It seems to be a maddening question, but its not..if you know Google. What does it mean when you get the message in Google Adwords “Try location extensions without address overrides“?

Simply, it means what Google says it means here “Your ads will show to users in the locations you’ve chosen in your campaign settings. If a user’s location is outside of your targeted area, or can’t be determined by our system, we won’t show your ad in order to prevent irrelevant clicks.”

Its pretty funny to see how many people freak-out about this message. OK! Its not clear what it means unless you specialize in local search. This message is apparently meant to warn those who inadvertently put local limitations of their ads, to be aware that their ads won’t run “world wide”. But who does silly stuff like that?

Rule #1 – Google is in the business of making money on ads (advertising). If your ads run in a small geographic area (geo), well, that’s not good for GOOGs business. Can we scare some nieve people into advertising galaxy-wide, when they really only need to be seen within a 20 mile radius of their location? A $300 a month budget could become a $300 a day budget. Now we’re talking – GOOG stock up 20%!

Which begs the only galaxy-wide quote I know “Don’t Panic”

On the level, here is what you need to know about the whole business (from 2009) “we’ll dynamically match your business locations to a user’s location or search terms and show the address with your text ads. If we’re unable to determine a user’s location or if there are no relevant addresses to show, we’ll simply show your ad without an address. If you prefer not to dynamically match addresses to your ads and would rather show a specific address in one particular ad, you can do so by setting up specific location extensions for individual ads.”

“In many of the more relaxed civilizations on the Outer Eastern Rim of the Galaxy, the Hitchhiker’s Guide has already supplanted the great Encyclopaedia Galactica as the standard repository of all knowledge and wisdom, for though it has many omissions and contains much that is apocryphal, or at least wildly inaccurate, it scores over the older, more pedestrian work in two important respects. First, it is slightly cheaper; and secondly it has the words DON’T PANIC inscribed in large friendly letters on its cover.”

 
You’ll see this annoying message in Google Adwords on the Keywords tab in the Status column “Rarely shown due to low quality score“. What does it mean? And what effect does it have on your ads being served or not?

Not much! I specialize in local search for car dealers where we use “conquest keywords” all the time. That means we use the name of the nearest competitor and variations on the theme. So I see this message on almost every keyword. Just because Google says it not worth doing, and that’s assuming because the keyword may not correspond to the ad text, which may not corresponding with the landing page, does not mean the ads won’t serve – they will.

So we could go into the philosophy of search vs Google’s view of the world. But bottom line, Google’s message here “Rarely shown due to low quality score” may be relevant in context of short-tail or large volume keywords, but when in the realm of long-tail, low volume keywords, you can disregard the message. Your keywords will be productive – if you bid appropriately.

Matt Cutts “In the next few days, we’re launching an important algorithm change targeted at webspam. The change will decrease rankings for sites that we believe are violating Google’s existing quality guidelines. We’ve always targeted webspam in our rankings, and this algorithm represents another improvement in our efforts to reduce webspam and promote high quality content. While we can’t divulge specific signals because we don’t want to give people a way to game our search results and worsen the experience for users, our advice for webmasters is to focus on creating high quality sites that create a good user experience and employ white hat SEO methods instead of engaging in aggressive webspam tactics.”

Sites affected by this change might not be easily recognizable as spamming without deep analysis or expertise, but the common thread is that these sites are doing much more than white hat SEO; we believe they are engaging in webspam tactics to manipulate search engine rankings.

This algorithm affects about 3.1% of queries in English to a degree that a regular user might notice.

Google has said before that search engine optimization, or SEO, can be positive and constructive—and we’re not the only ones. Effective search engine optimization can make a site more crawlable and make individual pages more accessible and easier to find. Search engine optimization includes things as simple as keyword research to ensure that the right words are on the page, not just industry jargon that normal people will never type.

“White hat” search engine optimizers often improve the usability of a site, help create great content, or make sites faster, which is good for both users and search engines. Good search engine optimization can also mean good marketing: thinking about creative ways to make a site more compelling, which can help with search engines as well as social media. The net result of making a great site is often greater awareness of that site on the web, which can translate into more people linking to or visiting a site.

The opposite of “white hat” SEO is something called “black hat webspam” (we say “webspam” to distinguish it from email spam). In the pursuit of higher rankings or traffic, a few sites use techniques that don’t benefit users, where the intent is to look for shortcuts or loopholes that would rank pages higher than they deserve to be ranked. We see all sorts of webspam techniques every day, from keyword stuffing to link schemes that attempt to propel sites higher in rankings.

If you are a small business and have recently setup your Google Places Page, you’ll see a link to start your Google Adwords Express Account right there – front and center. Google Adwords Express is what I will call the dumbed down version of Adwords. How dumb?

OK. Its a good idea to make Adwords simple for the busy sole-proprietor-business-owner-who-hasn’t-got-the-time to learn the complexities and nuances of Pay- Per-Click advertising (PPC). But there is a trade-off for simple, and its called expensive! or in some cases – a waste of money.

But a little more edification first. You have no control over your money, your Cost Per Click (your keyword bid) as you do in Adwords. The only thing you do control is your monthly budget. Minimum $50. Set it and let Google’s Robot spend your money on Google Maps ads for you. Sounds like no conflict of interest there!

Now add to the lack of controls, you also have no control of which keywords trigger your ads. Google decides for you based on your chosen ad Category. And Google doesn’t tell you in advance what those keywords are. Your going to love the suspense of waiting to find out what you spent your money on later – after the money is spent. I do so enjoy surprises.

If the category triggers the right keywords for your business, you’re in luck, you are the lucky 10%. And that means Adwords Express is for you. But my experience after setting up a dozen or so of these accounts for clients, is that the keywords are appropriate in only about 10% of the cases. But who notices? Not the too-busy-business-owner.

In the other 90% of cases, my Adwords Express Robot decided that the business name was a good keyword, and its bidding $1.35 per click. OK. It sounds like a good idea to make Adwords simple for the busy sole-proprietor-business-owner-who-hasn’t-got-the-time to TAKE A LOOK AT WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENS when someone searches for your business by name, using your actual business name, on Google Maps.

When someone types your business name in Google Maps, ONLY your business shows up (no competition)  AND YOUR AD! of course. Now with about 30% of the people searching costing you $1.35 each time they click on the Blue balloon ad that is strategically placed right about your Red balloon normal business listing (whose clicks are free) - that’s just money for nothing. Makes you wonder how dumb this Robot is? Well actually the robot IS dumb in 90% of the cases, but its owner is pretty smart. I lost some money for some clients before we spotted this “glitch”.

Moral of the story. There is a busy-sucker born every minute. You can get professional Internet Marketing help or throw money down the drain because you didn’t spot the “glitch”.

My recent search rank reports indicate that the BuildMyRank.com take-down is not an isolated event. Google seems to have added some formula to the algo that especially targets baclink techniques.

The effects are not obvious to the average small business but in my regular SEO competitive analysis reports for clients I’m seeing some websites getting hit pretty hard. And those seem to be the ones employing the most aggressive off-site SEO techniques (link-building). Further observation tend to confirm one culprit – link-building techniques. Thats because many of these sites I’ve been competing with have little-to-no onsite SEO. What’s left? Backlinks.

It is not my position that link-building is bad. In fact its very necessary for producing superior search results. But in combination 1) buying backlinks while 2) offering little-to-no on-site SEO is what this is about. The Search Engines have been pretty clear about that too.

Don’t participate in link schemes designed to increase your site’s ranking or PageRank. – directly from Google Webmaster Guidelines

Businesses should be aware how their SEO vendor plans to improve their search rank and whether there is any risk involved. Risky SEO is called Blackhat SEO, and I’ve also noticed that some of those SEO vendors who do provide the type of combination of services I’ve just described tend to be those claiming to employ only Whitehat SEO techniques. Caveat Emptor!

How do you get the best backlinks?

Ever wonder how Google Works? Here is Matt Cutts explaining how Google indexes the web and servers up results (SERP) to a search.

Today our algorithms rely on more than 200 unique signals, some of which you’d expect, like how often the search terms occur on the webpage…

Read More About How Google Works

Every day Google answers more than one billion questions from people around the globe in 181 countries and 146 languages. 15% of the searches we see everyday we’ve never seen before…

“If you don’t get a backlink, its not worth doing” source unknown

Linkbuilding is considered the best way to gain search rank. That’s because getting good backlinks is one of the hardest things to do in the field of SEO. Its hard to game backlinks. You can’t fake it. Therefore search engines (SEs) pay a lot of attention to who links to your site and which pages are getting links.

Linkbuilding may seem simple on the surface, but its not. Like any craft, as soon as you roll up your sleeves, complexity strikes. Because there is a huge investment in time, before you begin you ask “Where do I get the best backlinks?”, “How do I link to my site/page to get the best search rank results?” “Which page should I link to? The home page or another page?”

So lets start at square one:

Where do I go for the best backlinks?

The best backlinks come from very established or authority sites. Think .gov sites, or .edu sites. Wikipedia is a good example of an authority site and one that is “accessible”. Obviously these are hard to get links from, but if you do, you have really scored.

After “authoritative” sites, the best backlinks come from sites within your business theme, and then those sites with the best Google Page Rank (PR). Theme is a search term that describes a business segment. If you are in the mortgage business, your best backlinks will come from websites that the search engines recognize are related to your business (theme), in this case other mortgage sites. So if the best backlinks come from within your business theme, you can see why the process of linkbuilding must be handcrafted; it can’t be automated. And if you outsource it, you need to monitor who and where your contractor is linking your site to.

The best backlinks are not necessarily from directories, with a few exceptions. Why? Because directories such as the IYPs (Internet Yellow Pages) are directories that compete with search engines. It was once considered an SEO best practice to get into all the directories, and it worked. But SEs (Google especially) have since dropped the relevance of IYPs; because they can be gamed, they can be (or become) linkfarms. If you outsource to cheap or unethical linkbuilding services, they may link your site to linkfarms. Linkfarms may look like directories. Linkfarm backlinks will harm more than help your search results. Having said that, there are a few directories that you MUST be in, such as DMOZ.

How do I build a backlink?

That depends on the site. Some allow you to insert your own hyperlink which gives you a great deal of control. Others only allow you to insert your URL and from that, they build the link. The best backlinks will have your keyword in the anchor text and title.

The anatomy of a SEO hyperlink

or How to build a good backlink: A backlink is a hyperlink back to your site from some other site. A hyperlink is also called an “A” TAG because it starts with the letter A as you can see here in our example.

<a title="PLACE YOUR KEYWORDS IN THE TITLE" href="THIS IS THE URL OF YOUR LANDING PAGE">THIS IS ANCHOR TEXT WHICH SHOULD BE A KEYWORD</a>

Which web pages on my site should I get links for?

Without going into web site architecture and how to build pages and your site navigation; the page level and navigation has a lot to do with good linkbuilding technique. The best backlinks are not to your home page. Its inevitable that you will get a backlink to your home page and its inevitable that the SEs “see” your home page. It harder to get the SEs to look more deeply into your site. Its far better to get a backlink to a “deep page” in your website. Having said that, don’t create pages 7 levels deep just to get a deep link. The best websites keep content organized no deeper than 4 levels. And the best links (meaning productive links that will be followed by real visitors) to landing pages will be in the top level of your site. That means pages that are likely in your navigation. Shy away from linking to orphaned pages.

The more relevant YOUR landing page is the source page the better. The more commonality in content of both linked pages, the better for search engines to “understand” when to serve up this page of yours in search results (SERPs). Make sense right?

TRY NOT TO

Get backlinks that have “CLICK HERE” or “VISIT WEBSITE” as the anchor text. Its just not as valuable as backlinks that use a keyword as the anchor text.

Link to very deep pages.

Link to orphaned pages on your site. Orphaned pages are pages that are not in your navigation.

DO NOT

Get backlinks from PR 0 sites or sites that have thousands of links to other sites. Don’t get links from linkfarms. How to identify a linkfarm?

Outsource your linkbuilding without explicit agreement with the contractor as to where your links will come from – both theme and minimum page rank.

I like to offer this kind of Free SEO advice to illustrate to clients that; yes, you COULD do-SEO-yourself, but there is a reason why people get paid to do certain jobs. Its not that you can’t do it yourself, is that its hard work. Try it, you won’t like building links any more than you’ll like mopping floors.

VSEO or Video SEO continues to grow in Importance

Many businesses don’t think about using video to grow their traffic mostly because they have not yet tried it. I, and some of my clients who have tried it are surprised at how well it can work. You might be surprised to find (or maybe you won’t) that people don’t read, but they will watch your video. So blog your brains out and miss a large potential audience.

You say you don’t know what you would do in a video? The same thing you would blog about. And if you need to get over that speed-bump, you would answer the same questions you get everyday from your customers;

• What is it…?
• How to…?
• How much…?
• Where is it…?

For my How To VSEO go to my DIY-SEO section and check out my notes on Video Search Engine Optimization.

 
Last week I had a client’s Google Places Page go missing – disappeared entirely. For a client who runs a bed & breakfast, a museum and a tour business, all location-based businesses that depend to some degree on maps (Google Maps) for customers – this was heart-stopping. 

Google replied: “Thanks for contacting us regarding your Places problem. We’ve recently experienced technical issues with Places and you may have experienced your verified listing no longer appearing on Maps. We’ve put the fix in place and listings should be appearing appropriately now.”

Due to Google secrecy which prevents any explanation whatsoever as to why Google Places, in particular, has so many problems that cause so much anxiety, we are left to make assumptions.

This is pretty serious stuff due to the impact it has on a business that is dependent on the Internet for customers. Yet we can only try to divine possible actions – based on very nebulous clues – to find ways to avoid losing one’s place in Google’s world.

Because this is all vague conjecture, some say SEO is voodoo perpetrated by charlatans. Tell that to the business owner who gets wiped out for no apparent reason. Where would you suggest they turn? Google Forums?

OK, back to it…this “outage” gives me some insight into Google and their Places imperatives.

The client in question runs all three businesses from the same physical location/address. They also have registered their three (3) Google Places listings using the same login, same webmaster account, same analytics, etc. 

Clue: Other clients of mine who do not have similar Google accounts setup this way didn’t suffer any outage.

So what is Google thinking? Spammer!

This is one more experience in a long list of other anxious Google Places “anomalies” that have occurred over the years that always lead me to the same conclusion: that Google penalizes PERCEIVED spammers (scammers) even if the business(s) are 100% legitimate.

Thinking like a search engine (or thinking like someone who builds search engines) its too hard for a computer to map the vague relationships that naturally happen in business; its even difficult for a human. Take a holding company that owns subsidiaries as an example. Or how about a building of dentists all sharing the same physical address? That is very complex for a search engine to map out in the real world. But someone has to do it! So the rules are coded into the algorithm, written by people (called “coders” or developers), then acted upon by machines (called computers ;-). Did you ever see a machine notice an anomaly in human thinking? Its doesn’t stop and say to the developer “Hey if you do this, you could wipe out a bunch of legitimate businesses.”

In the normal course of business at Google, the developers push the limits of their algorithm (filter out the scammers from the real world listings) and sometimes Google Places go missing. You can read what happens next in the forums. If its only one or two innocent injuries as a result of a “tweak”, its not a problem – let them  figure it out. Some will inevitably have to start over recreating their online entity from scratch. What a trauma that is! But if its a few hundred or thousands of businesses that are effected, the developers look at where they tweaked the algorithm, what effects it had that got so many people panicked (yelling blood murder in the forums); and the change is rolled back – and maybe a rare apology is issued (that reveals something about Google).

To avoid this danger, I think its safe(er) to setup all Google accounts individually. What I mean by individually is that even if you have two very legitimate business based at the same address, you should treat their SEO as if they were two 100% separate entities – as if YOU are two different people running two separate businesses. Think like a search engine. Keep it simple. Untangle the wires as it were – or don’t create complex relationships in Google Places, Analytics, Webmaster, Adwords accounts in the first place!

Bottomline: Know how to communicate with search engines. The language changes all the time. Call if you need some SEO Help

SELeads

The Top Ten Douchiest Job Titles at Ask The Manager says it all.

4. Guru – The word is Sanskrit, and if you did not know that, then you’re not a fucking Guru. Moreover, this type of douchebag title is one of the “self-anointed” kinds. This means that no one ever called you a Guru (unless their tongue was firmly planted in their cheek) – you gave yourself this title; and for that, you are a douchebag of the highest order. In fact, you might just be the Guru of Douchieness.