SoFla Web Studio Blog

Google Page Layout update - Content is Still King

Steven Alig — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 14:55:56 +0000

Google has been testing some algorithm updates recently and last week has decided to put them into effect. The Google Page Layout Update, as it is now known, takes into account the content that is "above the fold" on a webpage and will reduce the quality and authority of pages that do not provide quality content above the fold (namely excessive ads at the top of the page).

Google's "Distinguished Engineer", Matt Cutts wrote:

We understand that placing ads above-the-fold is quite common for many websites; these ads often perform well and help publishers monetize online content. This algorithmic change does not affect sites who place ads above-the-fold to a normal degree, but affects sites that go much further to load the top of the page with ads to an excessive degree or that make it hard to find the actual original content on the page. This new algorithmic improvement tends to impact sites where there is only a small amount of visible content above-the-fold or relevant content is persistently pushed down by large blocks of ads.

Matt goes on to state that this change will only effect less than 1% of all searches and the typical user will most likely not even notice any change. Google stands by their promise of continuing to provide the best possible user experience on the web and that this change is just one of over 500 improvements that are expected to roll out to Google's search in 2012.

My question is: Doesn't Google know that there is no page fold. LOL

Although Social Media Is All the Rage, Search Still Reigns Supreme For Finding Local Business Information

Steven Alig — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 15:58:35 +0000

Social Media may be the hot topic of the day (or the last several years actually), but when it comes to finding useful information, the majority of consumers still rely heavily on search (and other specialty niche websites). A recent article over at searchengineland.com indicates that Search Trumps Social For Local Business Information.

Research from the Pew Internet & American Life Foundation found that during a survey in early 2011, a majority of people (51%) looking for information about bars, restaurants and clubs, use the internet for their research. The types of internet technology they use are as follows:

search engines – 38 percent
specialty websites – 17 percent
social media – 3 percent

As for other types of local business, just under a majority (47%) use the internet. Of those:

search engines – 36 percent
specialty websites – 16 percent
social media – 1 percent

Now we still stick by our thoughts that Social Media is great and is especially useful in niche markets and more importantly for assisting your overall SEO efforts (as social signals, like the number of retweets, are a ranking factor), but remember that search still eclipses social media for reaching users looking for information about your local businesses.

Make sure your Search Engine Optimization Strategy and Search Engine Marketing efforts are soundly in place.

Does Google Consider SEO to be Spam?

Steven Alig — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 20:18:35 +0000

Well, check out the video below and see for yourself....

I guess the short answer is, as long as you follow Google's guidelines than SEO is not considered spam.

It is going to be up to each individual website and their SEO team to determine the right blend of onsite optimization, content creation and link building that will work for them, without upsetting the mighty "G".

Interesting how, in the video above, Matt Cutts is once again pushing site speed as a ranking factor. "One of many ranking factors" as is always stated. I just find it funny how that particular ranking factor (site speed) always seems to be mentioned....

Real Time Data Coming to Google Analytics

Steven Alig — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 14:50:29 +0000

Google announced the availability of real time data tracking through Google Analytics last week. Google Analytics Real-Time provides a set of reports that show what’s happening on your website as it happens.

According to the Google Analytics blog, the new Real-Time reports can be used for some of the following analysis:

Measure social media impact: Whenever you create new content on your site, like a blog post, and tweet out the link or send it to other social media sites, you can now see the immediate impact to you website traffic.
Campaign measurement: No more waiting 24 hours to make sure your GA tracking code is setup correctly. With Real-Time you can immediately see if you have properly setup any new campaign tracking. Find out in seconds if you have any problems and correct them immediately before you start driving visitors to your site.

Google just announced this on Oct. 29 and it has only been activated on a limited amount of GA accounts right now, but expect to see it roll out to all Google Analytics users in the coming weeks. If you just can't wait and have to get started with the obsessive data tracking right away, sign up to be included here: https://services.google.com/fb/forms/realtimeanalytics/.

Happy Data Mining!

Search Engine Optimization Explained in 3 minutes (with video)

Steven Alig — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 13:53:26 +0000

Looking for a quick, very basic tutorial of what Search Engine Optimization actually is?

The folks at SearchEngineLand.com along with Common Craft have put together a fine little presentation about "What is SEO". If SEO has piqued your interest for you business (and it really should) but you don't quite understand it just yet, take 3 minutes of your day and watch the video below. It is well worth the effort.

The video compares search engines (Like Google & Bing) to librarians of the internet. And when someone is looking for information (remember we live in the Information Age), the search engines, like a librarian, are tasked with finding the best page (or book) for the users query. The Search Engines are tasked with reading all of the pages on the internet and indexing them. I assume like a Librarian is tasked with having knowledge of all of the books and how to find them in their library. Of course since the search engines are machines, they can do this much more effectively and efficiently than any human. Ultimately, this is Search Engine Optimization.

The Search Engines then use their own highly secret algorithm to rank these pages and show results. In general both Bing and Google use the following factors to assist in their algorithm and ranking results:

Words Matter
Titles Matter
Inbound Links Matter
Words in the Links Matter
Online Reputations Matter

It probably took you just as long to read this as to watch the actual SEO video, but do take the extra time as the visuals make for a very easy to understand explanation of "What is SEO?".