SEO Industry News: Google's Core Algorithm Update, Google Panda, My Business

 

 

In our January 2016 edition of Conductor 30|30 (which is 30 minutes on the last 30 days in search, social, and content), Pat Reinhart starts off the year discussing big changes in marketing. Click a topic below to jump down:

• Google's Core Algorithm Update


• Google Panda Assimilation


• Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP)


• Google My Business API


• Facebook Professional Services

We also had a ton of unanswered Q&A questions during the webinar. Click a question below to jump down:

• Can you define “real-time”? What is the main difference between a “Real Time Algorithm” and Google's current algorithm today?


• What are some things to focus on as we get closer to a potentialGoogle Penguin assimilation to the core algorithm?


• What should I do tomorrow to optimize my content with these new algorithm changes?


• You stated in the webinar that My Business won't affect rankings. But will Google My Business affect the local search results at the top of the SERP?


• With the Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) becoming the new standard, will there be a need for a specific kind of optimization for these pages? How will AMPs be prioritized?


• Is AMP eventually meant for mobile advertising in your opinion?


• Will the return of Matt Cutts signal RankBrain going rogue and bring the rise of a robot resistance?

 

Want more details? Get into the nitty-gritty by watching the full webinar recording for January's edition.

 

 

1. Core Algorithm Updated Over the Weekend

Google has actually announced that there was a major core algorithm update over the second weekend of January 2016, similar to the quality update they released in May 2015). Usually they update their algorithm quietly but since Google knows their algorithm is getting better, they may be avoiding their typical phantom updates (release without public confirmation).

This algorithm change is not to be confused with the Panda assimilation below. This is a completely independent update to their core algorithm to improve its real-time efficiency.

2. Google Panda Assimilation

The second major algorithm announcement is that Google Panda is now part of the core algorithm. So to reiterate, Panda was not updated, it was simply assimilated into the main algorithm. This is what Google's PR Team had to say about it:

“Panda is an algorithm that's applied to sites overall and has become one of our core ranking signals. It measures the quality of a site, which you can read more about in our guidelines. Panda allows Google to take quality into account and adjust ranking accordingly.”

What does this mean for you? Google is happy with its Panda implementation enough to make it permanent. If you were positively affected by Panda in your rankings, keep up the great work. If negatively affected, you should bring your website up to par with the Google Website Guidelines to start mending the damage.

3. Google Rolling Out Accelerated Mobile Pages To Everyone Next Month

After a successful testing period, Google has announced that they are going to be rolling out their accelerated mobile pages to everyone in February of 2016. AMP pages, as discussed in our November 30|30 recap, were previously exclusive to certain publishers. Now AMP pages will be available to everyone. Find out how here.

4. Google My Business API Has Launched

Google had officially launched the API for Google My Business. This is great way to manage branches and locations for businesses so that “customers can find you, no matter what device they're using.”

This API will be a much easier way for companies to create and edit their listings' information, especially for companies with thousands of locations.

Google My Business API includes:

• Create business locations with information such as name, address, phone number, category, business hours, and more


• Manage special hours


• Mark a business location as permanently closed


• Manage business photos


• List, invite and remove managers on locations and business accounts


• Read listing state to identify Google updated, duplicate and suspended locations


• Search/Filter locations by name, category and label


• Set the service area for a business either by specifying a point and radius or Place IDs

You can find the full API documentation here.

5. Facebook Professional Services

Facebook now has an area on their site dedicated to professional services. This feature is very similar to Yelp where it helps you find the highest rated business in a given area.

There are currently 85 business categories you can choose from when you create your listing. The business will show up in Facebook's business search results based on the five-star rating system that is currently implemented.

 

But, it looks like there are other metrics that have influence in rankings. It will be very interesting to see how much Facebook promotes this, if at all, and tries to aggressively move into this space.

 

Pat Reinhart Answers Your Webinar Questions

Q1. Can you define “real-time”? What is the main difference between a “Real Time Algorithm” and Google's current algorithm today?

The main difference is that a real-time algorithm would not need manual data pushes to update, but rather, they would updated automatically second to second, minute to minute, hour to hour.  Currently all algorithm updates require manual data pushes.  While Google's core algorithm technically does work and process data in real time, to update it they still need to push manual data.

Q2. What are some things to focus on as we get closer to a potential Penguin assimilation to the core algorithm?

You should always keep an eye on your link profile and audit it quarterly to ensure there is nothing harmful going on.  For larger brands this is more of a challenge, but also less of a concern as they tend to have a higher volume of quality links than smaller brands.  Regardless of the size of your business, you should make the investment to monitor your backlink profile on a regular basis.

Q3. What should I do tomorrow to optimize my content with these new algorithm changes?

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You wouldn't necessarily “do” anything to optimize your site different for this specific change, but rather, you should be looking at your SEO program as a whole and see where the holes are that caused the site to remain flat, or worse, fall in the rankings.  Create great content, do it often, optimize it, work with partners to share content and build quality links.  These are all things that you can do tomorrow, and should always be doing. 

 

Continue to evolve with the algorithm and make sure your program doesn't get stagnant.  Make your paid team speak with your SEO team, integrate campaigns and share ideas.  That's what the most successful campaigns usually draw their strength from.

Q4. You stated in the webinar that My Business won't affect rankings. But will Google My Business affect the local search results at the top of the SERP?

Google My Business listings don't necessarily affect your overall site rankings (I don't think at all, but there are hundreds of unknown ranking factors so I guess it's possible), but are the properties that you need to update and maintain to show up higher in local search. 

 

Best practices here are to ensure your NAP information (Name, Address, Phone Number) is consistent across as many local aggregators as possible, not just GMB.  Don't try to optimize your listing, just put the correct information, and then work on making that information correct across the web.  MozLocal is a great way to see how you are doing across multiple properties, but there are other companies that help you do this such as WhiteSpark and Yext.

Q5. With Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) becoming the new standard, will there be a need for a specific kind of optimization for these pages? How will AMPs be prioritized?

I want to be clear here that AMP pages becoming standard is a prediction of mine, and not necessarily what the state of the web is at this time. 

 

There is a very specific way you need to code these types of pages, which is described at www.ampproject.org, but the main thing to know is that these are completely separate pages that should be created and then canonicaled back to the live page, and are not meant to be indexed.  This isn't a ranking play, it's a visibility play within the AMP carousel that will appear for certain terms.  Learn more at the URL provided.

Q6. Is AMP eventually meant for mobile advertising in your opinion?

This is a truly great question and I believe there are two ways to look at it. AMP, at the moment, is going to be mostly used by publishers to get their content to their users faster and without any load times.  From an advertising perspective, my guess is that dynamic ads, such as Google AdSense, will not function properly within this framework and most likely will cause tracking issues with many platforms that measure the eyeballs viewing an ad. 

 

With that said, Google is a sales organization and I can't imagine their plan is to do this out of the goodness of their own hearts and eventually will work out a way that the advertising will be available and trackable.  This could already be in place, as I said, this is a very new technology that only a few companies have been given access to, so time will tell.

Check in at www.ampproject.org for more info.

Q7. Will the return of Matt Cutts signal RankBrain going rogue and bring the rise of a robot resistance?

It's truly too soon to tell what the re-emergence of Cuttsman would bring back to the table, for all we know he IS Rankbrain and we could be on the cusp of a full-on Lawnmower man situation.  I guess all we can do is wait and see if our phones all ring in unison.

Via: http://www.conductor.com/blog/2016/01/seo-industry-news-google-core-algorithm-update-google-panda/?mkt_tok=3RkMMJWWfF9wsRojuqnLcO%2FhmjTEU5z16uQuXaC3hYkz2EFye%2BLIHETpodcMSMRqNbDYDBceEJhqyQJxPr3EKNkNwNhoRhbkCw%3D%3D

Lead Generation Services Denver (720) 465-6732

Is your business the kind that lives and dies by the number of leads it has?

If so, you probably already know that most leads TODAY come from people searching for businesses online.

There are two ways for your company to get high-quality internet leads: You can either generate them yourself or you can buy them from a professional lead resource.

Businesses that devote resources to generating their own leads often have less time and money to devote to other areas of their business … such as customer service, managing existing accounts, developing new products and services, and so on.

Let our team of professional marketing specialists handle your local lead generation for you.

We produce high-converting leads that will keep your company going strong, while you focus on other aspects of your business that demand your attention.

Ready to get started?

Contact us TODAY to learn more | 720-465-6732 | info@denverintegratedmarketingsolutions.com

Do You Need to Be an Artist to Do Web Design?

Web design and development are necessary components of creating online success, and certainly aesthetic appearance plays a major role in how it all plays out.

But is design an art? The experts say no – and, further, they argue that conflating art and design is detrimental to success.

ART VERSUS DESIGN: DRAWING THE DISTINCTION

The biggest distinction between art and design is that art comes from something internal, and design comes from something external. In short, art is about creative expression, while design is created in response to a functional need.

While a site should look visually pleasing, its purpose is to perform a function. The designer needs someone to use what he or she creates; it cannot serve its purpose if there's no one to use it. Certainly, art exists that is useful, but design creates something to be incorporated into our everyday lives.

This isn't an insult to designers. Certainly, it's possible to appreciate and respect design as you could a work of art. And, indeed, many designers are also artists. But the project of art is not to solve an everyday problem. In a nutshell, art is itself a project, while design is a product.

Kissmetrics sums it up this way: Pretty doesn't count. When you look at a well-executed website design, “That looks nice” is less important than “That works well.”

APPROACHING ART FROM A DESIGN PERSPECTIVE

If anything, the art world could learn a thing or two from designers – especially online. If current successes are anything to measure by, it takes an engineer and entrepreneurial approach to make a real splash to sell art and make it accessible to a wide audience. In a recent interview, Albert Scaglione, the founder and CEO of the world's largest art dealer, Park West Gallery, explains how he came to the art world.

While he studied to be an engineer and spent the first portion of his post-graduate adulthood teaching, art kept pulling him back. His technical history is certainly a contributor to his success.

WHY THE DISTINCTION MATTERS

It's not just about semantics; it's about attitude. Design is a business-related venture, and it needs to be treated as such. The treatment of designers as artists undermines and undervalues the work they do. While this is an unfortunate and unwarranted reflection on art itself, it's a problem for designers who produce a design – a product.

HubSpot points to one frustrating but common request designers receive from non-designer clients: “Could you send me a couple different versions of that?” This is like asking a nutritionist, after she recommends a nutrient-rich diet for better health, “Okay, but what else ya got?”

FINAL THOUGHTS: WHAT DESIGNERS ARE WORTH

In short, while an artist can create a number of different works of art – sometimes within a very short timeframe – a designer's creation is meant to solve a problem. Asking for a different “version” of the designer's solution assumes that the designer hasn't already invested careful, thoughtful work and ideas. It's one thing if you're unhappy with how the website functions, but if you'd like to see the entire thing redone “just because,” expect to pay the designer to build the design up from the ground all over again.

– See more at: 

http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/archive/2016/02/03/do-you-need-to-be-an-artist-to-do-web-design.aspx

Custom Web Design Is the Way of the Future, Not a Relic of the Past

Custom Web Design

Websites are critical for businesses to succeed, so web design is more important than ever. However, the advent of hundreds of design platforms and web builders has sparked a debate about whether custom web design is dead.

Many business owners are using platforms that let you create responsive web designs easily. After all, doing something yourself saves you money. And if you can save money and have a killer website, why wouldn’t you?

The answer is a lot more complex than one would think.

Templates Are Easy – but Are They worth It?

Website builders let you create a simple page from a template or other source. Some platforms even target business owners who aren’t skilled in design; you simply drag and drop elements of the web page onto the template. Others offer a bit more creativity and have coding integrated into their capability.

Typical Wireframe of a Genric Web Layout

While this seems like it would be all there is to it, template websites actually pose a few problems. For example, the templates are relatively bland and overly simple. They don’t allow much room for personalization, and if you want to customize your site, you’re out of luck. You would have to work the with template developers to make changes or hire a web designer to tweak the site. That defeats the purpose of designing your site yourself. And if you’re going to spend money fixing individual elements on your site, why not pay for a custom design from the get-go?

Redesigning From a Template Ruins SEO

A lot of business owners are attracted to the idea of a DIY website platform because it’s fast and easy. You may want to unveil your site quickly so you have a place for visitors to land. However, launching a site now and making changes as your business expands hurts your search engine optimization (SEO). For example, changing content management systems, web hosts, and site design all affect the way your site is indexed and ranked.

Many times, changing a site leads to 404s and other broken links, which confuse search engines and drop your page rank. Unless you know how to analyze and remedy these issues on your own, your brand will be buried under search results and may be masked by your old site. Essentially, you end up paying for something twice – once for the original web template to launch your site and again for a complete redesign when your business expands.

DIY Templates All Look the Same

Custom designers create websites based around your brand. They’re part engineers, part brand consultants, and part sales and marketing gurus. They know what looks good and what consumers look for in a website. They know how to take your brand message and convey it through words, images, and design.

You can tell a web designer: “I want the website for my shoe company to convey action and boldness, but be geared more toward high-end customers,” and they’ll know exactly how to portray that. You don’t get that with templates, because they’re designed to be easy to use as broadly as possible. They’re geared more toward niches and industries, not individual businesses. They really don’t offer much flexibility to get your brand’s unique image across.

All Websites Look The Same

Unfortunately, in a world with thousands of high-end shoe websites, there are probably several hundred that look exactly the same. When you produce anything on a mass scale, it becomes a commodity, and that’s not good for standing out in a crowd. Consider the definition of commoditization: The process of making something easy and affordable by making it uniformand plentiful.

Uniform isn’t a word you want referring to your website. It doesn’t matter how beautiful and user-friendly your pages are; if they aren’t unique, they won’t stay in your consumer’s memory.

Web Designers Tailor Sites to Your Brand

Web designers are always pushing the boundaries. They’re experts in their field. They’re the ones who come up with exciting design trends and make websites do things they never could do before. Because custom websites are created from the ground up, and not from a rigid template, there’s much more room for ingenuity.

Sure, a web template may be easy and affordable, but it doesn’t get to the root of what will make your business successful. When you work with custom web designers, they base the architecture and look of the site on your business goals and branding. Everything on the website is built to align with your business, from the way visitors navigate your menus to the way individual words look on the page. That’s something you’ll never get from a template.

The Web Design Process Periodic Table

Custom Design for Custom Goals

Web designers also work with you in a collaborative environment to make sure your site reflects your brand in every facet. For example, a web designer may come up with a few options for image layouts and color palettes, along with various styles of fonts. These will be carefully thought out, and each option is personally made for you. When you build your own website using a template, you must choose among too many options, which can lead to brand confusion.

It’s like shopping in a mega clothing store. You enter the building, hoping to find a blue shirt for a party you’ll be attending, only to find that the store has hundreds of different types of blue shirts in different styles, shades, fabrics, and cuts. How are you supposed to choose?

A custom web designer is like a personal shopping assistant. He or she’ll bring you the shirts in the most flattering styles and shades of blue for you. Designers even go so far as to tailor them to your measurements so they fit you just right. Custom web design is a creative process that pairs artistic talent with technical skill. If you want a website that really resonates with your customers, trust the experts.

The Small Business Marketer’s Content Marketing Guide 2015 [Source]

Built in SEO and Tech Support

One of the most compelling reasons business owners are still looking to custom web design is SEO; practices have changed drastically in the past 20 years and will continue to fluctuate. SEO has become a career in its own right, and optimizing a site for search engines is no longer a matter of inserting keywords into your copy.

SEO in 2015 is a combination of content management, usability optimization, even how you label images. Most business owners who use templates end up hiring SEO experts to fix their websites, which again, defeats the purpose of doing something yourself. When you work with a custom designer, they build SEO into the framework of your site. When SEO algorithms change again (and they will), you’ll be able to rely on customized support – a standard for most web designers.

SEO ROI from Link Building Tactics [Source]

So the short answer is no, custom web design isn’t dead. At least not to businesses that understand the value of a website. In fact, web design may be more alive than ever. Templates have become a commodity, and as such, websites are starting to become homogeneous.

During the next few years, business owners will start to see more clearly the benefits of having customized websites built from scratch. Enterprises that want to stand out will ditch the standardized templates and hire professionals to create pages that truly connect with consumers.

Via: http://speckyboy.com/2016/02/02/custom-web-design-is-not-dead/

Custom Web Design Is the Way of the Future, Not a Relic of the Past

Custom Web Design

Websites are critical for businesses to succeed, so web design is more important than ever. However, the advent of hundreds of design platforms and web builders has sparked a debate about whether custom web design is dead.

Many business owners are using platforms that let you create responsive web designs easily. After all, doing something yourself saves you money. And if you can save money and have a killer website, why wouldn’t you?

The answer is a lot more complex than one would think.

Templates Are Easy – but Are They worth It?

Website builders let you create a simple page from a template or other source. Some platforms even target business owners who aren’t skilled in design; you simply drag and drop elements of the web page onto the template. Others offer a bit more creativity and have coding integrated into their capability.

Typical Wireframe of a Genric Web Layout

While this seems like it would be all there is to it, template websites actually pose a few problems. For example, the templates are relatively bland and overly simple. They don’t allow much room for personalization, and if you want to customize your site, you’re out of luck. You would have to work the with template developers to make changes or hire a web designer to tweak the site. That defeats the purpose of designing your site yourself. And if you’re going to spend money fixing individual elements on your site, why not pay for a custom design from the get-go?

Redesigning From a Template Ruins SEO

A lot of business owners are attracted to the idea of a DIY website platform because it’s fast and easy. You may want to unveil your site quickly so you have a place for visitors to land. However, launching a site now and making changes as your business expands hurts your search engine optimization (SEO). For example, changing content management systems, web hosts, and site design all affect the way your site is indexed and ranked.

Many times, changing a site leads to 404s and other broken links, which confuse search engines and drop your page rank. Unless you know how to analyze and remedy these issues on your own, your brand will be buried under search results and may be masked by your old site. Essentially, you end up paying for something twice – once for the original web template to launch your site and again for a complete redesign when your business expands.

DIY Templates All Look the Same

Custom designers create websites based around your brand. They’re part engineers, part brand consultants, and part sales and marketing gurus. They know what looks good and what consumers look for in a website. They know how to take your brand message and convey it through words, images, and design.

You can tell a web designer: “I want the website for my shoe company to convey action and boldness, but be geared more toward high-end customers,” and they’ll know exactly how to portray that. You don’t get that with templates, because they’re designed to be easy to use as broadly as possible. They’re geared more toward niches and industries, not individual businesses. They really don’t offer much flexibility to get your brand’s unique image across.

All Websites Look The Same

Unfortunately, in a world with thousands of high-end shoe websites, there are probably several hundred that look exactly the same. When you produce anything on a mass scale, it becomes a commodity, and that’s not good for standing out in a crowd. Consider the definition of commoditization: The process of making something easy and affordable by making it uniformand plentiful.

Uniform isn’t a word you want referring to your website. It doesn’t matter how beautiful and user-friendly your pages are; if they aren’t unique, they won’t stay in your consumer’s memory.

Web Designers Tailor Sites to Your Brand

Web designers are always pushing the boundaries. They’re experts in their field. They’re the ones who come up with exciting design trends and make websites do things they never could do before. Because custom websites are created from the ground up, and not from a rigid template, there’s much more room for ingenuity.

Sure, a web template may be easy and affordable, but it doesn’t get to the root of what will make your business successful. When you work with custom web designers, they base the architecture and look of the site on your business goals and branding. Everything on the website is built to align with your business, from the way visitors navigate your menus to the way individual words look on the page. That’s something you’ll never get from a template.

The Web Design Process Periodic Table

Custom Design for Custom Goals

Web designers also work with you in a collaborative environment to make sure your site reflects your brand in every facet. For example, a web designer may come up with a few options for image layouts and color palettes, along with various styles of fonts. These will be carefully thought out, and each option is personally made for you. When you build your own website using a template, you must choose among too many options, which can lead to brand confusion.

It’s like shopping in a mega clothing store. You enter the building, hoping to find a blue shirt for a party you’ll be attending, only to find that the store has hundreds of different types of blue shirts in different styles, shades, fabrics, and cuts. How are you supposed to choose?

A custom web designer is like a personal shopping assistant. He or she’ll bring you the shirts in the most flattering styles and shades of blue for you. Designers even go so far as to tailor them to your measurements so they fit you just right. Custom web design is a creative process that pairs artistic talent with technical skill. If you want a website that really resonates with your customers, trust the experts.

The Small Business Marketer’s Content Marketing Guide 2015 [Source]

Built in SEO and Tech Support

One of the most compelling reasons business owners are still looking to custom web design is SEO; practices have changed drastically in the past 20 years and will continue to fluctuate. SEO has become a career in its own right, and optimizing a site for search engines is no longer a matter of inserting keywords into your copy.

SEO in 2015 is a combination of content management, usability optimization, even how you label images. Most business owners who use templates end up hiring SEO experts to fix their websites, which again, defeats the purpose of doing something yourself. When you work with a custom designer, they build SEO into the framework of your site. When SEO algorithms change again (and they will), you’ll be able to rely on customized support – a standard for most web designers.

SEO ROI from Link Building Tactics [Source]

So the short answer is no, custom web design isn’t dead. At least not to businesses that understand the value of a website. In fact, web design may be more alive than ever. Templates have become a commodity, and as such, websites are starting to become homogeneous.

During the next few years, business owners will start to see more clearly the benefits of having customized websites built from scratch. Enterprises that want to stand out will ditch the standardized templates and hire professionals to create pages that truly connect with consumers.

Via: http://speckyboy.com/2016/02/02/custom-web-design-is-not-dead/

Lead Generation Services Denver

Is your business the kind that lives and dies by the number of leads it has?

If so, you probably already know that most leads TODAY come from people searching for businesses online.

There are two ways for your company to get high-quality internet leads: You can either generate them yourself or you can buy them from a professional lead resource.

Businesses that devote resources to generating their own leads often have less time and money to devote to other areas of their business … such as customer service, managing existing accounts, developing new products and services, and so on.

Let our team of professional marketing specialists handle your local lead generation for you.

We produce high-converting leads that will keep your company going strong, while you focus on other aspects of your business that demand your attention.

Ready to get started?

Contact us TODAY to learn more | 720-465-6732 | info@denverintegratedmarketingsolutions.com

Digital Marketing Denver

Today’s marketing world has so many different moving parts that it can seem almost impossible to stay on top of it all…

• Keeping Your Website Updated
• Being Accessible to Mobile Users
• Search Engine Optimization
• Creating and Publishing Content

... and the list goes ON and ON

But let’s face it… the way businesses connect with consumers has changed FOREVER and digital marketing is here to stay.

Google and other search engines have destroyed the yellow pages when it comes to local search…

And on top of that…

• Newspapers have been replaced by computers
• TVs have been replaced by YouTube videos
• Radio has been replaced by MP3s
• And good old word of mouth is now called “Social Media”

Still funneling most of your marketing budget into these ineffective advertising methods?

You’re simply throwing money down the drain.

We can help you to implement digital marketing strategies that are proven to increase leads, sales, and online visibility.

Contact Us TODAY for a FREE Consultation | 720-465-6732 | info@denverintegratedmarketingsolutions.com