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Matt Cutts Details the Most Common SEO Mistakes: What This Means to You

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cuttsWhenever Head of Google Webspam Matt Cutts gives SEO advice, it’s worth dropping everything you’re doing. Although sometimes his advice is vague or answers an obvious question, you know that whatever he says is true. He also has insights into the search market that few others have, so when he shares opinions and answers using those insights it’s a great way to learn more about the industry. In his latest video, Cutts did just that when he laid out the most common SEO mistakes made by small businesses. It’s important to ask yourself: Am I making these common mistakes, and if so, why?

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The Benefits of Content Marketing

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content marketing

It has been said before that “content is king”, but when it comes to search engine optimization (SEO), this is really the case. Regular high-quality content can help websites and blogs get better rankings online and also drive more traffic to a website. In addition, it also helps companies be seen as a resource and important resource in their field or industry.

Blog Posts

Blog posts are an easy way to continuously provide a website with fresh content. Blog posts should be published on websites 2-3 per week, on a variety of topics that are related to the industry or the company’s products and services. These are easy to find if marketers read online content daily. Companies that create publishing calendars for their blog content may find that they be more productive and organized, leading to better overall content.

To get the benefit from regular blog posts, the blog must be hosted on the same domain as the content. The blog can be on a subdomain, but most users and search engines are used to finding blogs at domain.com/blog.

External Content

Providing content to other sources is another great way to get the benefits of SEO, even though it’s not on the company’s website directly. Guest blogging, press releases, testimonials, videos, and other types of content are examples that can give links to the company’s website. Besides getting links, users see companies that have a wide reach (meaning that they are published/seen in a variety a different platforms) as being more reputable than those that aren’t seen anywhere else online besides their own website.

To find places that will accept your content or mention your company, do Google searches for “guest blogging + “industry keyword”” or look at guest blogging websites like MyBlogGuest and Hullabaloo. Use these platforms to create connections with other companies and website owners to help get your content and website out there.

Social Media

Google and Bing now include personalized search results based on a user’s social network, so being active on social media, for both employees as individuals and companies, is definitely key. Websites should also have social sharing buttons on all blog posts so they can be shared online easily.

Social media shouldn’t just be a place to share your own company’s information and content, but to also be a fun resource and industry news source. Occasionally post updates about current events, holidays, fun facts, and other information that your audience will find interesting.

photo credit: See-ming Lee 李思明 SML via photopin cc

Key SEO Habits to Stay on Google’s Good Side This Year

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key SEO habits
The search engine optimization world has always been a dynamic one, requiring online professionals to adjust as quickly as they can. The goal is always the same – to rank as highly as possible in the search engine results – but techniques and strategies have to evaluated and changed if you want to reach your goal.

With the search engines – of which Google is the unquestioned leader – regularly changing their policies, it is up to you to make sure that you adapt. It is not always easy, of course, especially since the exact details are almost always never divulged, but we have to admit that what they are doing is for the good of the user.

That being said, here is a timely reminder for you – some key SEO habits that will help you get on Google’s good side. Consider these tips a refresher, if you will. [Read more…] about Key SEO Habits to Stay on Google’s Good Side This Year

Filed Under: SEO

Google Keeps SEOs on Their Toes

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When Google first launched panda in 2011, its main aim was to degrade the many websites that have been rated with poor user experience. The launch saw a significant impact of the search results of 11.8% of the sites in Google’s index. In July 24th 2012, Google announced that they pushed out the Panda 3.9 refresh. By this time, there were rumors circulating on the net, that Google was about to do a panda refresh. However, Google denied rumors of a Panda update. Google stated that the new update had impacted 1%of search results which is significant. However it is not so remarkable, compared to the higher percentage seen when Google first launched Panda or when Panda was introduced in Korea and Japan and the impact on search results were 5% of all indexed sites. [Read more…] about Google Keeps SEOs on Their Toes

Google’s Pirate Penalty Adds Another Reason to Not Plagiarize Online

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Skull and CrossbonesIf you didn’t already know that it wasn’t a good idea to plagiarize content on the Web, you missed a lot of reasons to not do it.

Not only is it ethically dubious, almost always illegal and prone to serious duplicate content penalties from Google, but it’s also a quick ways to make enemies of people you should probably be trying to work with rather than fighting against.

However, if none of those reasons are compelling to you, then Google has provided yet another. Late last week, the search engine announced that it will begin factoring in copyright notices it receives, a so-called “pirate penalty”.

What does this mean? Simply that Google will begin demoting sites that are the subject to a large number of copyright notices. This makes it so that copyright holders, in addition to possibly being able to shut down your site, they can also seriously hurt your search engine ranking more broadly.

Though the move is largely targeted at websites that traffic in pirated content, plagiarists and spammers should be given at least some pause for concern as this new clampdown could easily impact them as well.

The devil is in the details and Google has been very stingy with those to date. However, there is a little that we do know. [Read more…] about Google’s Pirate Penalty Adds Another Reason to Not Plagiarize Online

Flipping a Website: Where to Start with SEO

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Oftentimes the reason a website is for sale is because there are problems with the site. In the majority of cases, these problems are related to search engine optimization (SEO). Many new website owners see solving a few SEO issues as something that can be done quickly, but this is usually not the case when you’re flipping an entire website. Unfortunately from personal experience, I know that saving a site from lots of Google penalties is not easy feat, and in fact will take you a great deal of time.  Those who buy a website often put a lot of thought into the design and future content and assume they will fix SEO in the meantime, but this logic is backwards.

However, SEO problems should not scare someone away from buying a website.  Making the decision to flip a website can still be a good move for many because there are several benefits:

  • – You will already have a few readers and a little bit of traffic to get you started.
  • – The structure of the website is usually already there, so you will need to make modifications as opposed to starting from scratch.
  • – In many cases flipping a website is less expensive than starting new.
  • – You could likely make a profit. The logic is the same as if you were flipping houses.

The best thing you can do is really analyze the SEO of a website before buying. Consider asking the current owner some of their past SEO strategies and whether or not they were affected by any Google Panda or Penguin updates.

How to Fix SEO When Flipping a Website

If you’ve forgotten to do this and have found yourself with a website in need of a lot of SEO help, don’t sweat it. There are plenty of things you can do to get your website on the right track:

1. Remove Duplicate Content. The first thing you should do is remove any duplicate content on your site. You can tell if the content is duplicate by searching for a few sentences in Google. You can also use CopyScape or go through Webmaster Tools to catch those who might be stealing your content.

2. Get Rid of Spam Links. Check to see where the links on your new website go. If they go to a site that is clearly spam—a site with lots of links, little original content, low PR—delete these links.

3. Get Rid of Spam Backlinks. You do not want spammy sites linking back to your site, so it’s important to determine where your backlinks are coming from. You can do this through Google Analytics.

4. Fix Your Navigation. Google sometimes penalizes sites because of poor navigation. Check to make sure that your site has good internal linking, and consider adding breadcrumbs and making sure your HTML is working correctly.

5. Talk with Google. Once you have made some of these major changes, it’s important that you talk with Google and let them now that you’ve acquired the website, made changes, and no longer deserve to be penalized. You can do this by submitting a reconsideration request.

It’s important to remember that you should do all of this before promoting your website or getting involved with PPC advertising. You should not want to draw people to your website until you have a really solid website with some great information. You don’t have to wait until your website is perfect, but do try to get the major problems (discussed above) fixed before pushing forward.

Have you ever flipped a website with a lot of SEO issues? What were the steps you took to make it happen? Let us know in the comments below!

Photo Credit: banklawyersblog.com

Amanda DiSilvestro gives small business and entrepreneurs SEO advice ranging from Google Analytics How-To’s to AdWords best practices. She works as a ghost writer and freelancer at amandadisilvestro.com and Coastal SEO Consulting, and works as the Marketing Manager for a Travel Company, Discover Corps, full-time. Visit her website to learn more!

Are you Neglecting Your Video Marketing?

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video marketing tips

Video marketing can be a great opportunity to capitalize on one of the largest search engines in the world– YouTube. Additionally, other video sharing sites like Vimeo also bring thousands (if no millions) of views to the plethora of videos each site hosts.

However, some companies are hesitant to get into video marketing because they feel that it will be too much effort and too much time will spending editing, designing, and uploading a video post. Even though this may be the case for some longer videos, the fact remains that video recording devices have gotten much more advanced, leading to the ability to shoot and upload HD video virtually painless.

Some smartphones can shoot in HD, as well as pocket camcorders that can upload videos via USB to your computer or even straight to YouTube. So the excuse that video marketing equipment will be too costly doesn’t have a concrete basis, especially because many people now have smartphones.

To figure out how to best implement a video marketing strategy, outline a publishing schedule and specific goals. For instance, uploading videos on Tuesdays and Thursdays with the goal of 2,000 YouTube subscribers by the end of the year is a great beginning of a successful video marketing strategy. Other key points that need to be laid out include places to upload, connected marketing efforts (such as firing a new Facebook Post, Tweet, and blog post each time a new video is uploaded to a company’s YouTube account), and the completion and delegation of the video creation and upload. Once a video is uploaded to a video site like YouTube, all applicable fields need to be filled out because they have link and SEO value. This includes the description (which allows URLs) and tags.

Once a set of steps for each responsible team member is delegated, creating the content topics is the next largest component. Keep a running list of video ideas from frequently asked questions, event information, and key or hot topics that are happening in your company’s industry.  When all else fails, take to social media and employees to solicit ideas for video topics. Once these demographics know that ideas are welcome, it is fairly easy to keep your video marketing topic list updated with additional input and suggestions.

Video marketing can be a great way to reach a whole new set of customers in a different way. Once a strategy and plan is put into place, creating company videos can certainly be a fun experience.

How to Navigate the New Google Plus Layout

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Google+ is continuing to grow in popularity and companies should take note. This growing social network is becoming closely tied to how Google finds and displays search engines results, so it should be a key part in a company’s SEO and social media strategy. The new Google+ Layout was introduced this week and includes a new layout and a bigger emphasis on photos. These are some of the big changes that most people noticed about the new layout. Making sure that you and your company are using these new features correctly will make a better impression on other Google+ users and can help make your page and profiles more successful.

More Whitespace

This is probably the most noticeable change. Most of the information is shifted onto the left side. Users are already lamenting the whitespace on larger monitors; luckily Lifehacker has already shared a Chrome and Firefox extension that helps remove the whitespace on your own browser, making the information the main focal point (note: this will only work on your own browser. Another user who doesn’t have the extension installed will still see the default whitespace). However, the whitespace also gives Google+ a cleaner look. To compliment this uncluttered look, choose a simple profile photo and cover image.

More Emphasis on Photos

The cleaner look includes a great emphasis on photos and images, including a bigger profile photo to the right hand side of the profile information and a cover image, much like the cover image that is on the new Facebook Timeline layout, which was made mandatory by Facebook for all pages on March 30, 2012.Make sure the cover image and the profile picture are not blurry or distorted and offer a good initial impression. Additionally, add photo albums of company events, products, and employees to make the page more personable.

Redesigned Navigation

The navigation menu is now along the left hand side of the page, instead of at the top. It includes seven main headings:

  1. Home
  2. Profile
  3. Pages
  4. Explore
  5. Photos
  6. Circles
  7. More

These menu items are pretty self-explanatory; hovering over the menu item on some will cause an option menu to appear (For instance, hovering over the “Pages” item will cause of a list of all pages the profile you are logged in as has administrative control over).

Trending and Suggestions

The ‘Explore’ menu item will take the user to a trending and suggestions panel, which lists “What’s hot” on your Google+ network; what is currently trending on Google+, and other things that a user can do on Google+, including video chats with up to 9 users at once and who to follow on the growing social networking site.

These are the main changes that happened on Google+ this week. Google representatives are also working on improving online chat and video quality, which is all tied into a user’s GChat contacts. As Google+ continues to grow, expend the search engine giant to continue to change and shape this networking site to make it more of a substantial force in social media.