Penguin 2.0: How to become an online authority

How do I create an authority website? 

Here’s how:

Invest in quality content

Everything you create – both on and offsite – should have quality at its core. Create content for users, not search engines. Hire real writers, real content marketing experts with an abundance of ideas that can help turn your business into an authority online content platform.

Invest in blogs, news, features, white papers, infographics, videos; but only if they are relevant and likely to have a real benefit to your customer base. 

Invest in onsite content

Google rewards websites that publish content on their own websites. It is a key metric, and growing in importance, brands and businesses that fail to invest in developing onsite content strategies are not going to succeed online. 

True, there is often more visibility and increased brand ‘eye-balls’ on content published to your own website, but publishing onsite is a necessity post-Penguin. Publishing content to your own site means that you can share content using social media and generate more inbound links to your site as a result. 

Something else worth remembering is that you retain all publishing control when you own the platform you are publishing on – your own website – so you can go back and edit content published again if necessary. 

Use Google+ Authorship markup to gain even more authority in Google

Why use Google+?

  • It immediately indexes your new content in Google.
  • Create authority and respect in Google’s eyes – Google loves Google products.
  • Generate more inbound links.
  • Generate more social likes and shares.
  • Build up your authorship and expertise in an emerging area for SEO.
  • Add additional SEO power to your guest posts and blogger outreach.
  • Cultivate business leads and be seen as a thought leader.

Amplify your content to create authority

Think first about where you want your content to be amplified, the audience and quality of where you are seeding, it’s not just about a link anymore.

With this in mind, avoid poor quality link neighbourhoods. Inbound links and content amplification are important metrics that Google uses to rank authority.

It’s not about masses of poor quality inbound links – it’s about relevant, high value content and inbound links from relevant and quality sites and authors  that share a story, is useful to your customer base and shareable.

Social shares are very important for search success, but also in building your authority in Google’s eyes.

Increase traffic to your website 

Google has already stressed that it is looking to judge sites on their authority. What metrics can Google use to determine authority?

Here are just a few of them:

  • Inbound links.
  • Social shares.
  • Time on site.
  • Bounce rate.
  • Visitor numbers.

Yes, visitor numbers can be manipulated and bought, but rarely to hit all of the above metrics.

If you use content amplification services such as native advertising or guest posting to promote good content to relevant audiences, all the above metrics are likely to show up in your favour – your social shares, time on site are going to increase, letting Google know that you are an authority. 

Implement these changes and invest time and energy in turning yourself, your business and your website into an authority on a chosen topic and, as Cutts points out, any future Google changes ‘shouldn’t be a big surprise and you shouldn’t have to make too many changes’.


Successfully Cloaking in 2013?

I am well-aware that Google’s algorithm is work in progress and they continuously work on improving their search quality algorithm. What I saw today, however, makes me wonder if I give the algorithm too much credit.

Search query “assumptious“ brings up the following page:

Spammy Screenshot

I was shocked to see something like this ranking as #1 even for rare queries.

The post Successfully Cloaking in 2013? appeared first on DEJAN SEO.

SearchCap: The Day In Search, June 4, 2013

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the Web. From Search Engine Land: Search Your Own “Pins” On Pinterest Pinterest announced a new, useful search feature that allows you to filter your search results to just your own Pins. You can…

Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.

Don’t miss out on learning from the pros. Attend an SMX Advanced workshop!

Sharpen your marketing skill set by attending one of six post-conference workshops next week at SMX Advanced in Seattle. Choose from SEO, international search, social media community management, AdWords, local search or in-house SEO. Secure your spot – register now!

Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.

Microsoft Search Ad Revenue Estimates Get Major Downgrade; Google Retains 74% U.S. Market Share [Report]

eMarketer has issued a major revision to its predictions for Microsoft’s U.S. search ad revenue. The latest estimates peg Microsoft net search ad revenue at $660 million last year and $890 million this year, down substantially from the previous estimates of $1.41 billion last year and $1.84…

Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.