Google's Search Results Rocky This Week...
This week has been a mess for Google's search results, despite Google denying anything is going on to me.
There were some tools that sparked up on November 14th that I didn't see from the webmaster chatter.
This whole week, I've been seeing a lot of sporadic complaints in both WebmasterWorld and Google Webmaster Help forums. Typically, these sporadic reports, at least I think, mean Google targeted a link network and some sites were majorly impacted by it. It also may be a weird Google bug. But not necessarily a Google update. Of course, it could be that Panda was updated, which Google stopped confirming.
It is hard to tell.
The tools are all lighting up over the past few days. Moz has warmer than normal temperature the past couple days, SERPs.com has higher volatility numbers than normal, SERP Metrics shows higher flux than normal and Algoroo is in the red the past couple days. Something seems to be up.
Is it a major algorithm update - I don't think so. If I had to guess, maybe Panda was rerun or maybe Google squashed some sort of link network.
I am honestly not sure but Google is indeed a bit rocky the past few days.
This week has been a mess for Google's search results, despite Google denying anything is going on to me.
There were some tools that sparked up on November 14th that I didn't see from the webmaster chatter.
This whole week, I've been seeing a lot of sporadic complaints in both WebmasterWorld and Google Webmaster Help forums. Typically, these sporadic reports, at least I think, mean Google targeted a link network and some sites were majorly impacted by it. It also may be a weird Google bug. But not necessarily a Google update. Of course, it could be that Panda was updated, which Google stopped confirming.
It is hard to tell.
The tools are all lighting up over the past few days. Moz has warmer than normal temperature the past couple days, SERPs.com has higher volatility numbers than normal, SERP Metrics shows higher flux than normal and Algoroo is in the red the past couple days. Something seems to be up.
Is it a major algorithm update - I don't think so. If I had to guess, maybe Panda was rerun or maybe Google squashed some sort of link network.
I am honestly not sure but Google is indeed a bit rocky the past few days.
Hiring An SEO Firm After Google’s Hummingbird Update
Visibility on search engines is vital online, but choosing among SEOs is obscure. Most small businesses look for local web service companies, whereas national and global companies hire large online marketing firms.
Then you realize that SEO prospects talk about similar things in regard to content improvement, link building, and onsite optimization. Moreover, it is more difficult to pick within an industry, as each experienced SEO consultant appears to substantiate each other’s statements and approach.
Online advertising has changed so fast and across the board. Several programs help keep up with the shift toward fresh content creation and social signals. Reputation management, content marketing, blogging services, fake reviews, and link removal firms will bid for the lump sum budget for your online marketing campaign.
As if the inundation of new approaches to Internet marketing is insufficient, traditional but outdated strategies need adjustments to meet the recent algorithm changes brought by Google’s Hummingbird update.
Even though lots of Internet marketers see it negatively, the Panda, Penguin, and Hummingbird updates help ward off businesses that generate spam. Large blog networks involved in automated software and selling backlinks were put out of operation.
(Flickr / Sean MacEntee)
Here are some tips for hiring the right SEO firm:
1. As a rule, the older SEO firms are wiser than newer ones.
Older, well-established SEO companies are more adept and better at catering to certain client requirements.
Many new SEOs conduct fly-by-night operations, read the latest official statements from Google and the latest gobbledygook to impress clients, but they do not have the skill or time to deal with the exact needs of a website.
In addition, several SEO companies who are still new to this line of work use old strategies that may hurt the client’s business in due course.
A good way to measure SEO knowledge is asking the firm about key figures in organic search communities. Ask potential SEO consultants if they have encountered the names Matt Cutts, head of Webspam at Google, and Rand Fishkin, founder of SEO Moz and Moz.com. About 75 percent of companies are acquainted with those names and can talk about them at great length. This simple question already helped you drop the 25 percent that will try to discredit Matt’s and Rand’s contributions or drop the topic altogether.
2. Learning often comes first before doing.
Prior to hiring an SEO firm of your choice, conduct a research to compare features and advantages to figure out what each company has to offer against the competition.
By studying the changes brought by the latest major algorithm updates, you are preparing yourself to ask relevant questions and evaluate various SEO service offerings.
Google’s free webmaster videos provide some of the best questions to help you speak with confidence about SEO.
The following questions allow you to compare companies that are updated with Google search algorithms and provide a good grasp about what products and services to expect and if these deliverables are safe for ranking your website.
1. When Google rolled out Panda and Penguin, what did you do right after? Did you do the same things with Hummingbird?
2. What reporting do you use to measure coding, linking, positioning, and so on?
3. What Panda- or Penguin-friendly backlinks will you provide?
4. Will you show client samples in my industry or something similar?
3. SEO does not revolve only on rankings.
There are several websites that rank for many keywords and key terms, such that they appear on the first page of search engine results, but do not experience traffic that reflects their high ranking.
Analytics is the primary code for a website because it provides the most realistic, practical figures. The marketer or advertising firm has to know whether or not your keywords are searched by your target audience.
The data provided by analytics allows you to make more intelligent campaigns for organic search engine ranking. It helps you target keywords that generate the most traffic and remove phrases that waste time and resources. Ensure that the chosen SEO company remains focused on things other than the ranking of keywords.
Visibility on search engines is vital online, but choosing among SEOs is obscure. Most small businesses look for local web service companies, whereas national and global companies hire large online marketing firms.
Then you realize that SEO prospects talk about similar things in regard to content improvement, link building, and onsite optimization. Moreover, it is more difficult to pick within an industry, as each experienced SEO consultant appears to substantiate each other’s statements and approach.
Online advertising has changed so fast and across the board. Several programs help keep up with the shift toward fresh content creation and social signals. Reputation management, content marketing, blogging services, fake reviews, and link removal firms will bid for the lump sum budget for your online marketing campaign.
As if the inundation of new approaches to Internet marketing is insufficient, traditional but outdated strategies need adjustments to meet the recent algorithm changes brought by Google’s Hummingbird update.
Even though lots of Internet marketers see it negatively, the Panda, Penguin, and Hummingbird updates help ward off businesses that generate spam. Large blog networks involved in automated software and selling backlinks were put out of operation.
(Flickr / Sean MacEntee)
Here are some tips for hiring the right SEO firm:
1. As a rule, the older SEO firms are wiser than newer ones.
Older, well-established SEO companies are more adept and better at catering to certain client requirements.
Many new SEOs conduct fly-by-night operations, read the latest official statements from Google and the latest gobbledygook to impress clients, but they do not have the skill or time to deal with the exact needs of a website.
In addition, several SEO companies who are still new to this line of work use old strategies that may hurt the client’s business in due course.
A good way to measure SEO knowledge is asking the firm about key figures in organic search communities. Ask potential SEO consultants if they have encountered the names Matt Cutts, head of Webspam at Google, and Rand Fishkin, founder of SEO Moz and Moz.com. About 75 percent of companies are acquainted with those names and can talk about them at great length. This simple question already helped you drop the 25 percent that will try to discredit Matt’s and Rand’s contributions or drop the topic altogether.
2. Learning often comes first before doing.
Prior to hiring an SEO firm of your choice, conduct a research to compare features and advantages to figure out what each company has to offer against the competition.
By studying the changes brought by the latest major algorithm updates, you are preparing yourself to ask relevant questions and evaluate various SEO service offerings.
Google’s free webmaster videos provide some of the best questions to help you speak with confidence about SEO.
The following questions allow you to compare companies that are updated with Google search algorithms and provide a good grasp about what products and services to expect and if these deliverables are safe for ranking your website.
1. When Google rolled out Panda and Penguin, what did you do right after? Did you do the same things with Hummingbird?
2. What reporting do you use to measure coding, linking, positioning, and so on?
3. What Panda- or Penguin-friendly backlinks will you provide?
4. Will you show client samples in my industry or something similar?
3. SEO does not revolve only on rankings.
There are several websites that rank for many keywords and key terms, such that they appear on the first page of search engine results, but do not experience traffic that reflects their high ranking.
Analytics is the primary code for a website because it provides the most realistic, practical figures. The marketer or advertising firm has to know whether or not your keywords are searched by your target audience.
The data provided by analytics allows you to make more intelligent campaigns for organic search engine ranking. It helps you target keywords that generate the most traffic and remove phrases that waste time and resources. Ensure that the chosen SEO company remains focused on things other than the ranking of keywords.
Did Matt Cutts Just Call Himself A Link Spammer?
Yesterday I reported that Google says using keyword rich user names in comments can be considered spammy and against Google's policies, potentially being a link scheme. Of course that caused for a lot of comments from the community but is it fair?
Remember GoogleGuy? GoogleGuy was the Googler who spent years helping webmasters under an unknown alias of GoogleGuy. He posted at WebmasterWorld a lot, but also a lot in comments and other areas. Later, we learned GoogleGuy was really Matt Cutts. What happened to GoogleGuy, well, he stop posting years ago.
His last post was in 2008 on this thread and has not posted since. You can see GoogleGuys profile over here.
Note, the name is kind of a keyword rich name for Google, the profile does link to google.com.
Now we know GoogleGuy didn't go around with the intent of boosting Google.com's link profile, so the intent was not there.
But we also know that back in the day, it was common place to use aliases instead of real names.
So why go so strong against people who still are old school?
Is Matt calling himself, aka GoogleGuy, a link spammer?Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld & Google+.
Update: To be clear, I don't think Matt Cutts is a link spammer. The purpose of this post is to convey most of link spam is about the intent of the link and anchor text. Matt's intent with GoogleGuy was not about spamming Google, obviously.
Yesterday I reported that Google says using keyword rich user names in comments can be considered spammy and against Google's policies, potentially being a link scheme. Of course that caused for a lot of comments from the community but is it fair?Remember GoogleGuy? GoogleGuy was the Googler who spent years helping webmasters under an unknown alias of GoogleGuy. He posted at WebmasterWorld a lot, but also a lot in comments and other areas. Later, we learned GoogleGuy was really Matt Cutts. What happened to GoogleGuy, well, he stop posting years ago.
His last post was in 2008 on this thread and has not posted since. You can see GoogleGuys profile over here.
Note, the name is kind of a keyword rich name for Google, the profile does link to google.com.
Now we know GoogleGuy didn't go around with the intent of boosting Google.com's link profile, so the intent was not there.
But we also know that back in the day, it was common place to use aliases instead of real names.
So why go so strong against people who still are old school?
Is Matt calling himself, aka GoogleGuy, a link spammer?Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld & Google+.
Update: To be clear, I don't think Matt Cutts is a link spammer. The purpose of this post is to convey most of link spam is about the intent of the link and anchor text. Matt's intent with GoogleGuy was not about spamming Google, obviously.