The New Penguin – Google’s Spam Fighting Update

 

                What is the entire ruckus all about?  Now, for SEOs who have done their best to keep within Google Webmaster Guidelines, there is not much to worry about.  On the other hand, if you’re one of those who have been doing some shady SEO tactics, it’s not too late to clean-up and then keep up.

                A few things that should be kept in mind regarding the Penguin Updates is that they are meant to target sites that resort to spamdexing, link-bombing and keyword stuffing.  In addition, since long tail keywords do generate significant traffic, they target sites who over do this too.

                The question is how do you make sure you get to the SERP front page? - Or dominate the SERPs (as some would call it).  Well the first tip on everyone’s list is to write high-quality informative content.  But that doesn’t really promise anything with regards to ranking.  Now, writing fresh ideas or writing old ideas on a different perspective, interesting enough that people actually “like” and “share” it in every social media available – now that can get you somewhere.  Nowadays – likes and shares (and pins) give sites a certain level of authority and trust level that Google finds worthy to be listed or ranked on the top range.

                Which brings us on to the social media arena, evidently, in order to promote your website, it’s a good idea to have a spot on every one of them from Facebook, Google+ Pages, You Tube, Pinterest, blogs – basically on every site that allows people to share information of any form.

                It’s also best to keep in mind that search engines, specifically Google has been humanized and has the capacity now to weed out sites that resort to shady tricks and favors just the sites that are highly recommended by others who are searching for the same things.

                To learn more about the changes in the world of SEO and how it affects businesses in Sydney – click here to visit Sydney’s premier SEO service provider.

SEO Strategy – Optimizing Digital Assets for Better Searchability

Apparently, even in the world of the wide web, change is the only thing that is constant.  And as for Search Engine Optimization the changes which have been made in the past have made everything better for search engine users.  The newest SEO strategy nowadays is relevant content in whatever form.  It makes sense, in order for search engines to be an effective “search engine” they should be able to come up with results that are relevant to what the user is looking for.

This can be a problem for marketers who create backlinks solely by writing offsite articles. The only problem now is how to come up with fresh relevant content on the same topic over and over.  You may reach a point when there is definitely nothing else to say about the matter because hundreds of other websites have covered the topic.  The solution is quite simple and obvious – make use of other digital assets available to you.

Search engines find relevance in other sources of information such as images, videos, blogs, answer forums, etc. , these other sources of information are called digital assets and optimizing them gives you more room to expand your backlinks.  Take for example the use of images, creating infographics is another way of presenting the same idea you have exhaustively discussed in an article.  It may have the same content but because of its presentation, it is considered as something new.  The idea is to make sure your content is presented in all other digital formats whenever possible.

Digital assets are found as other search options on the search page of the search engine.  Google for example has them all lines up below the search box as follows:

Web      Images    Maps     Shopping          More     (click on More and you will find …)

Videos  News    Books    Blogs     Flights   Discussions         Recipes     Applications

Bing and Yahoo have more or less the same list of digital assets either lined up vertically on the left side of the screen or listed below the query box. 

                The whole point is to have visibility whenever possible, let Google find you on Google Maps, guest blog when you can and answer queries relating to your product or service or join discussions on related topics.  If you are selling food items, create recipes and post them online. Videos are time consuming and a tad bit expensive but you can minimize the cost by creating presentations that do not require actors.

                The bottom line is to be visible and if search engines are able search these digital formats, they therefore can be optimized to your advantage. For more on SEO issues and how it can help your site generate traffic, click here.

SEO and Website Promotion

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a marketing strategy whose sole purpose is to increase the page rank of a website. A high ranking webpage on a search engine usually equates to higher traffic to the site.  How that traffic converts to sales is up to the web designers and  how the webpage appeals to the audience but that is a different strategy altogether although SEO, Web Design and Web development goes hand in hand.

SEO is associated with keywords, links and content relevance. Search engines such as Google and Yahoo have developed search algorithms that efficiently give its users the most relevant articles, images and videos based on the keyword they have typed in the search box. 

SEO is an effective marketing strategy because it bridges the gap between supplier and consumer. Marketing is aimed at reaching a company’s target market efficiently and effectively and SEO strategy is the best paradigm. The consumer searches for specific information which the search engine provides based on what it thinks is relevant giving the consumer/user a list of suggestions which the consumer may or may not act upon.  Being on the first page of the search engine result page (SERP) means you have higher visibility and therefore have better chances of getting online visitors.  Being on that first page also gives the consumer the idea that your site is one of the most relevant and therefore might be the one they are looking for.

As mentioned before, search engines give out results based on the search algorithm that they use and the rules have grown more sophisticated over the years. Most popular search engines have different algorithms but they all work on the same premise – to give user the best and most relevant results.

Search engines are also on the lookout and they do punish websites that use tricks to increase page rank. Otherwise known as Black Hat SEO, it is basically the practice of hiding or cloaking keywords in images and within the HTML codes as opposed to creating relevant content.  So, make sure that you hire an SEO service that does not resort to this kind of technique. Another trick to look out for is link farms, those have gone obsolete although links are still an important part of the SEO marketing strategy.

The SEO service is effective marketing on a budget which is why it is perfect for small localized businesses although big companies are known to use SEO services as well. It is advisable to hire a local SEO service for a local company, if you are based in Sydney, do give PHRISKWEB a call.