Penguin 5, With The Penguin 2.1 Spam-Filtering Algorithm, Is Now Live

The fifth confirmed release of Google’s “Penguin” spam fighting algorithm is live. That makes it Penguin 5 by our count. But since this Penguin update is using a slightly improved version of Google’s “Penguin 2″ second-generation technology, Google itself is…

Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.

Searching For The Voice Of Siri: Voiceover Actor Susan Bennett Says, “It’s Obviously Me”

A story on CNN.com claims that Atlanta voiceover professional Susan Bennett is the original voice of Siri, Apple’s iPhone voice application. According to the story, Bennett did voice work for the software company ScanSoft in 2005. CNN says ScanSoft was then purchased by Nuance Communications,…

Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.

Search In Pics: Android Mini Golf, Google Garage, & Glass At The Emmys

In this week’s Search In Pictures, here are the latest images culled from the Web, showing what people eat at the search engine companies, how they play, who they meet, where they speak, what toys they have, and more. Android Mini Golf: Source: Google+ Google Top Contributor Summit Awards:…

Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.

Dear Content Spammers: Old Articles Rank Just Fine in Google’s SERPs

Yet another weak SEO idea is now being elevated to the status of pseudo-fact: that fresh content somehow trumps old content in Google’s search results. It’s this kind of nonsense that really leads people to generate new waves of spam because they believe this crap and start following really bad advice. Stop and think about the sources of these strategies: people who told you to use PageRank sculpting, to use guest blogging for links, to invest in more infographics, to use flat site architecture. Their track record is rotten with the demise of thousands of Websites that followed their terrible advice. You can find these people in blogs, on forums, even in the news media, dispensing formulaic SEO buzzword advice that is based only only how impressed they were with someone’s presentation. They don’t look at the consequences of widespread adoption of “cutting edge” ideas that are surefire ways to win in the SERPs. And what’s worse, their readers are even less discerning. If you ever wonder why I am so critical of so much SEO philosophy, it’s because so many people in our industry do not learn from their past mistakes. “Oh, Google Panda screwed us! Wah! Oh well, […]

Structured Data Superstars @ SMX East

Structured data has become a hot topic over the past year or so, and at SMX East, the room was packed for the Structured Data Superstars session. Evan Sandhaus of the New York Times kicked it off with a very impressive look at how the Times spent the l…

Ezine Articles & Press Releases Supplied As Bad Backlink Examples In WMT

Ezine Articles and press releases have long been utilized by SEO professionals for building backlinks. In late July 2013, news broke that links should be no followed in press releases. Right around this same time, Google also mentioned that if you are …

9 PPC Tips to Kill it in Q4

I’m a little odd when it comes to the holiday season. I put my lights up in mid-August and get a tree so early it’s pretty much firewood by the time Christmas rolls around. When it comes to shopping however, I am NOT a pre-planner. I go to the mall precisely one day a year: […]

Google Makes Mobile Search Faster With Ping Attribute

Ilya Grigorik, a Google developer advocate, announced last night a small tweak Google made to the mobile search experience that will speed up the mobile search experience on mobile Safari and Chrome by 200-400 milliseconds. By implementing a attribute named <a ping>, Google is able to…

Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.

New Data Suggest AdWords Enhanced Campaigns Actually Work

Nearly two months after the forced roll-out of Enhanced Campaigns in AdWords, at least one key question remains unanswered: are we better off today than we were before? In my column this week, I’ll try to answer that question using some data-driven analysis — but first, I thought it…

Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.