Four ways Google is making SEO easier

One of the best ways to stay up-to-date with SEO and search marketing developments is to keep a close eye on Google’s developments. However, just doing that can be a full-time job. Luke Budka highlights four recent updates you may not be aware of.

What we learned from SEO: The Movie

SEO: The Movie is a new documentary which explores the origin story of search and SEO, as told by several of its pioneers. It’s a 40-minute snapshot of the search industry that is and was, with a glimpse into the future and what might become of SEO in the years to come. Here are some of the highlights.

Head Of Google’s Web Spam Team Matt Cutts Is Going On Leave

Google’s Matt Cutts – who holds the title of “distinguished engineer” — is taking a break from his duties as Google’s chief web spam fighter. Cutts has announced on his personal blog that he’s taking leave through October. It will be the longest break Cutts…

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WATCH: Matt Cutts AMA Keynote At SMX Advanced 2014

You already read the live blog and news coverage. Or maybe you were one of the lucky ones who was in attendance last week for the annual Matt Cutts “You&A” AMA-style keynote conversation with Search Engine Land’s Founding Editor, Danny Sullivan, at SMX Advanced. Either way,…

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Live Blog: Matt Cutts Keynote Q&A At SMX Advanced 2014

Day one of our SMX Advanced conference is wrapping up, but before we call it a day … it’s time for an SMX Advanced tradition: Matt Cutts, the head of Google’s webspam fighting team, in a keynote conversation with our Founding Editor, Danny Sullivan. With all of the recent news…

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Matt Cutts Stars In Parody “Spam Around The World” Video

Matt Cutts has been the subject of a number of parody/comedy videos during his tenure as the chief of Google’s webspam team, and the latest has him starring in a rap-style clip called “Spam Around The World.” It’s a collage of clips from past webmaster videos edited together…

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Google’s Matt Cutts Explains The Differences Between 404 & 410 Status Codes

Google’s head of search spam, Matt Cutts, posted a video today explaining the difference in how Google handles 404 and 410 error status codes. Both 404 and 410s are errors for a web page or document not being available, however a 410 is defined as “gone” forever. So 410s are more…

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How A Single Guest Post May Have Gotten An Entire Site Penalized By Google

Google made it clear earlier this year that those doing guest posts “for SEO purposes” might be subject to penalties. But the latest chapter in its war on guest posts feels a bit crazy: an entire site put into Google’s penalty box because of a single guest post that Google…

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Selling Links To A Big Brand? Here’s Why You Don’t Tweet About It

Here’s a lesson in how not to sell links. As Search Engine Roundtable pointed out this morning, someone named “Vince” from WebDesign.org is using Twitter to contact companies about renewing paid links that are about to expire. You can look at the @vitaliykoloswdl account and see…

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10 Key Takeaways From Meet The Search Engines @ SMX West

Another SMX is in the books! This show definitely had one of the most engaged attendee groups I have ever seen at any conference in recent memory. The polite, attentive search engine marketers weren’t there to just network and enjoy the San Jose sun. They were interested and looking for…

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Live @ SMX West: Meet The Search Engines

Both Google and Bing are generous when it comes to offering advice to SEOs and search marketers. Google’s Webmaster Tools section offers tons of helpful information, such as how to create Google-friendly sites, how to utilize Rich snippets (microdata, microformats, and RDFa) – even a…

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Someone Outranking You With Your Own Content? Use The New Google Scraper Report

One of the most frustrating experiences for any publisher is discovering that someone not only has copied your content but outranks you on Google for searches related to that content. Now, Google seems to have heard the complaints and has launched a to…

Google’s Matt Cutts On Being A Spam Fighter: Looking For Patterns & Always New Spam Efforts

Google’s head of search spam Matt Cutts posted a longer video today answering what it is like to fight webspam at Google. The questions posed by Brian Harnish of Westminster, California were: What is a day in the life of a search spam team member like? What is the evolution of decisions in…

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Authority Is The New Links: Reading Between The Lines Of Matt Cutts’ Guest Post Critique

The SEO industry has been all aflutter over the last few weeks, ever since Matt Cutts stated that guest blogging is dead. In The decay and fall of guest blogging for SEO — a headline that is a particularly strong statement from Google’s Head of Webspam — Cutts essentially said…

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Matt Cutts: “Stick A Fork In It, Guest Blogging Is Done”

Google and Matt Cutts, in particular, has made a number of statements about guest blogging over the past year as the tactic has grown as a link building tactic. None of those statements are as clear as the one Cutts wrote today on his personal blog. Cutts, the head of Google’s webspam team,…

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Google’s Matt Cutts On Publishers With Duplicate Content: Use The Canonical Tag

In a video released by Matt Cutts, Google’s head of search spam, Matt said publishers who publish similar or duplicative stories on different URLs may use the rel=canonical tag to help consolidate the PageRank of the stories and avoid any issues with Google. Matt Cutts did say that duplicate…

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Matt Cutts: Wrong About Responsive Web Design

In the SEO world, many view Matt Cutts’ word as gospel, and indeed, he is usually spot on with his recommendations and advice. However, Cutts recently released a video in which he explains to viewers that responsive Web design is does not have a negative impact on SEO – and I…

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