In April of 2012, something remarkable happened. The infamous Kony video fueled a massive social media phenomenon and became the most viral video in history. Why was this so remarkable? 1. No one knew anything about Kony or the Invisible Children non-profit behind the campaign, 2. It wasn’t funny, usually a prerequisite for viral videos and 3. The video was  a whopping 30 minutes long. On average, unless their attention is grabbed, 60% of viewers will click away from a video after just 2 minutes. The average internet user probably forgot about it after a few days, but in the social media marketing world, the lasting effect was truly remarkable.

That week in the Search Marketing world, all eyes were on a whole different beast. That was the week that Google Penguin 1.0 happened. Google’s first update targeting web spam was remarkable for Search Engine Optimizers. For weeks after the update, SEOs were running around like chickens with their heads cut off, or perhaps more accurately, chickens with their search engine rankings disappearing. On May 22nd, 2013 Google’s second update again targeting web spam, Penguin 2.0, was released with much less post-update pandemonium. This time around, only about 2.3% of U.S. English searches were affected compared to 3.1% the first time around. If you browse the internet, send a few emails and stream some videos, you probably didn’t even know it happened. But it matters. Why?

Google’s goal is simple: to give people the most relevant answers to their queries as quickly as possible. Google answers more than 1 billion questions from people in 181 countries in 146 languages every day, so it’s not quite as simple as it sounds. Unfortunately, ever since there were search engines, there have been people committed to scamming their way to the top of search engine results pages (SERPs). As Google puts it, “in pursuit of higher rankings or traffic, some users 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”. This is what we call “Black Hat’ SEO. Even if you’ve never heard the term, you may have seen the spam:

In the first image, we see a legit website for a hotel in Bath, England. Check out the red highlighted footer at the bottom of the page. That footer contains the contents of the second image, believe it or not. Throwing SEO ethics (and discretion) completely out the window, this site has stuffed pages full of keywords over and over (and over...and over...) to try and get search engines to think that this page is very relevant for that topic. In this case, this meant stuffing “tax deferred” hundreds of times on a page, and even going so far as to include misspellings. From the sidebar you can see that this tiny footer contains thousands of doorway pages and the nonsense language was probably spit out by an auto generated content program. Here’s another example:

Oh good, an article that can help me get fit using three simple and easy methods! (The headline in itself is just plain mean). Sounds simple enough, right? The article supposedly helps people get fit but is really just plain link spam. Glancing over the content, it’s clear that the author of this article has added irrelevant anchor text and then linked to irrelevant websites in order to rank higher in SERPs with backlinks. Normally when someone links back to your website, it’s a general sign that the content on your site is valuable and worth sharing, hence the link. In theory, the more backlinks a website has, the higher it will sit in SERPs. In this classic case of Black Hat SEO however, the links and article are really of no value to the searcher.

Luckily, this is where Google Penguin comes in. The Penguin 2.0 update is designed to fight this spam and over optimization, and reward sites that provide real value to users. With all the fuss over Penguin, who is really affected?

The Winners

• Sites that are generating compelling, original and valuable content

• Sites acquiring links (link building) from reputable sites with good PageRank and authority

• Sites acquiring links organically and over time

• Sites that play by the SEO rules

• Sites receiving great social signals

• Niche authorities (sites that are knowledgeable about particular subjects that have a positive history of sharing)

The Losers

• Sites that use duplicate content as a base for sneaky ads, keyword stuffing and paid links

• Sites that buy loads of links from other sites instead of acquiring them organically

• Sites that don’t provide great share-worthy content

• Adult content and affiliated “bad neighborhood” sites

For the SEOs....

1. Titles and descriptions are more important than ever. Avoid duplicates and over-optimized tags and keep titles short.

2. The threshold for spammy links used to be 80%, now it’s down to 50%. Run a link check to understand where your links are coming from, and make sure they’re legit.

3. Watch out for over-optimized exact match keyword anchor text. Throw in some branded and sentence fragment anchor text to diversify.

4. Ads - how much is too much? Too many ads above the fold is a warning sign. Your site probably isn’t there solely to support ads, so make sure Google knows it.

5. Use the Google Semantic Operator to target keywords Google associates with your primary keyword targets. Add the ~ tilde symbol when searching Google for your key phrase (e.g. ~golf course) you will see other words that Google has mapped against that word, such as ‘golf club’ and ‘golf resort’. If Google is defining these keyword relationships, you should be too.

“Diversification within your SEO strategy is absolutely necessary. Providing value doesn’t mean writing dozens of articles for backlinks, it means guest blogging, creating videos, driving social signals, engaging in genuine public relations, and experimenting with creative link building strategies” - Metric SEO expert Robert Groce

The Takeaways

1. Understand the good and the bad. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

2. Provide great value on the internet by positioning yourself as an expert in your field, and put out great quality content to showcase it.

3. There’s no guaranteed formula for success. Everyone is affected by Google Penguin, even Amazon took a ‘hit’ (they lost some of their many position 1 rankings, or less than 0.75% search share...). The best you can do is remember that rankings don’t come from tactics, they come from value. It’s far more important to think about what value you are providing to users than how you can rank higher in SERPs.

Don’t worry too much about “White Hat” SEO vs. “Black Hat” SEO, focus on providing value to clients and diversifying your marketing strategies. If you do that, you won’t have to worry about preparing for or recovering from Google Penguin. For us, ‘preparation’ is an everyday practice.” - Metric SEO expert Omar Zulfi

At the end of the day, experts should always look out for changes in how search engines work, but it’s not necessary for the average user to get bogged down with the ins and outs of Google’s algorithm. Be honest with yourself and your content: is it valuable? Would I share this? Is it remarkable? Investing in increasing trust and authority with a focus on quality is the new standard.

Big shout out to my fellow green commuters here at Metric and beyond, and to the Green Action Centre for putting it on. We're proud to have helped Winnipeg take GOLD in our population category! 

Now who's up for Bike to Work Day on June 21st?!

Why all the hoopla, you ask? Well, the UFC is the most well known martial arts promotion in the world. They are a household name and are so wildly popular that most casual fans tend to refer to the sport of MMA (mixed martial arts) by the promotions name. Similar with all wrestling being associated with WWE/WWF, we’ve probably all heard somebody refer to a local MMA event as a "UFC match". This is a testament to the marketing machine that is the UFC.

With every UFC event comes a huge surge of energy and activity. They know how to engage their fans and make them feel like they are part of the action. A big reason for this is how accessible their stars are to the public. They host a variety of events in the days leading up to the big event, which not only helps to build a buzz around the event itself but also provides a rewarding and lasting experience for casual and long time fight fans.

Below is a detailed guide of the events hosted by the UFC leading up to Saturday’s big event:

Wednesday, June 12

UFC 161 Open Workouts

• Who: Pat Barry, Sam Stout, Sean Pierson & Winnipeg’s own Roland Delorme
• Where: Portage Place Mall (Edmonton Court)
• Time: 10am – 2pm

Autograph Appearance

• Who: Canada’s own Jordan Mein and Mike Ricci
• Where: Bell – Level 1 – Fashion Core – Portage Place Mall
• Time: 2pm-3pm

Thursday, June 13

Autograph Appearance

• Who: #1 Lightweight Contender, Canadian TJ Grant, Jordan Mein & Mike Pyle
• Where: Boston Pizza, City Place
• Time: 8pm – 9:30pm

Friday, June 14

UFC Fight Club Exclusive Q & A Session with TJ Grant

• Where: MTS Centre
• Time: 1pm

UFC 161 Weigh-ins (Free and open to the public)

• Who: All fighters featured on UFC 161 Card
• Where: MTS Centre
• Time: 3pm

Autograph Appearance

• Who: TJ Grant, Jordan Mein & Sarah Kaufman
• Where: MTS Connect – Level 1 – Polo Park Mall
• Time: 6pm – 7pm

Autograph Appearance

• Who: Arianny Celeste & Brittney Palmer
• Where: Boston Pizza, City Place
• Time: 8pm – 9:30pm

Saturday, June 15

UFC 161 Block Party (Free to the public)

• Details: UFC Fan Experience interactive fan zone, UFC fighter appearances, licensed food and beverage area
• Where: City Place parking lot (Graham Ave & Hargrave St.)
• Time: 2pm – 7pm

UFC 161: Evans vs Henderson

• Where: MTS Centre
• Time: Doors open @ 4:15pm                      
  • 5:15pm: First Bout
  • 7pm: Televised Prelims begin
  • 9pm: Main Pay Per View Card begins

As you can see, the UFC makes every effort to build up the awareness and atmosphere prior to their live events. In addition to autograph signings and appearances, they also utilize social media marketing like no other sports organization. Every fighter under contract must be on Twitter, while the outspoken UFC President Dana White leads by example as he can be seen engaging with fans and media through the social platform on a daily basis. You can often catch him giving away prizes and tickets to live events, so be sure to follow @danawhite if you haven’t already picked up a ticket for Saturday’s event.

UFC 161 takes place at the MTS Centre on Saturday, June 15 with the first fight beginning at 5:15pm. If you are a fight fan or just interested in seeing a spectacle like no other, you don’t want to miss this one. Very few tickets remain, so get em' quick.

We wouldn’t be Metric Marketing if we didn’t throw out a few numbers to back up our claims, so here’s the recap:

• As of Day 2 our bunch seem to be solid Winnipeg Transit fans, with 66% of the group taking the bus.
• Coming in at just over 17% of our sustainable commuting crew are the carpoolers, all of whom have managed to log the “3 or more” carpool option...even if it meant bringing the 1 year old along for the ride... (“it counts!!!”)
• It helps that the majority of Metric’s OM team live within a stone’s throw of the office, so they make up the walkers (10% of us), each one burning on average 24 calories per round trip. Well done, guys.
• Last but not least, shout out to Jon Dart for being our dedicated cyclist and top calorie burner.

In the last nine of ten years, Winnipeg has taken top honours in cities of our size and we’re hoping to keep it that way.

Who knows what’s in store for the rest of the week for the Metric green commuters? Perhaps a canoe commute (can...ute?) Maybe a piggyback ride? Stay tuned.

After evaluating CMS's for several months there's no clear winner in our eyes, every offering has tradeoffs and nothing is anywhere near ideal. As part of our search we created specs for a small project to complete in each CMS. This is no small effort as every system is quite different, which means it can take up to a day to learn enough to get the small project working. From this "The Great CMS Challenge of 2013" was born.

Come one, come all and put your CMS to the test on the stage of the social Internet!

What's the point?

The point of the contest is to show how awesome your system is at building something based on custom specs. 

What technologies are welcome?

All of them, sort of. This contest is platform and language agnostic but it is a CMS contest so hopefully your technologies provide mechanisms for authentication, user roles, page editing, etc...

Can I submit a modified plugin?

You're welcome to submit your hacked plugin but doing so is unlikely to impress anyone. Remember, the point of the contest is to show your system's prowess at building something custom.

Is commercial software welcome?

You betcha.

Do I need to be a programmer to participate?

I don't care what your job description is. If you can make something that works join in on the fun.

How do I participate?

Fulfill the specs and show your work. You can show your work via some combination of screencast, github repo, demo site, etc... but most importantly let me know you're participating by filling this form out. I'll post all the participants solutions after the deadline (June 30th, 2013).

What are the specs of the challenge?

You're to make an image gallery module/system/plugin/component/thingy. Not very challenging right? Well, we'll let your system determine that.

• Galleries can belong to many categories
• Categories can be arranged in a tree structure or nested set
• Galleries can have many images
• Galleries can have a description (html/wysiwyg)
• Images can be sorted within their repective gallery
• Images can have a caption

I'll leave the backend up to you, but frontends need 3 interfaces:

• An index page to show all categories
• A category page that shows all its galleries
• A gallery page to show its images

How will the winner be decided?

I'll pick my favorite solution and share my reasoning behind it.

What's the deadline?

June 30th, 2013