Ask any search engine optimization expert and they will tell you that without a doubt one of the big 3 SEO must do’s is the title tag. Title tags are weighted as part of your overall SEO score and they provide a chance to plug particular keywords and your company name. A title tag is an HTML tag with text describing a specific web page but is not displayed on the actual webpage. If you are using internet explorer you can see the title tag in the blue bar across the top of the screen, please see the example below. Read more
With a disappointing second quarter her cards were already numbered, so today’s sacking via a telephone call won’t have come as much of a surprise to the now ex-Yahoo CEO, who will forever be remembered as the woman who ended Yahoo’s love affair with search. And for me this is the real story here.
With all Yahoo search, except display, now powered by Microsoft, what does Yahoo really represent and where are they going from here? This past week saw the launch of their new mail system, but is even that too little too late. Users have left in their droves in recent years as Yahoo mail bug reports continue to overflow, not to mention suffering heavily at the hands of Googlemail and its all encompassing facility. Even the Yahoo Site Explorer tool is set to be cut down this month, adding another self-inflicted wound to a tough few years. Read more
Lately we have been focussing on a myriad of topics pertaining to SEO. These have included, how to choose an SEO company, how to utilise Facebook and Twitter and SEO mistakes to avoid. So today I thought I should say a few words for those wanting to be on the other side of the fence, those wanting to start a search engine optimisation firm of their own.
Becoming a search engine marketing specialist is no mean feat, there is an ocean of knowledge to attain and the learning curve is endless. But for the purpose of this post let’s just presume you have the credentials in the bag already Read more
At one time the background of Google Adwords listings was a pale blue, then it was changed to yellow and now Google are switching again but this time to purple. It was about three years ago when Google switched from blue to yellow, and quite why Adword listings have to be highlighted I don’t know. Doesn’t the mere fact that they are top of the pile serve as enough of a click incentive? Many people have mentioned to me in the past that the fact that they are singled out by colour actually makes them avoid clicking on paid listings.
This change will affect searchengine marketing in that people respond differently to different colours. perhaps Google has been advised that purple is more effective.
The colour upgrade, so to speak, is apparently nothing to do with searchengine marketing psycology and is merely part of a general results page revamp and modernisation effort. So its good news for those who prefer purple to yellow. Here is Google’s official statement regarding this matter:
“Starting today and ramping up to 100% globally by the end of this week, we’ll be changing the background color for ads that appear above the search results on Google.com as well as our local domains. The ads, which currently have a pale yellow background, will change to have a pale purple background. This change is part of the ‘look and feel’ update to our color palette and logo that we made back in May of this year to keep the Google results page looking fresh and modern. This is purely an aesthetic change to our ads and won’t have any impact on the way we target or serve advertisements on Google.com”.
And here is how your new Google page will look with the purple ads:
Personally I prefer the old blue style below:
The internet has pretty much made the paperback dictionary redundant, I mean who has the time to get up from their computer, grab a dictionary and flick through those annoyingly thin pages and small print to find a definition, certainly not me!
Which is why using search engine services for word definitions is so much more efficient. At one time I used dictionary.com, but then even that became long winded and I switched to simply typing my query into Google. Not one to complain (er-hem), I found having to type “define: word” or “word definition” long winded, I longed to just switch tabs, type in my word and hocus pocus my definition would appear.
Well my prayers have been answered. Google have recently added “implicit triggering” of the dictionary result, so for example, a search on the word “annoying” shows a dictionary result at the top of the page as follows:
In my opinion this is a marvellous little adjustment, and out of all the search engine services Google always seems to be striving hardest to respond to consumer needs. It won’t improve my search engine optimization, but, not only does it mean less typing, it means less arthritic pain in my fingers as I grow old. For those of you who weren’t aware of the Google dictionary in the first place this is what one would have previously had to type in for an instant word definition:
Or
It is indeed the small pleasures in life that bring us the most joy, and even though it won’t help your search engine optimization in any way I hope you find this little innovation as rewarding as I did. Just think, if I hadn’t of blogged this you may still have been typing in two words instead of the required one for a long time to come.
Finally, as threatened many times, Google have come up with a social aspect to search, albeit a rip-off of the Facebook “Like” button. +1, pronounced plus one, will allow you to effectively “like” search results and adverts by activating the +1 feature and clicking on it each time you feel the urge.
Have you ever wondered why, sometimes when you browse a product on a website, the very site you abandoned suddenly starts targeting you with adverts via YouTube, Facebook and other platforms you visit?
This is called “remarketing” and, if you own an online business, could be the answer to reducing cart abandonment and infiltrating the minds of potential customers.
How Does Google Remarketing Work?
Google Display Network’s “remarketing” program lets you create ad campaigns based on Read more
Imagine that, seeing your pages listed highly in Google, but receiving precious little traffic. You might as well give up hope, surely? Wait! Before you get too demoralised, there are a number of reasons why this horrid situation can occur.
1. You Don’t Rank Highly At All
You might not actually be ranking highly at all. You might just be seeing an illusion based on your personal search history. Do the following and then re-search:
- Make sure you are logged out of your Google account
- Use the “&pws=0” parameter to limit personalization
- Try a different browser: Firefox/Safari/Google Chrome, etc Read more
Google Farmer Algorithm Guide
Late last week I sent out an update on Google’s Farmer algorithm change, and while the change comes as a pleasant change for websites being plagiarized by content farms, there is some concern by websites that churn out daily content. Web owners are concerned they might be labeled “the farmer” should another site copy their work or house similar content. So how does one avoid being considered a low-quality publisher in the eyes of the search giant?
- Don’t Stress Over every Single Piece of Content
Google wont just label you a farm based on one piece of content, so if you have one article extremely similar to twenty other sites in a particular week I wouldn’t worry too much. If this is happening on a daily basis, however, then you might want to have a word with your editorial team and consider some drastic Read more
A while ago I told you the Google Farmer change was coming, but just how big an impact it was going to have I couldn’t have told you back then. Well, since this baby has been in operation for a good couple of weeks now, I can tell you a lot more about how it is affecting search and ecommerce in general.
Massive Changes In Search Results
We knew this massive change to Google’s ranking algorithm would improve query results and wean out websites who reuse content and try to beat the system, what we couldn’t of known is that this change would affect 11.8% of Google queries in the United States.
Google makes about 500 changes to its algorithm per year, some miniscule and others with greater importance, but most with the aim of Read more
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