Google: Your Rankings Dropped Because Of Links, Not Hummingbird
A Google Webmaster Help thread has an office furniture site complaining that his Google rankings dropped after the Hummingbird update was pushed out.
Of course…
January 2014 Google Webmaster Report
Despite it being the month of December, which normally means it is slow, it was a pretty busy month. The past week or so has been dead, so not much to report in the first week of January…
14 Link Resolutions for 2014
If 2013′s link building industry could be summed up in one word, that word would be “interesting.” There were some big shakeups that other people have covered in various locations on the web, so I won’t go into that here; but, what I will discuss is what your 14 resolutions…
Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.
Zora Neale Hurston Google Logo Marks The 123rd Birthday Of The Harlem Renaissance Writer
Today’s Google logo is a tribute to one of the 20th century’s most celebrated African American female writers, Zora Neale Hurston. Best known for her novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, Hurston’s body of work included four novels, two book of folklore, and an autobiography. She…
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Reverse Engineer Sociology & Influencer Understanding for Outreach Success
Reaching out to influencers is incredibly time consuming. Building relationships in an environment where most of those journalists and site owners you want to reach are spammed to death on a daily basis is hard work. Here’s how to work smarter.
More detailed search queries in Webmaster Tools
Webmaster level: intermediateTo help jump-start your year and make metrics for your site more actionable, we’ve updated one of the most popular features in Webmaster Tools: data in the search queries feature will no longer be rounded / bucketed. This c…
Improved Search Queries stats for separate mobile sites
Webmaster Level: All
Search Queries in Webmaster Tools just became more cohesive for those who manage a mobile site on a separate URL from desktop, such as mobile on m.example.com and desktop on www. In Search Queries, when you view your m. site* and set Filters to “Mobile,” from Dec 31, 2013 onwards, you’ll now see:
- Queries where your m. pages appeared in search results for mobile browsers
- Queries where Google applied Skip Redirect. This means that, while search results displayed the desktop URL, the user was automatically directed to the corresponding m. version of the URL (thus saving the user from latency of a server-side redirect).
Skip Redirect information (impressions, clicks, etc.) calculated with mobile site.
Prior to this Search Queries improvement, Webmaster Tools reported Skip Redirect impressions with the desktop URL. Now we’ve consolidated information when Skip Redirect is triggered, so that impressions, clicks, and CTR are calculated solely with the verified m. site, making your mobile statistics more understandable.
Best practices if you have a separate m. site
Here are a few search-friendly recommendations for those publishing content on a separate m. site:
- Follow our advice on Building Smartphone-Optimized Websites
- On the desktop page, add a special link rel=”alternate” tag pointing to the corresponding mobile URL. This helps Googlebot discover the location of your site’s mobile pages.
- On the mobile page, add a link rel=”canonical” tag pointing to the corresponding desktop URL.
- Use the
HTTP Vary: User-Agentheader if your servers automatically redirect users based on their user agent/device. - Verify ownership of both the desktop (www) and mobile (m.) sites in Webmaster Tools for improved communication and troubleshooting information specific to each site.
* Be sure you’ve verified ownership for your mobile site!
Written by Maile Ohye, Developer Programs Tech Lead
SearchCap: The Day In Search, January 6, 2014
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Bing Launches Awards Site In Time For Golden Globes, Grammy’s & The Oscars Bing has launched a new awards site in anticipation of upcoming award shows,…
Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.
Bing Launches Awards Site In Time For Golden Globes, Grammy’s & The Oscars
Bing has launched a new awards site in anticipation of upcoming award shows, including the Golden Globes, Grammy’s and Oscars. According to the announcement, the site will serve as an online resource for “all things awards” with background information on nominees, tips for…
Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.
Pinterest Beefs Up Its Search Chops With VisualGraph Acquisition
Pinterest is looking to improve search and discovery on its website and mobile apps with the acquisition of a company called VisualGraph. It’s a two-person company and both employees — Kevin Jing and David Liu — are starting at Pinterest today. In a statement confirming the…
Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.
Why Apps Will Dethrone Content as King of Digital Marketing
The sites with the best tools dominate the web. Facebook, Twitter, Google, YouTube, WordPress, and LinkedIn don’t owe their success to content marketing because they are more than content. Here’s why apps are the future of digital marketing.
Share the Experience: Send Your Team to SMX West… and Save 15% to 35%
Give your marketing team the learning and tools they need for a successful and profitable 2014. SMX West provides must-have tactics on SEO, paid search, social media marketing, mobile marketing and more. With 60 sessions to choose from, your team membe…
4 Ways to Expand PLA Success in 2014
Google Product Listing Ads have become a key component of driving online sales, so the time to capitalize is now. As 2014 gets underway, marketers should consider the following ways to take PLA programs to the next level.
Just Say No To SEO (Sometimes)
There are some SEO rules that you should break. While conventional SEO wisdom advises certain types of behavior, there are times when that advice should be ignored. SEO must be viewed as part of a larger overall marketing picture, and sometimes other c…
Zemanta Links & Google’s Guidelines
Zemanta is a content discovery platform, they have a popular WordPress plugin that helps bloggers find related posts and related images while you write your post.
It does mention a bit on links on the plugin page:
Link Love by linking to other blogge…
Social Optimization: Your Content Or Yourself?
There is an interesting conversation going on at Cre8asite Forums about your clients participating in social networks and the importance of that.
The given is that social is growing in importance, as it related to search rankings either indirectly an…
Google On What To Do If You Can’t Have 100% Unique Content
Google has said time to time that having some unique content, even if it is a few sentences of unique content may be enough.
So when Gary Illyes from Google responded to a thread at Google Webmaster Help – his response stood out…
Rap Genius Back After 10-Day Penalty
Over Christmas, Rap Genius was penalized by Google for unnatural links. In short, they offered an exchange of traffic for keyword rich links to their site. It was outed, Google’s Matt Cutts saw it, it lead to a manual action that had a serious impact o…
40% of Facebook Users Visit the Site Multiple Times Per Day [Study]
Pew’s new research reveals that Facebook has been the most popular U.S. social media site (7 in 10 online adults had Facebook accounts in 2013), as well as the most effective networking platform to engage online users over the past year.
Rap Genius Back In Google After 10 Day Penalty, Ranks For Its Name But What About Lyrics?
Lyrics site Rap Genius says that is is no longer penalized within Google after taking action to correct “unnatural links” that it helped create. The site was hit with a penalty for 10 days, which meant people seeking it by name couldn’t find it. That’s been fixed, though…
Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.