Panda 4.0 Algorithm Update Rocks Google Search Results

Google released two algorithm updates this week targeted at removing low quality sites from its search results. Payday Loans and Panda both received major updates, with upwards of seven percent of all U.S. search queries impacted.

In general, thin content sites, aggregator sites, and sites targeting traditionally spammy segments of the search market were hit hardest by these two updates. But this time some major players were affected as well.

Ebay is the most widely discussed among sites negatively impacted, but others like Ask.com, DealCentral, and SimplyRecipes were also hit hard according to a report from search tools provider Searchmetrics.

Interestingly, some sites benefitted just as strongly. Other sites, such as GlassDoor, MyRecipes, CouponCabin, and BuzzFeed, appear to have improved their visibility overnight within the timeframe of the algorithm updates.

All of the sites mentioned in the top winners and losers lists are content sites as opposed to ecommerce sites. But anecdotally, based on the buzz in the SEO forums and my own review of the tens of client sites I work with, it looks as though some brand and ecommerce sites were either unaffected or experienced a lift in rankings.

What Is Panda 4.0?

On May 19, Google began rolling out its latest version of the Panda site quality algorithm. Originally released in 2011, and sometimes referred to as the Farmer Update, Panda 1.0 targeted content farms and other thin content sites. Since then, 27 Panda updates have been made, mostly in the form of monthly data refreshes.

According to Matt Cutts, Google’s head of web spam, this version of the Panda algorithm will change the search results for approximately seven and a half percent of all search queries. That’s the largest Panda-related change in Google’s search results since 2011.

Panda’s updates can take up to 10 days to roll out completely, so we’ll likely see further fluctuations in search results and organic search performance for the next week or so.

What Is Payday Loans 2.0?

Just a few days earlier, on May 16, Google released another update. The Payday Loans 2.0 update targets some of the sites ranking for Google’s most spammy queries. “Payday loans” was originally one of the noted search queries targeted, hence the algorithm’s name.

The original iteration of the Payday Loans algorithm was launched almost a year ago in June 2013, and affected three tenths of a percent of English search queries. Because the focus of this algorithm is so narrow, Cutts says that only two tenths of a percent of all English search results will be affected.

Don’t Panic

The first course of action is to wait and plan. Major algorithm updates take some time to settle out into their final shapes. Search results will likely be in flux for a week or so more, so it’s best to busy yourself collecting data and planning for the worst while you’re waiting for the results to settle into their new shape.

Monitor your web analytics to determine the impact on organic search visits over the next week. Pay close attention to the pages that have lost or gained the most visits steadily after May 16 or May 19.

If you’re seeing a decrease in organic search performance, try to determine the exact date of change. If the decrease happens on May 16, you’re dealing with the Payday Loans update. Likewise, a May 19 decrease indicates a Panda update issue.

If you’re seeing a decrease in organic search performance, try to determine the exact date of change. If the decrease happens on May 16, you’re dealing with the Payday Loans update. Likewise, a May 19 decrease indicates a Panda update issue.

Check in with Google Webmaster Tools, as well. Take a look at the Search Queries and Top Pages reports to get an idea of the change in performance before and after May 19. It’s always a good idea to check the Messages section as well. If you’re seeing a massive decrease in organic search traffic based on a manual action or penalty, Google will alert you in the Messages section.

You can also monitor your rankings tool — in Webmaster Tools, use the Search Queries or Top Pages report to monitor Google rankings — to determine the changes in ranking position and which pages are ranking differently. You may see some pages fall out of rankings and others rank better. Analyze the differences in those pages and replicate elements from the positive movers on the pages that have lost visibility.

Make sure to cross check your findings in the rankings data with your analytics data. If your net visits and conversions are higher, you may rethink actions you were planning to take based on fluctuations in individual rankings.

What to Do If Your Site Was Impacted

After a week or two with no improvement, it’s likely that the new decreased trend in your data is the new reality for your organic search performance.

If Payday Loans 2.0 is the issue, you’re probably already familiar with the darker side of search engine optimization and which tactics are frowned upon by the search engines.

If Panda 4.0 is the issue, the solution is murkier. Panda is one of the most difficult algorithms to “fix” a site for because the solution is a nebulous “create unique, valuable content.” When the content in question reaches Google’s algorithmic definition of quality, it will be released from the influence of Panda during its next monthly refresh.

Go back to the research you did while you were waiting for the data to shake out and take another look at the pages that decreased the most sharply on May 19. Was it every page on the site? Or was it a section of specific pages? Narrow the focus so you know which pages to beef up.

Now put on your Google hat. Forget that you know your site, love your site, and are appalled that anyone could have the temerity to question your site’s value. You have to think like Google to find the answer.

If a whole section has been impacted, is there something that can be added or removed from the template to reduce the appearance of duplicate or thin content? Or do you have to slog through it page by page, injecting more uniqueness into the content?

If the whole site has been impacted, it may be time to rethink your business model. If you’re relying exclusively on syndicated content or content pulled from other sites’ APIs, there’s nothing really that makes your site different from another site that sells the same products.

Ask yourself: What makes your business different from all the others and how can you inject that unique value into your site in ways that Google will agree add value for searchers?

27 interesting facts about Online Marketing

Optimind has developed a list of 26 interesting facts about digital marketing, complete with a related infographic.

See the list and infographic here. Some might surprise you, some you may already be aware of. We also have summarized them on this page for you to take in along with a cup of coffee:

Email Marketing

• The amount of e- mail that that is opened on smartphones and tablets has increased by 80% globally in the last 6 months.
  
• Average yield for email marketing is $44.25 for every dollar spent.
  
• 85% of people would rather provide their e-mail for an e-book than a tweet.

Blogs and Content Marketing 

• Blogs give websites more indexed pages and more indexed links.
  
• Blogs are 63% more likely to influence purchasing decisions than newspapers.
  
• Companies that blog more than about 15 times per month, get 5 times more traffic.
  
• The average length of text on a page that ranks in the top 10 position is 2000 words.
  
• If a post is longer than 1,500 words, it gets 68.1% more tweets and 22.6% more Facebook likes on average.
  
• Posts with a title length of 10 to 18 words get more links.
  
• Articles with photos get 94% more page views.
  
• Companies using infographics grow in average of 12%.
  
• Companies are experiencing 55% increase in sales leads after increasing the number of pages on your site from 10 to 15.
  
• Content Should be researched based and solution based.

Video 

• Using videos on landing pages can increase conversions by up to 86%.
  
• Videos get 267% more links than usual posts.
  
• 58% of your audience will stop watching your video within the first 90 seconds.
  
• Video can keep your prospects on your website up to 2 minutes longer on average.
  
• 20 % of visitors will read the text on a page, while 80 % of them will watch a video with the exact same content.
  
• Viewers remember 58% of what they see, but only 10% of what they read.
  
• Websites with video are 50 times more likely to rank on Google's first page.
  
• A consumer sees a product video is up to 144% more likely to add product to cart.

Online shopping

• 67% of consumers say that the quality of images of a product image is important in the selection and purchase of the same.
  
• Consumers who receive e- mail marketing from you spend 83% more when they shop.
  
• Consumers who receive e- mail marketing from you order 28% more often than others.
  
• Personal email improve CTR by 14% and the conversion rate of 10%.
  
• The average consumer reads 11 different reviews along the way to completing the purchase.
  
• Average CTR of banner advertising is 2.1%.

Source:pixelant

Initial Document Sharing Guide

Complete Procedure with all Essential Steps

1.      Write any article in Ms-word. Select your ANCHOR TEXT.

2.      For example your Anchor text is “Fashion”

3.      Select “Fashion” right clicks on selected word from mouse.

4.      A drop down menu will be open

5.      Click on option “hyperlink”

6.      A window will be open gave link in Address bar as given in following image

7.      After giving the URL click on Ok button. Your “Anchor text” will be shown in link form

EXAMPLE:   I love Fashion   

8.      Format your MS.Word Document from “Page Layout ” Menu

9.      You can also gave link in Footer or Header of the Document.

10.  Then convert your document in PDF from the given link http://document.online-convert.com/convert-to-pdf

11.  Gave the path of your word file and click on convert as given below.

12.  Finally your document ready to upload on any document sharing site.

Author: Sohail Ahmed 
E-Mail: sohail-waris@hotmail.com

 

 

Add a Pinterest Logo to your Facebook Fan Page: Easier than Ever!

There’s a new, better-looking, and easier-than-ever way to add your Pinterest boards to your Facebook Fan Page: a free Pinterest Tab App from Woobox. Looks better because there’s no side-to-side scrolling within the iFrame to see all the Pinterest boards. Easier too, because you don’t have to guess at the pixel height to avoid top-to-bottom scrolling. All done for you in 3 easy steps.

How to Add a Pinterest Tab to your Facebook Fan Page

1. Logged in as your personal profile that’s an Admin of the Facebook Page, click this link: http://iframehost.com/util/installtab/305927716147259. Click on Choose Facebook Pages and select the one you wish to work on.

2. Decide to show all boards from the Pinterest user, or just one board. Enter the username, plus the URL if showing just one board. You can “FanGate” if desired. I wouldn’t use FanGate here, as it’s best used for something enticing like an exclusive download or contest. Pinterest boards are public content.
Note: it appears you can only use this custom app once per Fan Page, so you won’t be able to add multiple, individual Pinterest boards. But if you choose to show all your boards, Fan Page visitors can still navigate to individual boards right in Facebook.

3. Click Save Settings. View Tab. Done!
Fan Page visitors can click on the Pinterest button in the upper right to visit your boards on Pinterest.

My Pinterest boards on my Facebook Fan Page tab. Click to visit on Facebook.

In case of any confusion ask in comments section 

SEO for 2014: Easy on-page optimization tips

“What’s so fascinating and frustrating and great about life is that you’re constantly starting over, all the time, and I love that.” – Billy Crystal

Search engine optimization is a never-ending headache for many ecommerce entrepreneurs. Regular algorithmic changes with Google, Bing, and Yahoo can mean that the efforts you make today could be undone tomorrow, particularly if your SEO strategy is gimmicky and based on trying to “trick” the engines to liking you. Plus it seems that no matter what you do to improve your content and design, there is always something left that could still be done to make things more effective.

With the start of a new year right around the corner, though, it is a good time to sit down once again and take a look at your SEO strategy, particularly if you’re a solo entrepreneur that manages his or her own SEO efforts in-house.

The Holy Grail of SEO is high PageRank backlinks (i.e. inbound links from other websites to yours), but they are hard to get, are driven by quality content, and take months or years to culture. Creating quality, user-valued, brand-centered content should always be the cornerstone of your SEO efforts, but there are simple, easy on-page things that you can do to make your website’s pages more attractive to search engines.

Revisit Keyword Research

You’re likely already well aware of the important search keywords on which you would really like to rank strongly. Still, it never hurts to do a bit of fresh keyword research to insure that your list of target keywords is up to date.

It’s unrealistic to think that the vast majority of relatively small websites are going to rank well on thousands of keywords. It isn’t unrealistic, however, to rank well on several dozen keywords, particularly if many of them are not too competitive to start with. And just because a particular keyword isn’t all that competitive doesn’t mean that it isn’t lucrative.

For the longest time, Google offered a great, free keyword research tool – called (unsurprisingly) the Google AdWords Keyword Tool. You could use this tool even if you didn’t use AdWords. The replacement for this tool is the Google Keyword Planner, which is available under “Tools and Analysis” in your Google AdWords account.

Even a few minutes with a keyword research tool might be of value in focusing your attention on new opportunities for keyword “strategy,” whatever that might be.

The goal is to get together a list of anywhere from 100 to 300 keywords and key phrases that you believe are directly related to the products that you sell and that are descriptive of the sorts of things in your web store. Some of these will no doubt be “short tail” and generic (e.g. you sell garden hoses but want to rank on “gardening”) but most will be “longer tail” and more specific and oriented to particular products and categories (e.g. “expandable lightweight garden hoses”).

Formulate a Landing Page Strategy

From there, the next step is to build a simple spreadsheet with your targeted keywords in the first column, one keyword per row of the spreadsheet.

In the next column of the spreadsheet, go ahead and list the page on your website that should be the preferred landing page for someone who searches on that term.

Imagine that you sell birdhouses, for example. An important keyword for you might be “brass birdhouses,” in which the landing page for that term might be your category page for brass birdhouses. The term “cedar birdhouses,” by contrast, would be targeted to your category page for cedar birdhouses.

A more particular search like “small barn wood birdhouse” might target a particular product page that closely fits that description. Likewise, a branded search for a particular product (“Dunwood Classic Redwood Birdhouse”) should target that particular product page.

One implication of this exercise might be the discovery that a term that you think is important doesn’t have an appropriate landing page on your site. For example, imagine that your birdhouse web store currently only categorizes products by the materials from which they are made.

Nonetheless, imagine that you’re interested in targeting visitors who search according to the size of birdhouses (e.g. “large birdhouse,” or “small birdhouse”). In that case, you should consider creating a new set of product categories that correspond to the keywords that you care about. In addition to the value in terms of SEO, presenting your products in terms of the categories that consumers are considering can really influence conversion rates and time-on-site.

Another possible outcome of building this spreadsheet that might surprise you is that you find that you’re almost always targeting the home page of the site. Although it is tempting to want visitors to always come through the front door, the truth is that landing on a relevant interior page on the site is going to be more effective as a selling tool for many, many searches.

It’s also easier to optimize an interior page for a particular longer-tail search term compared to trying to optimize the home page for every term you care about. And optimizing interior pages on various related long-term search terms will have the added benefit of potentially raising the overall visibility of higher-level pages on broader term searches.

Optimizing Page Titles

Now it’s time to add a third column to your spreadsheet. Go ahead and type out the current page title for each website page that you have listed in your spreadsheet.

Page titles are important to search engines, and they are relatively easy to optimize. The question at this point is simple: Is the current page title adequate to your SEO goals, given that you’re trying to rank for that particular keyword?

Minimally the page title should be descriptive of the content of the page, and include usage of the exact keyword you’re targeting. For example, if you’re trying to get a category page to rank on the term “brass birdhouses” then the title of that page should include the term “brass birdhouses.”

Ideally, the term should also appear early in the title. “Brass Birdhouses for Your Feathered Friends” is going to be more effective than “Birds Love Brass Birdhouses” – though I doubt either of those page titles are all that great.

Lastly, take a look at the length of the page title. It’s tempting to use lots of words in the page title, but hold the length to 70 characters. Search engines will use your page titles in the search engine results page when they serve your page up as a result. But the engines will truncate the result if it goes more than 70 characters.

Good titles will be keyword-rich, but not keyword-stuffed, descriptive of the content on that page, under 70 characters, and encourage a user to click on that result, if it showed up on a search engine results page. Do yours?

Optimizing URLs

What goes for the page title often goes equally for the page’s URL. Although there is a debate about what impact dynamic URLs have on search engine results, the fact is that most web stores can control their URLs, and product and category pages that have simple static URLs are easier to optimize.

As with page titles, use of your critical keywords in the URL can have benefits. In fact, you can make a good case for using your page titles as, essentially, your URLs. For example, if your category page title is “Brass Birdhouses” because you’re targeting that keyword, you can make a case for the URL being www.thebirdhousestore.com/brass-birdhouses.html.

But don’t just go changing all your URLs on a whim. Unless you are developing a brand new website, those pages are likely already indexed by Google, Bing, and other search engines, and just changing the URL will be disastrous for your existing search engine rank on those pages (searchers clicking on search results will get “Error 404″ page not found errors).

You can change your URLs, but for every change you’re going to have to create a 301 redirect. Almost all web store builders have an easy built-in menu for doing this. This is a time-consuming process, but vital.

Furthermore, consider the fact that the value that a well-written URL brings is actually rather marginal, overall. If a page is ranking poorly and you’re trying to make it better, then this is a trick worth trying. But if a page already ranks well with the existing URL, it might be best to just leave it alone.

Optimizing Meta Data

Next comes the page meta data. From an SEO standpoint, the “easy fix” meta tag to be concerned about is the “description” tag.

In the next column on your spreadsheet, paste your existing description meta tags for each page on your website that you’re targeting.

You might be surprised to discover that pages that are critical to your SEO strategy are actually missing this meta tag completely. It’s easy to overlook adding that bit of meta data when you’re building out a site.

There isn’t a “trick” to writing good description tags that isn’t part of writing good page titles. Look at the descriptions as they are today. Do they use the keywords that you’re targeting for that page? Are those keywords used early in the description itself? Are the page descriptions actually descriptive of the content of the pages to which they are attached?

As with page titles, there are limits to what the search engines will display in terms of the search results snippets. Hold the complete meta description to no more than 156 characters, ideally, and get those keywords featured early in the description, as this can enhance click-through rate as well.

Lastly, just as page titles should be unique, so should page descriptions. Don’t use the same page descriptions for more than one page on the site. That should actually follow naturally from your overall strategy, as the keywords you’re targeting should also be different for different pages.

Optimizing Page Content

What goes for the other elements in your on-page SEO strategy, go equally for the actual page content on your site.

This likely will not end up as a column on your spreadsheet, but look at the pages that you’re targeting and ask yourself the same old question: Do your targeted keywords for each page actually show up on the pages themselves?

There are useful easy-to-implement strategies for calling a search engine’s attention to particular keywords on a given landing page. Simply using a keyword more than once is a strategy, though you should avoid “keyword stuffing” — the practice of using a particular keyword too much or in awkward ways that are clearly designed to “trick” a search engine but provide no user value.

Another strategy is to use the keyword on the page within the context of your H1 (header) tags, in essence, noting to the search engine that the keyword is in the page headline. As with page titles, use the keyword early in the headline, and don’t use more than one set of H1 tags on the page (that’s what H2 through H6 are for).

Beyond that, keep in mind that retail websites often suffer from the problem that category pages and product pages are image-heavy and text-light. This is good for the user, actually, but the search engines can’t do anything with a picture directly. The best that they can do is to rely on the images ALT tag, which should go with every picture.

Because you want your use of keywords to be proportional to the rest of the text on the page, this probably means that you’re going to want to do some writing. Try to craft at least 50 to 100 words worth of good, descriptive written content on every page of your site, including category pages. By doing this, you’re adding enough content overall that the keyword usage will be statistically proportional.

As an aside, but an important one, it’s tempting to rely on manufacturer’s product copy when considering what to put on a product page. From an SEO standpoint, however, this is almost always a mistake as that same copy will be used often across the web, leading Google and other search engines to regard your store as offering nothing particularly novel to the user in terms of content.

Beyond that, another strategy is to add some highlighting — such as bold or italics — to keywords. Don’t expect this to have much of a dramatic impact, but every little bit helps.Source:practicalecommerce