyper local keywords, and, instead of dominating the results for only a few queries,  rank your site for as many hyper local keywords you can. If all goes well, you could rank for your general service area, plus all the areas surrounding it – and gain more reach this way.

Local Navigational Homepages

Speaking of local, Google made some tweaks to the way local navigational searches return results so that searches that include locations (like, for instance, “Buckhead bakery”) return results that are more likely to top rank local navigational homepages (even if those pages don’t mention the location!). It does make sense that Google would want to return results that display a site’s localized content, as the person searching with a keyword that includes a specific location is obviously looking not for general content, but rather for content that is locally focused.  How should you respond to this change? If your site isn’t already structured in such a way that local navigational homepages are prominent and prepared for search engine consumption, stop reading this and go make some changes! Make sure your local navigational homepage is existent, relevant, that the content might encourage users to take action or, at the very least, stay on your site by clicking on a hyper-local link that brings them to hyper-local, helpful content.

Search Terms/Keywords

A vague improvement to how search terms are scored is mentioned, and it is based on whether and how they appear on the pages users are searching. However, and perhaps more importantly in light of the Penguin update, an additional keyword stuffing change is also listed (interesting note – the codename for this project is “Spam”): “We have classifiers designed to detect when a website is keyword stuffing. This change  made the keyword stuffing classifier better.” While the relevance of links and the diversity of anchor-text is incredibly important with the new Penguin update, this little change is a reminder that the over –optimization portion of Penguin targeting spam has a wider span that includes the quality of on-page content and the links within it.  How to respond? This little tip should not be new to you at all: If your keywords don’t flow naturally with the content on your site’s pages, remove them. Use them a max of 2-3 times if possible, and only use them if they make sense in context! If you are going to link internally to another page, or even if you are going to link to an external site, do not stuff links with your keywords, either.

Freshness
Google made some changes so that the freshest content is delivered for users’ search queries. You might remember back in November that Google announced an algorithm change that ensured the freshness of results; April’s update applies a more “granular classifiers” that works to promote fresh content  in the form of more breaking news. On the other side of the coin, Google also made some changes so that low-quality content does NOT get promoted via the freshness classifier – even if breaking news is identified, if the site is low-quality, it will not show up in the fresh results.

Titles

This change, according to Google, sharpens the process that goes into selecting a Title to show with each search result. Google’s goal is to return more concise/informative titles by making a change to the factors that are used to decide what is used as the title of a particular result. Only time will tell how this change will affect things; some sites do experience this at work already when the Title they created for their site is changed by Google to something the search engine takes from the site and feels is more relevant. This seemingly will become a more widespread phenomenon. Obvious takeaway: The title you create for your site should be not only relevant, but also easy to read and should make sense to the reader. Google places heavy emphasis on user experience, so when creating your Title, try moving away from ones like: “Atlanta Bakery-Bakers in Atlanta-Cakes in Atlanta| Atlanta Bakery Co.” Try replacing it with something that would capture the interest of a user like “Try The Best Cakes in Atlanta | Visit Atlanta Bakery Co.” Most importantly, if you have some evidence of having the best cakes in Atlanta, include it in the copy on the page for which you created this title. Keep the title relevant to the copy, but also intriguing to the searcher.

Speaking of content, Google mentions: “We’ve tweaked a signal we use to surface more authoritative content.” How do you prove your content is authoritative? Blogging often, posting on Google Plus, gaining comments and connections there (and also doing so on other social networks, though obviously these would carry less weight than Google’s own social network), having an abundance of trust links, having quality links coming into your site (it’s less about quantity, as you likely know, and more about quality),  etc.

Previous Searches Impacting Your Current Searches

Remember that privacy policy change that freaked everyone out? In my blog post about it, I wrote: “It has many people concerned about the privacy of their information – almost giving them the feeling that big brother is watching, which I think Google actually understands. However, the search giant brings it all back to “user experience,” as in, we’re only watching your every move while you’re signed in to better your experience as a user.” Well, social search was one way that Google acted on this, and a small tweak in April is another way Google is doing so: “This launch helps us better interpret the likely intention of your search query as suggested by your last few searches.” Big Brother (as in your over-protective, way older, way more successful older brother) is watching – and guessing that you search according to a pattern (which you probably do).

Creeped out? And if you’re thinking now that Google is out to change the world (if not destroy it), you ain’t seen nothin’ yet…the first self-driving cars may hit the roads of Nevada soon, courtesy of the search engine giant.

Google: “We’ll watch your every move online, but you can watch ours on the road.”

More Information

Want to learn more about the Penguin or Panda updates? Interested in SEO? Check back with our blog for regular updates about what’s going on in the interactive marketing worlds or give us a call at 770-481-1766.

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It turns out that it was an entirely new search algorithm aimed at catching webspam, interestingly called “Penguin” (black and white like a Panda, but not nearly as large or imposing…) – this is the change Matt Cutts was referring to, but he told Search Engine Land that using the term “over-optimization” wasn’t entirely accurate, as the algorithm doesn’t target SEO, just webspam. Now, normally, most people would say site owners don’t have to worry about this type of thing , as long as their sites aren’t spammy. But the perception Google’s algorithm has of spam and the perception of spam that you as a site owner might have are different – so, though you may think you and your site aren’t going to be affected, it is always a possibility (though Google does claim that this change only affects around 3.1% of queries). UPDATE: The effects of this algorithm update have been felt far and wide, and certainly have damaged what feels like, to many people, more than 3% of queries. Please keep in mind that it is still fresh, and some people are only now beginning to feel the true effects of this update. Though a Penguin is a much smaller and seemingly less menacing animal, the algorithm change is proving, for some, to be as devastating as Panda was.

The reason we waited about a week to blog about this is that we wanted the dust to settle. We wanted to see how people reacted, and what kind of effect Penguin would actually have on websites and their owners. This algorithm comes down, essentially, to the age-old battle of the “white hat” versus the “black hat” SEO. “Rewarding” high-quality and punishing black hat webspam is the goal of this algorithm, according to Google. However, for many, straddling that line between white and black hat has been the norm – with entirely white hat procedures not being as rewarding or beneficial as a small mixture of white and black. The search engine ecosystem is changing, especially with Penguin, towards a more white hat one (we have known this for awhile), and it’s time for many to clean up their acts.

What To Avoid and How To Change Your Ways

Priority number one: Remove ANY spam that may be on your site, or may be involved with your linking strategy. While you may have gotten away with it before, Penguin will find you now.  Out to rank high-quality sites and bring down sites that “are engaging in webspam tactics to manipulate search engine rankings,” the search algorithm will specifically be attuned to tactics that webmasters might use to attain better rankings through questionable schemes, like the following:

Keyword Stuffing – Avoid repeating your keywords too many times on a page (in fact, try to stay within 2-4 times), and avoid throwing keywords into content that is unrelated to them. If you use your keywords more than once, make sure they make sense in context and that the content flows with the keywords included. This ensures the user’s reading experience is good and that your content is properly optimized for search engine consumption.

Link Schemes - As you likely know, Google analyzes how many sites link to you (the more sites that link back to yours, the more you are viewed as an “authority” by Google) as a way of discerning whether your site is relevant and useful to users. Your link profile has a great deal to do with your site’s rankings. The links you build should be quality ones, and they should be relevant to your site. Quality over quantity is also quickly becoming a new industry standard.

Duplicate Content – An honest mistake is okay, but when you are purposely plagiarizing and duplicating content, don’t expect to top rank in the SERPs. And, on a related note: Don’t Post Good Content. Post GREAT content. Of course, as Google points out in its Webmaster Guidelines, it is always better to naturally garner links simply by creating relevant, high-quality content that people naturally link to. However, for sites that engage in SEO, this may not always be the easiest thing to do. Regardless of how you garner links, your content should ALWAYS be great – content that is grammatically correct, that flows, and that is easily consumed by the search engines but not stuffed with keywords. As Google concludes: “We want people doing white hat search engine optimization (or even no search engine optimization at all) to be free to focus on creating amazing, compelling websites).”

If you have been hit with Penguin, all you can do is fix the problems, file a reconsideration request, and wait. If you ensure all of the above follows best practices and that there is no spam to be seen anywhere near your site, you should be back climbing the rankings soon enough.

Has your site been hit by Penguin? Have great tips for avoiding an algorithmic penalty? Drop us a line in the comments!

PS – don’t confuse Penguin with Panda 3.5, which actually rolled out around a week before Penguin did (on April 19, according to  Matt Cutts). UPDATE:  Panda 3.6 ran on April 27th, as well.

More Information

Want to learn more about Google search algorithm updates? Need tips for engaging in white hat SEO? Check back with our blog for regular updates, free tips, and more. Have questions that are more specific to your business? Give us a ring at 770-481-1766.

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1. Intel: “Museum of Me” App

This app was apparently brainstormed and written down on a cocktail napkin by Intel execs during a meeting in Hong Kong. Essentially, Intel takes all of your information on Facebook (keeping it all private of course) and makes a mock museum exhibit out of it. The “exhibit” includes photos of your closest friends, and photos and videos you have posted. There is also a “room” in the exhibit that displays your most posted words.

Intel's Facebook page that leads you to the Museum of Me

Opening Page for the Museum of Me

Overall, the app is an advertisement for their new (at the time) Core i5 Processor in 2011. The reviews from several sources claim the app to be creepy, unnerving, and narcissistic, including the reviews by PC World and Gizmodo. But…

The Photo portion of my own personal Museum of Alissa

I totally disagree since no one sees this video unless you want them to. And all the media in the video is your own. Regardless of what you think, it’s definitely worth a try. Please comment below if you try it and let me know what you thought!

2. American Express: Small Business Saturday

The Small Business Saturday Facebook Page

Small Business Saturday (SBS) was a campaign started by American Express in 2010 to encourage people to shop at their local small businesses the day after Black Friday (Small Business Saturday). I really love this campaign because it is a completely social campaign. On the SBS website, American Express encourages businesses to offer deals on Foursquare and connect with their customers via Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. This is not to mention the fact that SBS was purely publicized on Facebook and the internet (unless of course media or the news picked up the story about it).

The past SBS saw 100 million attendees all over the country. Supporters of the cause include New York City mayor Bloomberg and President Obama. Obama stated his support this past year ,saying: “Through events such as Small Business Saturday, we keep our local economies strong and help maintain an American economy that can compete and win in the 21st century.”

I really love this whole campaign because it was completely digital and garnered buzz around its unique idea. This message is especially important in our current economy and it’s great to see so many people come to support a cause that everyone across the US can sympathize with. I encourage everyone to go “like” the Facebook page and support small businesses in your area! (Because no one else has a Banana Pudding Pop like King of Pops or sells great produce like the DeKalb Farmers Market, right?)

3. Miracle Whip: “We’re not for Everyone” Campaign

This Miracle Whip campaign was launched this past summer 2011. I specifically like the “Not for Every Relationship” contest they paired with the campaign online. Basically, Miracle Whip encouraged couples to tell their story about how Miracle Whip brought them together or tore them apart. The winners would receive $25,000 towards a marriage…or a divorce.

The contest created a lot of buzz due to its rather odd idea. Many naysayers blamed Kraft for supporting divorce. Regardless of whether the contest was moral, it did generate the buzz and activity that Miracle Whip was hoping for. In my opinion, (just like the campaign states) people either love or hate Miracle Whip, so why wouldn’t it be the cause of some marriages and divorces? It was pretty near impossible for me to find the winner’s video, but check out their promotional video with the priest and attorney above.

4. Converse: “The Sampler” App

This app is really neat and is just a cool example of the augmented reality that Converse launched in 2010. This technology has been around for some time, so it’s great to see brands utilizing it for creative marketing efforts. The Converse app allows you to “try on” their shoes and order them from the app or show the picture to family and friends. I personally like the Jack Purcell ones I “tried on” here.

Me using the app and "trying on" the Converse by Jack Purcell shoes

Pretty simple concept, but really cool idea because  what if you just can’t be bothered with going to mall to try these shoes on for real? Check out the video below and then try the app for yourself and let us know what you think!

5. Mini Cooper: Getaway Stockholm 2010

The Mini Getaway Stockholm app

Now I’m partially biased already because I drive a Mini, but this is definitely one of the more creative mobile apps/digital contests I’ve seen. Essentially, Mini developed an app that hid a “virtual” Mini Cooper. The GPS on the app located the Mini and any other competitors around you. A person with the app open could “steal” the Mini from someone if they were 50 meters or closer to them.

When you get close enough to the virtual Mini you can virtually "take" it

Once you obtained the Mini, the app advised you to “Getaway” and a chase of fellow competitors would usually ensue (because if they got within 50 meters of you they could steal the Mini too). The competition went on for a week all over Stockholm and the person who had the “virtual” Mini won a new Mini Countryman.

The app and contest were primarily meant to promote the new Mini Countryman  (new at the time in 2010) – the first Mini Cooper with 4 doors. More than 11,000 people took part in the contest in several unique ways (ie. Helicopter). This app and totally unique marketing concept is definitely one of my favorites (video). The gamification of a contest that really united the city of Stockholm for a week is something that is hard to do and doesn’t happen very often. I encourage you to check out the case study I posted of it below!

Farewell

Sadly, this is my last week at EverSpark which means this is my last blog post. I decided to mix it up and show you 5 of my favorite digital campaign/apps that eventually influenced my interest in digital marketing. I hope you enjoyed them just as much as I do! I still blog and post regularly about digital marketing and advertising. While I won’t be blogging for EverSpark anymore, please feel free to follow me on Twitter (@ascaraf) or follow my Blog “The Millennial Bunny.” Thank you to everyone that has read my social media blog posts for EverSpark, it was a really fun job to have and I will definitely miss it!

More Information

Want to learn more about digital marketing? Looking to find free tips and news updates from the online world? Visit our blog regularly to stay informed. With questions more specific to your business, give us a call today at 770-481-1766.

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So, to keep up with this ever-evolving trend, any social media related site needs to ensure that brand pages are a part of their overall picture. Klout is just the latest site to do just that, by introducing brand pages on a minimal scale (for now), with this feature rolling out to everyone soon.

Klout 101

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Klout, the social sight measures a single person or businesses’ influence across the internet.  They do this by monitoring any social media platform you have (you voluntarily link what social media account of yours you want to be monitored by Klout).

Everspark's Klout Profile

After linking all your accounts Klout calculates your “Klout Score” on a scale from 0-100. This score is based on 3 analyses: True Reach, Amplification, and Network Impact.

• True Reach = the amount of people you influence across your linked social platforms

EverSpark's True Reach Graph

 

• Amplification = indicates how much people engage and pay attention to things you post

 

EverSpark's Amplification Graph

 

• Network Impact = measures the influence people you connect with have (therefore you have more influence since you are connected to them)

 

EverSpark's Network Impact Graph

 

 

Your Klout score is also linked to the “type” of influencer you are. For instance, Everspark has a score of 19 and are considered a “Dabbler.” Our Communications Specialist, Amie, has a Klout Score of 45 and she is a “Networker.”

 

EverSpark's "Klout Style" Grid

 

 

As a member of Klout, you also have +K points you can give to other Klout users that influence you. Once you are really influential online Klout will pick up on certain topics you are influential about. (Everspark is most influential  about SEO, Altanta, and Social Media.) These topics could lead to Klout Perks that allow you exlusive access to certain product discount or samples.

 

Finally Klout for Businesses!

 

Today, Klout rolled out their new Brand Page (still in Beta testing). Right now it is exclusive to Red Bull, but will be available to other businesses and brands in the coming months.  The page will have links to all of a brands social media platforms, and latest activity on Klout. There will also be a grid of the brands’ Top 100 Influencers, emphasizing the Top 100.

 

Klout's new Brand Page - Exclusive to Red Bull right now

 

Brands/Businesses will not be able to reach out to the influencers that have the most impact on their brand and reward them. For example, right now Red Bull will be letting its influencers try their new “Red Bull Total Zero” and their best influencer may have a chance to win a VIP Red Bull experience.

 

New Red Bull Perks associated w/their Brand Page

 

 

For more information you can visit Klout’s blog.  But keep a look out for the new Klout Business pages! And if you already use Klout, please let us know what you think about this new change!

 

More Information

Want to learn more about social influence and its importance for your business? Looking to find free tips and news updates from the online world? Visit our blog regularly to stay informed. With questions more specific to your business, give us a call today at 770-481-1766.

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It’s an uphill battle for Google’s social network.

According to eMarketer, “…in spite of its fast growth in user numbers, the service has not enjoyed the stickiness of other top social media properties.” To back up this assertion, the article turns to comScore numbers to prove its case (“…[the] average time users in the US spent on the social networking site was down to 3.3 minutes in January 2012, from 5.1 minutes in November of last year”), revealing that users aren’t engaging with the social network, despite signing up in droves. Users simply aren’t compelled to participate in and engage with the social network like they are on Facebook and Twitter. Could this be because Facebook and Twitter have the advantage of age, and therefore users find that more of their friends use these other social networks? Or is there something more to it that makes Google Plus undesirable? Are users having a hard time juggling three or four social networks, where they were okay juggling just two or three? The answers to these questions vary depending on who you ask – but one point definitely underlies all of them: the popular perception of Google Plus is that no one really uses it, except for maybe some tech bloggers. So, Google Plus is popular for being unpopular.

Plus, the fact that there are a ton of users on Google Plus, but not too many actively engaging on the platform, is not entirely surprising. Ever since around the time Google made its mammoth privacy policy change, users have had to sign up for Google Plus when signing up for other Google products, like Gmail. It isn’t entirely surprising, then, that so many people have “upgraded” to Google Plus, since they are pretty much forced to. It seems that many people go through the compulsory sign up process and never revisit Google Plus again, explaining why the social network is off the radar for active social media participants. eMarketer’s article concludes that Google Plus will not be relevant until it has similar levels of activity and engagement as the other, more popular social networks. So, will Google Plus ever reach that level of relevance that other social networks have not had to work too hard to achieve?

However, it is important to note (as the article does), that even if Google Plus doesn’t become a powerhouse social network like Facebook, it still certainly has an impact on Google users, especially when it comes to personalized search and “Search Plus Your World.” Google has launched “Search Plus Your World” and advanced it, with no signs of slowing down or stopping based on Google Plus’s shortcomings and failures to perform as expected or desired. As eMarketer notes, “A searcher logged in to Google who had signed up to Google+ and added a few people to Circles might not be actively using the social network anymore, but if that user’s connections were active, their +1s and Picasa photo albums had a sudden and unexpected prominence in their search results.”

The article also notes that marketers would be silly to ignore Google Plus. Brand pages offer a unique opportunity for companies to connect with clients on a deeper level, giving them a place to share interactive content and conduct hangouts. Further, the “direct connect” option currently allows some companies (generally, larger ones like Ford and H&M) to connect their brand pages with organic search results. However, as eMarketer notes, “…though those brand pages offer marketing opportunities not available from competitors like Facebook, putting dollars toward Google+ before usage levels increase will remain a tough sell.” Do you think Google Plus will ever be able to get out of this new social network sandbox? Or was a successful, engaging Google social network never meant to be? Let us know what you think in the comments!

More Information

Want to learn more about Google Plus and how it affects SEO? Looking to learn more about Search Engine Optimization in general? Come back and check our blog for regular updates about everything going on in the online world and for free tips for your site’s SEO. Have questions that are more specific to your business? Give us a call at 770-481-1766 today!

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Surprise!

Maybe this revamp frightened me at first because it totally came out of nowhere. I was NOT expecting to sign in and experience something totally different. Now, when you sign into your account, Google Plus is shoved in your face – you simply cannot ignore it. Before, I could continue on my way easily, never pressing that “+Amie” button in the top left corner unless I was prepared to go on Google Plus and check out what all the recent tech news was. Now, I’m confronted with it whether  I choose to be or not! And while I’ll admit I’ve never been much of a fan of change, I think that this particular one was the right move by Google, in most ways.

Check out what I saw when I first signed in:

Google Plus’s new interface both overwhelmed and frightened me at first. However, when I adjusted to it, I realized that I kind of like where the list of trending topics ends up. I also like how simple this new navigation is, and I kind of love the whole simple design. But I don’t love that it is the first thing I see when I sign in. When I’m just quickly trying to check my email, this is distracting!

Notice the options for what to do on Google Plus are now set up in a ribbon on the left of the screen. You can change the orders of these options by dragging them, or you can even hide some of them if you don’t use them often. Also, by hovering over some of these apps, you can see some quick actions that take you where you want to go quickly. Google adds (also throwing in that Google Plus has around 170 million users) that the following features were also added: “Full bleed photos and videos that’ll make you really proud to post, a stream of conversation “cards” that make it easier to scan and join discussions, an activity drawer that highlights the community around your content.”

Google also notes some hangouts changes, which definitely sound amazing in theory, but will they actually be used?: “An always-updated list of invitations from the people in your circles, Quick access to every public and On Air hangout, for those times when you want to meet someone new, or watch a live broadcast, A rotating billboard of popular hangouts, pro tips and other items you don’t want to miss.” Maybe these changes will turn hangouts into a feature that is regularly used by users, rather than a cool perk that is excellent in theory but not so much in practice.

Also new: an “Explore” page, which shows what is trending (basically, it just segments the “What’s hot”; section so that it becomes something entirely on its own), and a chat list that “puts your friends front and center.”

This is the new “Explore” section.

But OMG– the MOST notable change is on our profiles! Now we have cover photos?!

This is just a blatant Facebook feature copy. It doesn’t get any more blatant than that! There’s definitely something to giving the people what they want, even what they’re used to (it’s the new normal over at Facebook), but what about creating a DIFFERENT experience?

Even though I have a few complaints, mostly driven by my utter surprise  – the design overhaul of Google Plus actually betters the social experience on the platform. It’s cleaner, more interactive, and definitely prettier to look at.  But cover photos? Come on, Google! That kind of sucks the originality out of the whole change, in my opinion.

More Information

Want to learn more about Google Plus? Looking to learn about how social networking affects SEO? Visit our blog for consistent updates and free tips, or give us a call at 770-481-1766.

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Instagram

The app was founded  by two Stanford Grads, Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger in 2010. Right away the start-up got funding from a Venture capital firm and launched their app in 7 months. Within the first week Instagram had 200,000 users. Users grew at an exponential rate with 1.75 million in the next 5 months and 4 million 3 months after that. Some “prominent angel investors, including Twitter’s Dorsey, Chris Sacca and Quora Inc.’s Adam D’Angelo.” (Ironically, after being invested in by Jack Dorsey, Instagram has decided to side with Facebook.)

All of this growth was only with the iPhone and the app store. Last week, Instagram rolled out for the Droid and Google Play. With the advent of the app available on both markets and the buy out by Facebook an increased user base is a no brainer.

Instagram User's Growth in the past 2 years.

On April 9, Facebook announced that they were buying Instagram for $1 billion. Instagram’s valuation last week was around $500 million, but Facebook’s value projection doubled that. Overall, Instagram will help with Facebook’s mobile presence since that is a competitive advantage that Twitter has always had over them.

From Zuckerberg’s Facebook page “we’re committed to building and growing Instagram independently…providing the best photo sharing experience is one reason why so many people love Facebook and we knew it would be worth bringing these two companies together.”

But What Does It Actually Do?

Instagram is an application strictly used on smart phones to share photos with friends. You can even edit your photo filters such as “ Toaster,” “Inkwell,” and “1977.” You have the option of geo-tagging your photo as well as sharing it on a number of social sites (Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Tumblr, etc.) That’s it your done, it’s really that simple!

Instagram Edit Screen w/filters

Instagram photo feed

How Businesses Have Been Using Instagram

Several companies have utilized Instagram to hold competitions. For example, Brisk Tea held a competition for the best photo. The winners were featured on exclusive cans served at SXSW (South by Southwest). Many companies also use Instagram to promote their products online by posting their Instagram photos on Facebook and Twitter.

Overall, the Instagram takeover by Facebook will most likely culminate in a new outlet for advertising.  Instagram photos may also have more exposure on Facebook now, spanning across the entire timeline like some Facebook photos do.

Some even hinted at possible “sponsored filters” that would be designed by certain brands.

We’ll just have to wait and see how the Facebook/Instagram partnership pans out. What do you think? We’d love to hear you thoughts!

More Information

Want to learn more about social networking and its importance for your business? Looking to find free tips and news updates from the online world? Visit our blog regularly to stay informed. With questions more specific to your business, give us a call today at 770-481-1766.

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Freshness, Relevance and Panda

Several of the March updates revolved around the freshness of results and high-quality content. As most of us know, an iteration of Panda was run this month – which Google tipped us off to via Twitter. This brings us to the first search change Google mentions in a blog post on its Inside Search blog: “In the past month, we’ve pushed updated data for “Panda,” as we mentioned in a recent tweet. We’ve also made improvements to keep our database fresher overall.”

Then there were changes to the actual “Freshness” algorithm change from a few months back – now, this algorithm applies to all queries, as opposed to solely news-related traffic. This will ensure that sites that constantly update their content will get the visibility that comes along with continuous relevant content, and sites that are “stale” will lose rankings. Along those lines, another update was “more precise detection of old pages” – this improvement will allow Google to more easily detect older, stale pages in the index by relying, as the search engine notes, “on more relevant signals. As a result, fewer stale pages are shown to users.” Also being improved for relevance? Image search results, apparently. The change in March “tunes” signals that Google uses “related to landing page quality for images.” Interestingly, this change will allow images that are “highly relevant” to rank higher than others, even if their landing pages are not high-quality.

Another improvement had to do with detecting site quality. Google provides a very vague description of this one, only saying that it allows the search engine to have more confidence in its classifications.

Another freshness/relevant content update came I the form of improvements in “Video Universal” – the fresher the video, the more likely it is to rank. Google says they have improved the video results so that stale videos will be better detected and fresh content will be delivered more often. Take away? Don’t think making one video and spending months trying to rank it is a solid strategy. Keep creating them – make videos about timely events, or simply break up a video sequence so you are releasing one every few weeks or months or so.

Local and Social

Research overwhelmingly points to the fact that local and social are the ways of the future – from on-the-go searches to social searches. In line with is future, Google makes small tweaks all the time (and some bigger ones, like “Search Plus Your World”) to improve both local and social search. In March, a change ensured improvement of the indexing of social profile pages so that the ones in the Google index are more comprehensive across, according to the search engine’s blog post, over 200 social sites. Updates were also made to the signals that Google uses when personalizing the search results.

When it comes to local, Google has adjusted for “better handling of queries with both navigational and local intent.”  Google defines “navigational” as directed towards a specific site. The change Google made works toward the goal that the user, when searching a specific query, will be confronted with “highly relevant navigational results or local results towards the top of the page.” It’s worth noting that another change ensures better local results/ sources in Google News.

Anchor Text

Don’t let this section’s position towards the end of this blog post fool you – this one is extremely significant right now. A couple of changes mentioned anchor text – and with recent buzz about a coming over-optimization penalty, it’s important to pay close attention to these.

The two changes to which we are referring are: “Tweaks to handling of anchor text” and “Better interpretation and use of anchor text” – the second of which is highly relevant to the coming over-optimization penalty.  First, the tweaks – Google changed, in March, the way they score anchor processing. They turned of one classifier, and are experimenting with other methods that make “scoring cleaner and more robust.”

Now, when it comes to interpreting and use of anchor text, Google has “improved systems” that are used for determining how relevant anchor text is to the query/website it points to. This certainly underscores the fact that Google is honing in on anchor text and on-page in general – in preparation for a possible upcoming penalty (though how severe it will be, we don’t know) – focus on branding keywords, and make sure your on-page optimization is natural, and not overdone. This is definitely best practice anyway, as user experience can be greatly affected by how content reads on a page, and whether it seems legitimate. Avoid keyword-stuffing and over-optimization, and concentrate on branding, and you could just find yourself ahead of the game when the penalty does come.

 Account Activity

Okay, so this was not a search change – but it is certainly still worth mentioning. Product Manager Andreas Tuerk announced on the The Official Google Blog at the end of March a new effort on the search engine’s part to provide more visibility to the user. Especially in light of the recent privacy policy changes Google made (remember that bombardment of emails?! My inbox is still recovering from the barrage), this may pacify users.

Now, you can monitor your own account activity. You have to sign up for this, but when you do, you basically get analytics of your use of Google. Every month Google sends you a report (that is password protected) of what you did while logged into Google. It’s a curious development, and it will certainly be interesting to see where it goes and what it turns into.

Let us know in the comments: did you notice any affects to rankings due to these search changes and improvements?

More Information

Looking to learn more about the way Google works? Want to gain a better understanding of Search Engine Optimization? Check back with our blog for regular updates on search and social as well as some free tips for optimizing your site. Have questions that are specifically related to your business and website? Give us a call today at 770-481-1766.

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Crowdtap was named the Up-and-Coming Social Media Service in 2011 by Mashable and has a whole new approach to social media. The start-up was founded in 2009 by Brandon Evans,  former CSO of Mr. Youth, a New York ad agency. Crowdtap is located in New York City’s Union Square (or as come like to call it “Silicon Alley”) and is home to a stellar executive team all with in-depth marketing and advertising experience.

Instead of trying to paraphrase their mission, I’ll quote right from their site: “Shift marketing to a fully collaborative and participatory process between brands and consumers.”

Consumer-side

As a consumer, you sign up via Facebook. When you first reach your home page you are at the basic Level 1: Cardboard (as you move up this changes, ie. Level 2: Plastic). Underneath your profile and points counter are Missions, Quickhits, and Actions you can do to earn more points:

Opening screen of a consumer's Crowdtap profile

Missions can include performing Quickhits, being a panelist or a commentator on a certain brand. Quickhits are a series of survey questions about different brands.

Quickhit poll for a Yankee fragrance

Quickhit response feedback

After you have participated in enough missions, Crowdtap awards you with prizes based on the amount of points you have (almost like an arcade).

Prizes you can redeem with points earned

Business/Brand Side

Crowdtap has already garnered interest from major companies such as Energizer, American Express, Microsoft, Sony Pictures, and many more. These brands gather insight from consumers that are proven to be the most influential for a specific brand or industry. In this way, Crowdtap is different from other advertising measures that purely use number of impressions to determine success. Crowdtap delves deeper by incorporating quality of consumer impressions.

If all of this still didn’t make a lot of sense for you check out this “Introduction to Crowdtap” YouTube video.

More Information

Want to learn more about social networking and its importance for your business? Looking to find free tips and news updates from the online world? Visit our blog regularly to stay informed. With questions more specific to your business, give us a call today at 770-481-1766.

Related Information:

Is Google Plus Progressing or Stagnating?

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Fact or Myth: Social Media has an Effect on SEO 

How Businesses are Responding to Facebook Timeline 

Twitter Introduces New Brand Pages 

New Site Sparking Brands’ and Businesses’ “Pinterest” 

How will the New Facebook Timeline Rollout Affect Your Business?

FourSquare Four(Your)Business

Facebook’s IPO and the Future of Online Marketing 

Rel=Publisher Tag Allows for Greater Google Plus Brand Page Sharing