1.) HOW
TO FUTURE PROOF YOUR SEO STRATEGIES IN 2014
Probably the most important
question for SEO’s or Site Owners in 2014 would be – "Could my website
survive a manual or algorithmic Google penalty?"
Over the past two years,
as Google's Webmaster Spam team gets better at identifying tactics, we have
seen the number and frequency of algorithmic updates and manual penalties
increase. This only looks set to continue over the next couple of years.
So how can you adjust your
tactics to get results without risking everything?
Here are some ideas for content,
link building, technical, offline, local, social and mobile considerations to
create an overall picture of what search engines see as a 'good' site and help
you renovate your SEO strategy for 2014. Just to let you know, we have been
working successfully and carrying out on most of these strategies since the
last year. In fact we have already included them in our SEO deliverables as
well.
Content
Using
content as the foundation of your SEO strategy is not a new concept, but the
definition of "good" quality content is ever-changing. Although the
Panda update punished sites with thin content, there still are sites which use
such content to rank higher. It might help temporarily, but will definitely
affect in the long run.
Good content:
·
Drives traffic
through searches related to your industry
·
Builds authority
in the eyes of users and search engines
·
Increases
engagement with your brand on social media
So what can be termed as good content?
Content in 2014 will not
be just limited to the pieces of text you will add to the website or blog. You
will need to think outside of this and make sure to develop a range of
different media like videos, presentations, whitepapers, infographics, how-to's
etc. These become your assets and can be one of your best sources of links.
Basically, you have to provide content which is useful to the end user.
Not to
forget your site pages, you should be constantly improving your static assets
(especially landing pages) to improve conversions and provide the best user experience.
Engagement and conversion metrics are not just important to your bottom line,
they're important to Google providing the best results.
Link Building
Link building is still the
mainstay of how major search engines rank websites but the interpretation of
link data has changed ever since the Penguin update was launched.
Bad link
building is one of the easiest ways to get penalized, but good link building
can be the hardest part of your job (even more so in certain niches).
So, what can be considered
definitely as a bad link or a link that should be "disavowed"?
·
Site wide footer
links / multiple links from same domain
·
Blogroll link
·
Forum posting /
profile link
·
Free directory
links
·
Links from same
class C IPs
·
Links from spun
content
·
Links to
different industry websites from the same article / content
·
Links from
link-farm directories / pages
Links from
non-English sites (for example - .ru, .jp, .cn, etc.)
If you have fallen prey to
this techniques earlier by some unethical vendors who claim to be experts, it
is always advisable to get rid of such links either manually or disavowing the
links via Google Webmaster Tools.
From our end, we have
adopted the below techniques as far as building links is concerned.
Backlink Analysis - Balancing of followed links to
nofollow to have a natural profile. Check backlinks and traffic of sites from
which we are getting links to find and weed out sites which are themselves hit
by this update.
·
Link Velocity
- The first and most significant observation that stood out among sites which
were affected by Penguin update was link velocity. We have reduced our link
velocity since the update. Getting too many links quickly will be flagged
easily by Google.
·
Anchor Text Diversity – Continue to vary anchor text and lower the % of
specific key terms focus. We have been doing this since 2012 and will continue
to work the %’s.
·
Link Diversity – Sites performing well have
good link diversity including links from Guest Blog Posts, info-graphics,
videos, local business directories, presentations, coupons submissions etc.
Since Google prefers a diversified link profile. We recommend getting links from
these sources. Most of these sources are also now part of new deliverables.
Apart from this, to get
quality links you can also consider link reclaiming. Link reclaiming is the act
of finding sites that mention you, your brand or a related story and simply
asking for a link.
There are a number of ways
to find opportunities for link reclamation:
·
Web Mentions
- Google
Alerts is the most popular tool for
monitoring mentions on the web, but Moz has also just released an alert
function for their Fresh Web Explorer. Set up an alert for your brand name and
when a site mentions you without linking send them an email.
·
Images - Use
Google's Search by Image tool to find out where people are using your images and ask for a link
credit, this works almost 100% of the time.
Videos - If you are hosting video on
YouTube you can use their analytics platform to see where your videos are being
watched on external sites. Visit those sites and ask for a link to your website
to supplement the video.
Local
Something that we have
personally seen develop over the past two years is the influence of location on
search results. Google are actively expanding the number of searches that
trigger a local result as they understand which searches are relevant to a
location.
You need to be clear about
the locations your business really serves and try and make sure you don't look
more local than you really are.
Schema is
one way to show search engines where you are based and which areas you serve.
Apart from this, you can also look at some local on-site changes like creating
GEO based landing pages for each location you serve, optimizing your Google
Places page by filling out as much information as you can and getting genuine
reviews from your customers, implementing rich snippets and obviously altering
the page titles and meta descriptions to feature the service and areas you
serve.
Mobile
Mobile data has almost
overtaken desktop. Results are starting to deviate more from desktop as search
engines try to improve the quality of results by presenting results that will
work well on mobile. For example, a site that is created in flash will not rank
if the searcher is using a device which does not support flash.
If your site is not mobile
friendly that doesn't mean it won't rank, but it's always best to give the user
the best experience. Google has officially declared in a blog post
that having a responsive design is the best way to move forward. Having a
responsive design also has its own benefits from SEO perspective.
Social Media
The final piece of the
search puzzle is social. While there is still no direct link between social and
ranking, search engines are increasingly adding social elements to search
results.
Google uses Google+, Bing
uses Facebook and both show reviews. Social proof is a great way to encourage
searchers to click through to your site.
Social is also the best
way to promote new content immediately to encourage shares, links and
engagement.
We already have social
media integration as a part of our deliverables. In addition, to improve social
signals, instead of doing social bookmarking of the articles submitted we will
be getting social signals to those articles which will include (either of)
Facebook likes, Tweets or Google+ Votes.
Client participation is encouraged.
We hope this post has
given you something to think about for 2014. Start planning your strategy for
next year and get ahead of the competition.
2.) WHAT
WILL 2014 BRING FOR LOCAL SEARCH
As opportunity grows for
businesses to connect with customers via search, so do the challenges of
determining the best approach. Here are a few local search happenings to expect
in this year.
National to Local
Approach for Brands
The idea of a coordinated
national to local strategy will become a reality for more brands and local
businesses in 2014. Many local markets (and vertical industries) are very
competitive and keyword saturated, making it difficult for national and
regional brands, as well as for independent business owners, to win the online
visibility game on their own.
National marketers that
depend on the success of independent business owners (franchises,
dealers, contractors) will find they can create a platform effect
with a coordinated national-to-local approach to SEO, social media and content
marketing.
Mobile Optimized
Websites
Making sure a business’
website is mobile optimized might mean the difference between being found by
customers on a mobile browser or not. With more consumers shopping via mobile,
it is clear that site traffic is moving to mobile. So, being mobile-ready is a
must.
In 2013, we
witnessed Google
giving prominence in mobile
SERPs to local businesses that properly configured their websites for mobile
devices, and this will be a growing trend in 2014.
Some websites could even
be penalized by Google and the other major search engines if they’re not
optimized correctly. Also on the mobile front, strategies like
click-to-call will become even more interesting as they play a larger role in
the digital lead generation strategy for many
business verticals.
Google will Focus more
on Ratings & Reviews
In 2013, Google focused on
ramping up its local ratings and reviews. It will continue to try to gather
this rich, hyper local content from local consumers to grow Google+.
In another sign of this
effort, businesses with verified Google listings will continue to reap benefits
including having the ability to see customer ratings and reviews in their
Places for Business dashboard and the ability to reply to those reviews.
This means:
1.
It will be
important for businesses to encourage their loyal customers to write reviews.
Businesses must verify
their local search listings appropriately on Google and the entire search
ecosystem.
Social Media & SEO
Continue to Converge
Impacting
local search, social media channels will continue to help drive traffic to a
business’ website, building valuable links along the way and driving
significant referral traffic. In general, this traffic is very valuable as time
spent, number of pages viewed and bounce rate numbers are
comparable to organic traffic and other (more traditional) sources
of referral traffic like directories.
Social signals will also
continue to impact search algorithms since search engines now weigh “people
links” higher than other links that can be “managed” or paid. Businesses
successfully connecting with customers via social media channels will build
more loyalty, positive ratings and reviews, natural backlinks and these
websites are more likely to have higher conversion rates.
We believe amidst
challenges, there is huge opportunity for businesses and brands here. In fact
we have revamped our local packages which will help you to expand your local
search visibility and reach consumers across multiple devices and platforms.
Contact our Sales department for a copy of the deliverables.
3.) ENGAGEMENT
ADS: NEW WAY FOR GETTING CUSTOMERS TO INTERACT WITH YOUR BRAND
Google has developed a new
ad format called ‘Engagement Ads’. The purpose of these ads is to provide an
interactive way for users to engage with your brand. Google recognizes that
branding is a different marketing objective than direct response, so instead of
paying a cost-per-click, they developed a pricing model called CPE (cost per
engagement). Measuring and setting cost per engagement goals now provides the
ability to measure the success or failure of your branding efforts on Google
and its related networks.
Engagement ads allow you
to take your brand building strategy and link it with the power of the Google
Display Network. These ads are cross device functional, ensuring a consistent
user experience. This is important to note as users engage with brands in a
multitude of ways. Potential customers get the same user experience regardless
of whether they are on a desktop, tablet, or smartphone.
How Do Engagement Ads Work?
Engagement
ads are very similar to display ads but are more interactive. The ad expands
when hovered over for at least 2 continuous seconds. Once the ad expands, users
can interact with your brand in a variety of unique ways. Interactions can
range from watching a video, to playing games, or viewing a product catalog.
The two-second delay eliminates accidental engagement and allows for more
effective reporting.
Should I Be Using Engagement Ads?
The answer
to this question is yes! According to Google, users are 10x more likely to
interact with a brand through Engagement ads vs. a standard display ad. Since
advertisers are only charged when an engagement takes place, there is now true
cost accountability over digital branding efforts.
Engagement Ads Key Features -
·
Rich Creative
Formats: Easy to customize ad units allow you to enhance your message &
reach your audience in new ways.
·
Engagement At
Scale: Reach billions of impressions a day through Google’s expansive network
reporting.
·
Accountable
Branding: Qualify customers by paying only when they engage.
·
Adaptive
Learning: Google network quickly adapts to show ads to users who are more
likely to engage.
4.) GMAIL'S
NEW FEATURE WILL ALLOW ANYONE TO SEND YOU AN EMAIL USING GOOGLE+
From video technologies to
Google glass, Google is now all set to roll out a new feature wherein Google+
will allow anyone to send you an email on Gmail. But wait a minute; don't you
think that will bring in more of spam/creepy emails? Well, there is an option
on Gmail to opt out of this feature too.
Now, how
does this work? As you begin typing in the "To" section of the email,
a drop down menu will appear with the Google+ contacts as well. A user can send
you an email, but the real email id won't be visible to the sender until &
unless you respond to that particular email. However, if you prefer to opt out
of this feature, just head towards privacy settings, then move onto "Email
via Google+" & change the default settings (Anyone on Google+) to
extended circles, circles or no one.
Emails from any of your
Google+ contact will appear in the "Social tab" rather than
"Primary tab" only if the tab interface is enabled in your Gmail or
else you are likely to receive all the emails just in one section. Looking at
the positive aspect, this feature will be mainly useful to people who want to
connect with their long lost friend or an unknown person but on the other end
it might create havoc for users who are not so tech savvy. This will be particularly
frustrating to the recipients.
Google+ will first enable
the settings before introducing the new feature so that it doesn’t become
compulsion to all the users. There are a lot of people signing up for Google+,
though many are still inactive but is it surely a win-win for Google+?
Visit us at dreyfustc.com
Visit us at dreyfustc.com
