What is Google Penguin?

It’s another round of updates from Google launched on April 24, aimed at improving search results to weed out spam websites that engage in practices that violate Google’s terms and conditions, such as keyword stuffing, cloaking, and scraping other websites for content. While this may seem like a routine update, it’s a much more focused effort for Google to continue rewarding websites that cater to improving the experience of the user, not the search engine.

There were over 53 updates to Google’s search algorithm, which is why this is being touted as a major update, because it will definitely affect keyword rankings and traffic to your website if it falls subject to these changes.

Google Panda vs. Google Penguin

A panda would definitely beat out a penguin in the wild, but in the case of search engine optimization, they serve different purposes and aren’t competing against each other. Google Panda seeks to weed out low-quality websites, both in terms of design and content. Penguin is specifically designed to weed out spam websites − websites that you visit by accident and immediately know are useless. But the problem is that some legitimate websites may be getting lumped into the penalties that Penguin is shelling out, and that’s why we’re here to explain how to avoid being slapped by it.

Avoiding Negative Results from Google Penguin

So, how can you avoid getting slapped by the Penguin? Continue following the way of the Panda (Google’s Panda, that is.)

It’s pretty simple, don’t be SPAM!

We make sure that all of our clients’ websites don’t engage in any practices that violate Google and Bing’s terms and conditions. But, the sad reality is that some SEO agencies still engage in questionable SEO practices to help improve their clients’ search rankings over their competitors. Make sure your agency is following the rules of good SEO.

Don’t spread viruses.

This should go without saying, but if your website has malicious software on it that could be downloading to users’ computers, then you’ll be penalized immediately, and possibly forever. The scary part about this is that hackers are finding their way into legitimate websites all the time and installing malware and vicious viruses on quality websites without the website owner knowing about it. If you don’t have anyone actively managing your website and you’ve noticed a drastic drop in rankings and traffic to your website, you may have been hacked.

Don’t scrape content from other websites.

The first two points were pretty obvious and most people don’t fall into that category. But, this one could apply to you. A lot of people don’t have the time or energy to create new, relevant content for their website. And we learned from Google Panda that Google wants to see more relevant and fresh content on websites. So, many people look to other websites to grab (or scrape) content and publish it to their own site.

This is a huge no-no, and if you’re doing it, stop now! The Penguin AND the Panda will slap you if you’re scraping content from other websites. Including an RSS feed from another blog on your website would not fall into this realm, because you’re giving full credit to the source. But, when you grab content that’s not yours and don’t give credit to the source, you’re instantly pegged as a spam site that’s trying to benefit from someone else’s content. Invest the time, money and resources to create original content for your website that users find interesting and useful.

Don’t over-optimize your website.

In my opinion, this is the biggest and scariest issue regarding the Penguin update, because over-optimization is a very subjective topic, and we don’t have control over it. At RP Interactive, we do everything we can to make sure our clients’ websites are fully optimized for search engines, but in a way that’s tasteful and complies with Google and Bing’s best practices. Here are some examples of ways that you may be over-optimizing your website and what we do to avoid it.

1. Keyword Stuffing: Placing too many keywords in meta data and the body of your website content can be considered over-optimization. We typically include up to two keywords in meta data and no more than three or four in the content body and headlines.
2. Using only one source (or only sources that you own) for inbound links: If all of your inbound links come from one source (Wikipedia or Squidoo) or website domains that you own, that’s over-optimization. We make sure that our clients have a diverse portfolio of inbound links from quality local listings, social profiles and other industry-relevant websites.
3. Putting white text on a white background: This was an old-school way to hide content and internal links so that the user wouldn’t see unnatural keyword stuffing, but search engines WOULD see it. Although we’ve never done this and few people still do, it’s still out there!
4. Having more advertisements than content on your home page: None of our clients’ websites have advertisements like Google AdWords or banner ads, but for the blogging and forum community, it’s a good rule of thumb to make sure that advertisements are not the focus of your website.
5. Allowing your content to read like “Spamglish”: Spamglish is the language of spammers, meaning that it’s very evident your content is simply trying to rank for search engine results and not providing real value to the person reading it. Did you purchase your content from a country in the Far East? Then, there’s a good chance your content is Spamglish! We have trained and creative in-house copywriters that write engaging and original content for our clients.

There are a lot of factors that can make your website come across as “spammy” to Google and Bing, but these are some of the major ones. Google Penguin really takes a hard look at the content on your website and the links coming into your website. Many people calling themselves “SEO experts” that will do anything to increase website rankings have caused Google and Bing to react aggressively to Web spam, and Google Penguin is the focused effort that will seek to deliver more relevant and useful results to search users.

Most websites will not be affected by Google Penguin, but if you think yours is or could be, please contact us and let us know!

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Know your medium and how to speak to your audience.

All headlines are not created equal. There is absolutely a difference between what is appropriate for landing pages and what is appropriate for press releases, blog articles, social media posts, email blasts, etc. Press releases, for instance, should give a condensed overview of the copy, without giving away too many details – something like, “Recent Survey Shows Most Adults Have Five Common Food Allergies.” Additionally, it’s crucial to know who your targeted audience is and what will best grab their attention. If a soon-to-be father is seeking a blog article on raising children, it’s almost guaranteed that “Top 10 Parenting Tips Every Daddy-to-Be Should Live By” will be more enticing to him than “Advice for Raising Children.”
 

Integrate keywords and phrases that are optimized for search engines.

Let’s say someone is looking for a way to share a branded video and have it gain popularity on the Internet. They might type a “keyword phrase” like “how to make branded videos go viral” into a search engine such as Google. The searcher will then come across several articles relating to that search, including an article by Chris Schreiber on Mashable titled “5 Best Practices for Creating Viral Branded Videos.” Demonstrating good use of strong keywords and without sounding too spam-y, this headline is specific to what might be searched for by viewers. It uses important words from keyword phrases in the headline and to help content rank higher when searched for. If it’s not something you’re already thinking about, it definitely should be.
 

Clearly base your headline on what your content delivers.

If your headline claims to offer something useful, your content better follow through. The last thing you want to do is convince a Facebook guru to read your blog titled “Seven Things You Didn’t Know About Facebook,” and then highlight already-known features, outdated revisions and other vague information that offers no real value. This can raise the bounce rate of that page in a heartbeat, not to mention forever discredit you in the eyes of your audience.
 

Use a format that incorporates numbers or lists.

What better way to grab readers’ attention than to give them a preview of what’s to come? If your headline screams, “This piece is valuable and easy to read!” you can bet that more people are going to give it a shot. A good example might be: “10 Must-See Orlando Attractions That Won’t Break the Bank.” Not only does this establish how long it will take to read, but it also establishes specifics like the topic, location and pricing. On the contrary, if you tend to post content on a regular basis, make sure to balance out your headlines with non-numeric titles, as well (such as the headline of this very article).
 

Keep it simple.

Although strong headlines do engage readers with eye-catching vocabulary, they certainly aren’t overly lengthy. If you can’t read it back in one breath, it’s probably too long. A good rule of thumb is to keep your headlines to a maximum of 10 words.
 

Edit!

One of the most common copywriting mistakes made is submitting content without having had a second pair of eyes glance over it. Even if it is just a headline, you won’t possibly be able to catch every misplaced punctuation mark or misused capitalized letter every time without help from an outside source. Because headlines are the primary gateways to the remainder of your copy, ensuring that they are not only spelled correctly, but are also appropriate, clear and enticing, is just too important to ignore.
 
Headlines have the potential to make an excellent first impression, but they can just as easily be your readers’ last. So be proud. Show off your content with original, creative and relatable headlines, and turn your temporary browsers into long-term followers.

Never judge a book by its cover — unless of course you’re judging a Facebook cover photo. With Facebook preparing to switch all Facebook brand pages to the new Timeline view on March 30, it’s time we consider what to showcase in your cover photos. Whether you’re updating your personal cover photo or one for your business, these fun examples will inspire you and get your creative juices flowing to produce a great cover photo for your Timeline.

AT&T Appreciation – AT&T’s cover photo takes fan appreciation to a new level by displaying a montage of photos taken by their fans. I don’t know about you, but I feel appreciated already.

Ad Space, Anyone? – With all the new space on these profiles, we’re just waiting for advertisements to take over… seems like we aren’t the only ones!

The Destruction of Facebook – A comic twist to the new Facebook layout, this photo displays the demolition of the old Facebook account as she prepares for the new one – in a picture representation of how you and I might feel.

Outsmart Facebook – Who says you can’t embrace the old with the new? This cover takes a stab at keeping the old Facebook layout. Clever!

Montage of You – Here’s your chance to tell the world who you are. Why not use some personal “Polaroids” to creatively capture your essence.

Facebook…A Place for Myspace? – We thought this new-found creative freedom felt a little familiar…

Out of Your Screen, Cool – With the use of proper 3D glasses, this cover photo will do more than just appear at the top of your Facebook!(How many people are rummaging for 3D glasses right now?)

Gbook+ ? – Behold the merging of two social networking gods… G+ and Facebook!

Draw Something Here, Too – Creatively embody (no pun intended) your favorite things within your cover photo. The cool angle grabs your attention too – imagine seeing that floating head as a profile picture!

Predict the Future – What better way to utilize Facebook’s newest Timeline feature than by predicting the future in a crafty cover photo?

The new cover photos are a nice feature for brands who want to show off their identity and most importantly – their products and services. What will you put up for display on yours? It’s time to get creative!

Statistically proven to hold a user’s attention longer than Facebook (15.8 minutes “pinning” versus 12.1 minutes browsing the newsfeed), Pinterest provides brands the forum to expand and gain interest from new followers. Being able to keep the attention of your followers and generating a buzz for your brand can be maintained by utilizing some fun, re-pin worthy contest ideas.

First, here are some user-friendly tips on creating contests on Pinterest:

• Establish the legitimacy to your contest by providing a homepage with rules and a link to an official website
• Create a repinnable image that showcases your brand (Yes, repinnable is a word.) It should list the contest name, display the brand, mention a prize, and refer to the rules.
• Support the contest through Facebook, Twitter and any other available channels to reach your followers

If your brand is already using Pinterest, the chances are that pinning and repinning aren’t enough. Keep your brand fresh and in the minds of fellow Pinners by trying out these five contest ideas:

“Pin it to Win It”

This sweepstake-like contest asks for followers to repin an image with information pertaining to the company, rules and prize details in the description. This creates a viral effect on Pinterest where followers who don’t follow your brand specifically see this pin generated on their followers’ board and they repin your content in hopes of winning the prize. A random winner is then drawn from the pool of followers and the prize consists of the image being pinned or something of similar value. The benefit of this contest is that pinners are forced to follow, pin, and see the brand. Once entering the contest, your boards gain followers and your brand gains recognition.

Best Pinboard

Followers create a pinboard under the contest guidelines, and brands select the best one. Guidelines can include pinning only products from your brand, the most creative pins, the most colorful pins, etc. The winning pinboard is determined on the number of likes/repins. Currently pinboards are used to showcase interests like crafts, wedding plans, and DIY home ideas. Imagine the attention your brand could get from a pinboard of just your product.

Repinning Contest

By utilizing the site’s ‘re-pin’ feature, this contest would be based around repinning as a means to enter. Not only does this jumpstart the viral nature of your site’s content on Pinterest, but it also creates huge brand recognition. This contest would be most effective to spread the pin’s exposure since the winner is the follower who repins the most. Pinterest also features a gift category on their site. When you pin an image with a dollar amount in the description, it is automatically placed under “Gift ideas”. This contest would be effective in promoting gift ideas for pinners everywhere.

Comment Contest

One of the simplest types of contests, a comment contest can always be effective and fun. Simply pin a product and have followers post comments to enter. All entry rules and terms should be placed within the pin’s description box and select a time to choose a winner. This easy contest allows for anyone to enter and generates interest when a lot of people decide to enter.

Photo Submission Contest

A photo submission contest is a fun, innovative contest that allows followers to connect with a brand in a personal way. The contest rules include what item to try (clothing, food, hair style, etc), and it would have followers create innovative ideas for users to try and be showcased in a running a photo contest. Followers can wear the product, use the product or innovate a brilliant way to showcase the product to win. Followers are then invited to post their example of results to vote on by fellow pinners.

As of now, Pinterest has no formal rules for running contests or sweepstakes, but make sure you comply with your state’s rules and regulations regarding sweepstakes. If you have any questions about how to use Pinterest to gain exposure to your company’s website, don’t hesitate to contact us.

I know, I know, but please don’t roll your eyes just yet!

Pinterest calls itself “an online pinboard that let’s you organize and share things you love.” It began in March 2010, but was relatively unexplored by the average consumer until about November of last year. Since then, its grown exponentially now with over 13 million users! I attribute this largely to two factors:

Ease of Setup

As my husband would tell you, I don’t generally like things that are difficult to get started. I’ve made him set up nearly anything and everything in my life that involves small wires, radio waves, beeping noises, and/or more than one plug. My aversion to the complicated is not limited to household items – this tendency translates into the digital space as well. Luckily, Pinterest just might be the simplest social network in years!

After making your way over to Pinterest, you’ll be prompted to request an invitation to create an account. Pinterest isn’t snobby, it’s just their way of making sure its system is not overrun by too many people all signing up at once during peak hours. You should expect to see your very own Pinterest invitation arrive to your email within 48 hours. Once you become a member, you can choose to link your account with your Facebook, Twitter, or both, which allows you to easily find your friends and see what they’ve been pinning. You can choose to follow their boards, and they can follow you with just a click.

Tendencies of Target Demographic

Every study seems to have a different opinion on what percentage of which age group is using Pinterest, but one thing is certain: It is quickly becoming a hot website for women, especially ages 20 – 40. Check out this cool infographic that explains this a little better.

As a member of this demographic, I fully appreciate that as a whole, when us women get excited about something, we like to talk about it! I was personally introduced to the site by one of my good friends and soon enough I was telling other people about it, too. Pinterest’s clean, practical interface allows my generation to get excited about sharing things that interest us – everything from places we want to go, recipes we want to try, do-it-yourself projects we want to make, clothes we want to wear, and much more.

So the question becomes are you (P)interested yet? With all of the brands I and my 13 million fellow Pinners are sharing and discussing, wouldn’t you like to be one of them? Stay tuned next week for some very practical tips on how members of the hospitality industry can use this latest social media craze to increase conversions and drive revenue!

Timeline for business pages actually does make sense, and I think the changes will overall benefit hotels and other brands/small businesses on Facebook. There are some features gone that we’re bummed about, but they’ve been replaced with other features that will now allow us to let our creative juices flow on Facebook when designing business pages. Here’s the quick lowdown on the changes that Timeline brings to Facebook pages:

Changes to Facebook Pages

• Big, beautiful cover photos. The cover photo is a great upgrade. It’ll give your page more of a true web page or blog feel when a user lands on it.
• Profile picture dimensions. Originally, they were formatted as large skyscraper versions and now are designed to display as 180px  by 180px. Everyone who owns a Facebook page will be required to update this before or after March 30.
• Posting pins. You can now “pin” posts to the top of your Timeline which will remain on your page for up to seven days. (see explanation below)
• New “admin” panel. At the top of each page, there is a panel that allows admins to see their notifications, messages and insights, all in one place when they log onto their page.
• App and photo organization. Photos, “like” count, and custom apps are now positioned at the top right side of the Timeline.
• “About” section. The “About” section is at located the top of the Timeline, so making sure accurate and up-to-date information posted there is crucial.

Changes to Custom Tabs

• Tabs are now referred to as “apps”.
• Existing tabs are still at 520px by default. So, your existing tabs will not be broken after March 30, they’ll just look a little out of place.
• All existing tabs can be switched to 810px with an app setting. I’m not sure how this will benefit anyone, because it’ll either stretch out the graphics or the layout of the old tabs will be out of whack.
• You can no longer have a default landing tab, but you can feature up to three apps on the cover and you can pin posts to draw attention to apps.
• Visible apps are now called “Favorites”. When you remove an app from Favorites, it becomes invisible. You can click the plus button when in “app edit mode” to add it back to Favorites.
• Visitors can see icons for up to 12 apps by clicking the down arrow to the right of the top three featured apps.
• You can change the cover icon for an app by going to Edit Page > Apps > Edit Settings > Custom Tab Image.

How To Enable Timeline Mode Early

If you don’t switch to Timeline for your business page by March 30, Facebook is “kind” enough to do it for you. If you want to embrace change early, you should see this message the next time you navigate to your page as an admin of the page.

Click on “Preview”. You should then see this:

Then, click on “Publish Now”. You’re now ready to upload a cover photo, change out your profile picture, pin important posts, and post milestones onto your timeline.

Examples of the Timeline

There are already some big brands who have transitioned to the Timeline. Here are some examples of a few great cover photos:

• Starbucks
• Coca-Cola
• Fanta
• Burberry
• Tide

Frequently Asked Questions

Where are my custom tabs?

These are located just underneath your new cover photo to the right. You can only see three apps at once – the rest of them are hidden. Click on the little arrow, and you should see all of them. If you click on each icon, you’ll see that they still function perfectly, but they now look a little out of place because they’re about two-thirds of the maximum width allowed on the current page.

Can I still set a default landing tab?

Unfortunately, no. But, it’s not the end of the world. The new Timeline features allow you to use the pinning feature to highlight certain content for up to seven days. You could create a nice teaser graphic for your contest, then link to the custom app and pin it to the top of your Timeline.

Also, remember that the new cover photos give you a lot of space to be creative and visually represent your business the way default landing apps used to.

Can my cover photo be anything I want it to be? 

Yes, to a certain extent. Facebook has set some guidelines for the new cover photos. They don’t want them being too self-promotional. Facebook requires that you do not include any product/services prices, calls to action to “like” the page, contact information, or references to user interface elements (i.e. no arrows to the like or share buttons.)

What are the dimensions of all the new features?

Here’s the quick and dirty. Write these on a post-it note and stick it on your desk:

Cover image: 851 x 315px
Profile picture: 180 x 180px
Custom apps: 810px wide
Custom app icons: 111 x 74px

Can I still run a fan gate?

Yes, you can, and you should still do it even though there’s no more default landing tab. Why? Because, it still allows you to hide exclusive content until the user has “liked” the page. This means that coupon incentives and “liking” to enter a giveaway/contest are very much alive and well.

What are pinned posts?

You can select your top posts and choose to “pin” that post. Pinning a post will move it to the top left of your timeline feed for up to seven days at a time. Pinning can be used to promote custom apps, showcase a photo or video, offer a coupon or feature a timely post.

Conclusion

What are your initial reactions about Timeline for business pages? What do you like, and what do you not like about the changes? We want to hear your feedback! If you have any questions about Timeline and how it will affect your page or your custom tabs, do not hesitate to give us a call at 407-909-9036.

• Twitter’s popularity increased and gained a surge of new followers
• Sites like Tumblr and Pinterest made a splash on the social networking scene
• Instagram and other apps showed us a picture was worth a 1,000 words (far more than Twitter’s 120 character limit)
• Google launched it’s Google+ social network
• Foursquare was challenged by Facebook, who added a Places feature
• Facebook went through a facelift and created the “timeline” layout, one of the most notable storybook advances in 2011

It’s safe to say 2011 was filled with a lot of change and expansion in the social media world. Considering Facebook alone now has over 800 million users – and is used by 1 in every 13 people on planet Earth — businesses need to tap into this great source of potential.

What online strategies will be next?
 

Content will be key in 2012.

Targeting specific consumers with unique, brand-appropriate content will be the only way to be seen by the masses on Facebook or Twitter. Strong value will be placed on content developers and social media specialists solidifying their importance to delivering effective content.
 

Brands will learn to master the art of real-time response.

Social media moves fast, so keeping up is crucial to staying current. Consistently producing unique content on a regular, timely basis will keep consumer attention on your brand. Infiltrating the newsfeeds of the 500 million plus followers, tweeters, pinners, etc. with your message has replaced the once-elaborate campaigns that took weeks to implement and develop.
 

Advanced social analytics will become more accessible.

Social media analytics companies will create simplified SaaS (software as a service) tools for smaller agencies and brands to better interpret the reasoning behind social media metrics. The tools will be able to explain what happened, why it happened, and predict what will happen next. The power to predict future trends will directly impact the attention (which means more business for you) and content (which creates more buzz for you) for your brand or business.
 

You will utilize new sites to reach consumers.

Businesses are going to have to combine strategy with customer knowledge to decide which platform will be most effective at attracting the right consumers to their products. Facebook is no longer the go-to for all things social media — perhaps utilizing a site like Pintrest would be most effective for the brand you’re selling. Never underestimate the major influence and social traffic new sites like that can bring!

What are your predictions? What social media trends are you already seeing this year? Pinterest is gaining a lot of attention, and more of our clients are interested in Google Plus. We’re working hard to stay on top of the trends and balance out what’s trendy versus what makes sense long-term. Stay tuned for new tools, trends, and strategies that emerge in this constantly changing industry!

The seven tips below will help guide you to improving your website’s search engine rankings and overall user-friendliness.

Content Freshness: When is the last time you added quality, original content to your website? Google and Bing have put a huge emphasis on ranking websites higher that are consistently adding new, useful content to their website. You can add blog articles, niche landing pages, event information, and more. Adding fresh, interesting content on a consistent basis is the most effective way improve long-term search engine rankings.

Load Time and Multimedia Elements: Does your website take forever to load? Is it using Adobe Flash to display information and animations? If so, search engines like Google could be penalizing your rankings, because your site takes too long to load and/or they can’t search your content, because your site is using outdated technology. Consider redesigning your website and replacing Adobe Flash media with more newer technology.
Ease of Use: The internal connectivity of your website is very important to visitors and search engines. Make sure your website is easy to navigate, and make use of linking within your content to other internal pages.

Add Social Sharing Buttons: Facebook “Like”, Google +1, and “Tweet This” buttons are great to add to the header or footer of your website. The amount of times your content is shared on social networks is an important factor in Google and Bing’s ranking algorithm.

Make Your Content Scanner Friendly: News flash, no one reads the entire page of content on your web page. Keep the amount of content on your page between 250 to 350 words, keep paragraphs to no more than 4 lines in height, and make use of bullet points for long lists. Your visitors and search engines appreciate web copy that is clear and concise.

Obtain Links to Your Website: You work with associations, event planners, and vendors on a daily basis. Ask them to link back to your website, and in return, link back to their website. When search engines see other websites linking back to yours, they consider your website to be trustworthy and useful to others.

Get on Social Networks: Create brand pages or profiles on major social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Google+, YouTube and Flickr. Search engines look to see if you’re represented on major social networks as part of their ranking factors. However, we recommend that you only focus on the social networks that you plan actively participating in, because a dormant profile does not do you much good.

If you would like to receive an analysis of your website today, please contact us and we will provide a free evaluation of how your website is performing and what improvements can be made to improve the SEO of it.

The roll out of Google Search, plus Your World was rolled out about a month ago and it flew under the radar of most of the mainstream media. Popular SEO and social media blogs picked up the news and wrote opinion pieces about it, but for the most part, I don’t think the vast majority of everyday Google users realize what it is and how it changes their search experience. Google has a great video explaining what it is and explains in a very fun way. Take a look:

We market hotels, restaurants and other small businesses, and when we see a major change like this from Google, it causes us to analyze the implications and form an opinion on what it means for our clients. We’re a little behind the game in our response to Search, plus Your World, but that’s because we wanted to see the affect it had on client website analytics and keyword rankings.

Here are some of my findings and takeaways from the data:

Keyword Rankings

I took a sample of five clients, both large and mid-size hotels, and looked at their average rank over all keywords tracked and the percentage of them ranking in the top 100 results.

As you can see, only one of the five properties showed both positive metrics month over month.

Not Provided Traffic Sources

Google implemented a security feature at the end of 2011 that blocked Google Analytics and other web analytics software from seeing the actual keyword searches from users logged into a Google account. This was very controversial for Internet marketers like us who use that data to analyze which keywords are performing best and driving the most traffic to the website.

Here is some data from a different set of clients that shows the data for the traffic source “(not provided),” which is the traffic source that displays when someone finds your website through a keyword search while logged into Google.

As you can see, the jump from keyword searches protected from Google made a significant jump from December 2011 to January 2012. We expect that trend to continue as more people start using Google+, because it requires that users be signed into Google while they browse Google and the rest of the Internet.

Conclusions and Takeaways

The rise of Google+ and Google Search, plus Your World is something that Internet marketers and hoteliers must recognize. Instead of sitting back and waiting to see what happens, we must be proactive with our approach. This means that RPI is committed to staying on top of the trends with Google+, recommending that hotels create brand pages on Google+ when appropriate, and constantly adding new content to our clients’ websites to keep it fresh and strengthen keyword relevancy.

Individual keyword rankings are becoming less relevant due to the advent of Search, plus Your World, because personalized results being mixed into organic search results heavily cloud the true organic ranking of a keyword. We recommend looking at the overall trend of average rankings for all keyword you’re tracking and focus on the amount of keywords that rank in the top 30 results of Google.

The importance of creating content that people want to share with their friends, family and co-workers is starting to replace the old strategic linking methods of submitting to listing directories.

Looking at website metrics like average time on site, bounce rate, and pages viewed per visit are increasingly important and should be looked at with more importance since the traffic sources of organic keywords is now skewed.