Is it fair that Google can put their advert at the top of search results?

The search results of Google are split into two sections, on the right hand side and the top few are results of PPC (pay per click) adverts. It can cost a fair amount of money to have your website listed at the top of the PPC section for certain words.
The main bulk of the search results are organic results which are results of search engine optimisation (SEO), unless you are very lucky and have got good search results without doing SEO. Again running a SEO campaign takes time and more often than not money too (if not doing it yourself).

So is it fair that Google are putting adverts for one of their services at the top of the results. For example Google now offer a compare option for the keyword ‘car insurance’ (for example). By clicking on their link it takes you to the first step in comparing car insurance. I’m not going to go into the service they are offering or if they are making money from it or not, I’ll let you decide yourself on that! 😉

They actually say they are not making any money off it, well not directly anyway.

But is it fair that they can put their advert at the top of the search results?
I can also see what they are trying to do, making it easier for people to compare insurance (in this case). I do feel sorry for those comparison websites out their though! How will they compete with Google, they have to make money too.

What is stopping them from creating an advert for ‘hairdressers in Birmingham’ or ‘download music here’ or whatever YOUR keywords are?!

Is this the start of Google slowly taking over the internet as we know it?

How important are the first links to your website?

There is a thought in the world of SEO that the most important links are your first ones. Although I can (or can anyone) not prove it either way I also agree the first 100 links to a new site must be completely white hat (within Googles guidelines) or it might hurt your site for many months (possibly forever!).

Here are some of my thoughts on this subject:

We know Google employs lots of people around the world purely to check websites are within their guidelines and if the site should receive some type of penalty or not. I doubt they ask these people to re-assess sites very often as I would imagine they will always have a lot of sites to check. I would think Mr Google when checking new websites would have some sort of scoring system to use (or form or something like that). I would also think a large percentage of the websites on their list will be newish sites (probably more than a year old though I would think).

You have probably all heard of the Penguin update by now and how it can affect your websites ranking positions, if not I suggest you read up on it as it’s very important.

Obviously Google doesn’t rely on humans to check links to websites, it has Googlebot to do that for them and their powerful algorithm.

Google also know how to spot a bad link (black hat) pretty well too.

Although you should do this all the time, creating good quality links (preferably naturally) is very important, but at the start of a new websites life, it couldn’t be more important!

I look forward to any comments about the subject below.

How to get SEO done for FREE!

I know that statement sounds like one of ‘those’ emails you get which you know it’s going to cost you loads of money in the end. BUT this time it is true, well almost. Well it is only true for some people.

The world moves on at a very fast pace which small businesses need to keep on top of if they want to survive.

So to start this post off I will ask you a couple of questions:

1. How many printed publications does you business pay to be included in? It doesn’t matter if it’s Yellow Pages, Thompson Local or your local paper.

2. How many visitors do you get from ALL those printed publications put together? (it’s impossible to know exactly how many you get)

The readership of publications such as Yellow Pages has declined by huge numbers, people now find it easier to look on Google for the company they are after. With the vast increase of people using mobile phones and tablets to search the web this is not only the future, it’s the present! (Christmas pun not planned)

So instead of spending your hard earned money on advertising which people no-longer use, use the money on search engine optimisation instead!

You will receive a better ROI
You can see how many visitors you get for your money
You will receive more visitors for FREE due to related keyword clicks
and so so much more!

Reports suggest within the next 2 years as much as 70% of local business searches will be done on a mobile device, don’t miss out get your website mobile optimised!

So don’t waste any more money on ‘old’ style advertising and start 2013 with a new marketing campaign to increase your sales.

(ok it’s not really free, but you would not be spending any more money either!)

A near miss with a Panda update in November 2012

In the SEO community over the last week we have read a lot reports that Google had released another Panda update. We haven’t however seen anything ourselves here at Juicy SEO first hand.

Today Google have however confirmed that there wasn’t a Panda update.

Phew huh!

Ahh sadly not as they also said (more or less) that there was one coming soon. Panda updates tend to be released out into the jungle around the end of the month so we expect it to be the same again this month.

The Panda update will be continuous for many many months to come as they fine tune their algorithm, so this one will not be the last!

If you are having trouble with getting your website to rank well for your keywords, please get in touch as we will be able to help. As per normal I look forward to reading your comments below.

Googles Page Layout Filter Update – October 2012

At the start of the month (October 2012) Google released several updates to it’s algorithm, one of these was called the “Page Layout Filter”. The reason for this update is due to “complaints” Google have received about having to scroll down the page of websites which show lots of adverts to get to the content they are looking for.

Now I am a little sceptical that such complaints actually exist, I think it is more likely Google flexing their muscles and telling people how they want webpages to look like on “their internet”. That aside the update has happened and does make a difference in your ranking.

To be honest moving some of your adverts below the fold and not making the page full of adverts will probably increase visitor enjoyment and might actually increase your CTR!?

So if you have lots of adverts above the fold it’s time to spread them about the page. Another nice little tip, if you have 50 links on a page going external to the site (which is far far too many), make sure you have plenty of internal links on that page too to even it out.

YouTube Ranking Factors – Time!

If you create movies for others to watch (ahem) then you most likely upload them to one of the video hosting platforms like YouTube. I’m guessing you would like lots of people to view the movie or if possible for it to go viral. Did you know that YouTube as well as search engines like Google have an algorithm to decide which videos are at the top of the list. Now that Google owns YouTube their algorithm has got a lot more complicated, and will most likely get even more complicated in the future.

Over the last week or so we understand that a new signal for YouTube has been introduced. This time it is…..Time!

If people watch the video until the end it must be good therefore YouTube will give it a positive thumbs up! If however people stop watching after 2 seconds then it clearly isn’t any good or not related to the search keywords, so a thumbs down will be given.

Something to consider when filming, maybe keep the viewer on tenterhooks or promise a surprise at the end!

Google Panda Penguin Update 4.0 – Refresh for September 2012

Google have announced that this week they have made an update to their algorithm. This is to help produce search results not display the same domain more than once. Over the last few months we have noticed that many of the results display the same website more than once, generally they are listing different WebPages but still not really what we all want.

So they have made a change to stop this.

We are not sure if this is a Panda or Penguin update at the moment, I’m sure they will let us know in time but I think it is more than likely a Panda update.

So how will it affect your site, well I think it is a positive move which will most likely help sites rank better than vice versa, let us know what you think.

**UPDATE 19/09/12 **

So it looks like it was a Panda update which has now been called 3.9.2 and not 4.0. I’m sure it will not be long until 4.0 is here with us.

Is ranking important anymore or are visitors more important?

Does your business want to be ranked high up on the search engines or does it want a better click through rate?
We all like to see our website ranked number 1 in Google or Bing (other search engines are available) but is it really important? Unless your business somehow makes money from showing your website is ranked number 1 I suspect what is more important is the amount of quality visitors touch down on your site. Being ranked number 10 for a keyword might provide more quality visitors to your website compared to another keyword which is ranked first.

Is the position of where your website ranks in the major search engines important anymore?
Prior to 2011 the answer would be ‘yes of course it is’. However a lot has changed since then, the search results you see might not be the same results your customers see.
A little while ago Google released a new service which creates a personal search result. What this means is that the results are tailored to what Google thinks you will be interested in and ranks those website higher in the results. How and why they do this I will explain a little later.
So even if your website ranked number 1 for ‘bristol seo’ your future customers results might not even have you listed on the first page.

Why do Google personalise the search results?
This ‘service’ is only activated when you are logged into one of Googles many websites (YouTube, Gmail, Google+ etc), and the chances are you already use one of their services and are already logged in. As much as you might like to resist signing up to one of their services it is getting harder by the week. Google buys approx 1 business EVERY week, they will own the internet soon!
Google say they want to produce the most relevant search results for everyone, so to do this they need to understand what you like and what websites you would be interested in in the future. By gathering this data they can suggest websites you will be interested in.

How does Google personalise the search results?
There are several ways Google gathers this information which include what you type into their search engines, websites you visit which displays a Google advert (adverts are not always one way), Googles Chrome browser will also provide some more information and of course their new (ish) social media platform Google+ (Google Plus).
I will focus on the Google+ signal and try and explain how this works. If you +1 a websites page it lets Google+ know that you like the content/site, this in turn thinks that your connections (friends, circles, buddies or whatever you want to call them) would be interested in them too. After all you have recommended the page and everyone likes recommendations don’t they! So that page might rank a little higher in your friends search results. The same applies the other way around, you might be (without you knowing) funnelled to using a website a friend has recommended.

If you wish to de-personalise your web searches here is how to do it.

Well what do we need to do?
Firstly if you are not using Google+ already it is time to start, even if only to help your website rank better. It is one of the easiest social media platform to get friends on so get mingling!
Don’t forget to +1 your pages of course! (I don’t advice you +1 all your pages at once, that will not help). The benefits of Googles +1 button is explained a little more here.

Google Panda update 3.9

It has been about a month now since the last update/refresh to Googles Panda update. But in case you have missed the cute bear messing around with everyone’s ranking positions don’t fear, he’s back!

Today another Panda update has happened, this one is called Panda 3.9 but will only affect 1% of websites. Googles Panda update started in 2011 to help them produce better search results.

If your website has been affected let us know!

** Update 25/07/12 17:52 **
The update only looks like a refresh rather than a jiggle around of the rankings, if your rankings have changed let us know in the comments.

Google Algorithm changes – 39 Changes for May

Every month since November 2011 Google produce a list of changes they have been working on for that month. Normally this list consists of at least 50 changes, however for May 2012 it is only 39. Which is a relief as they have been doing a lot of changes lately. We like to comment on the changes that affect SEO, for this month there are several however we have combined some together as they are very similar.

Minor Penguin update
Yes the nasty Penguin update has had an, ahem, update. They say only a small one which was expected as this affected so many webpages they were going to need to fine tune it. I suspect there will be several more updates to the Penguin coming in the next few weeks.

Title Tags
Google will now replace your page title tag description if it is too long, this is fine if you don’t update your page Title tag (if you don’t shame on you!) however if you do it might be a waste of time if it’s too long. We have a tool which you can copy and paste your Title and Description tags to ensure they are within the limit.

Just a reminder that the Title tag of a page is one, if not the most important signal to search engines and affects your websites ranking positions. If you need some help with Title tag just ask!

Well that’s it really, have a look at our blog for previous months updates or follow us on Twitter or Facebook to be kept you to date.

Simple way to remember many online passwords

Like us you have probably have thousands of login details to thousands websites, some might be important like bank accounts, some not so important like forums. A large amount of people use the same password on all (or nearly all) of their online login details to make it easy to remember them. This will of course will make your life easier however if one of your online accounts is hacked (Sony Playstation gaming site and Linkedin have recently been hacked and passwords stolen) it will make it easier for the thief to use your password on other accounts too.
Never fear! We have the answer.

Think of a new password (for this example we will use: juicyseo) and add some letters to the end of it that relates to the website name. So you could use:

juicyseoli (password+the first 2 chars of the website – Linkedin)

juicyseo7na (password+your lucky number+first 2 chars of the website – Natwest)

7juicyseofac (lucky number+password+first 3 chars of the website – Facebook)

I’m sure you get the right idea, just decide on a structure you prefer and there you go, easy to remember passwords which are different for each website.

(We advice including a number and upper/lower case chars as many sites require this)

If you have other ideas then please share in the comments area.

What is Penguin and why would it affect my website?

So you might have heard people talking about a little cute flightless bird a lot recently. The SEO world have been talking about little else for the last couple of weeks, Penguin this Penguin that. Well what’s it all about and how can it affect your website?

What is the Penguin update?

Google have rolled out an update which penalises or removes websites or webpages which they feel are (or trying to) manipulating Google’s guide lines. This is not an update which is targeting ranking results.
Because Google have a habbit of not providing the full story for most of their updates there is also another thought what might be happening. If your site is ranking well for a keyword term and it has been helped in the past by some ‘bad’ links to your site, Google might be adjusting this by removing the value of those links. This in turn could send your sites ranking down the results.

Googles Penguin update

However ‘bad’ links are not always the most obvious links, for example Google look to be removing the value of links which are in footers. We have read about a lot of web design companies who have been affected by this update as a lot tend to have a ‘Website create by…’ link in the footer. Not really the first thing you think about when you hear ‘bad’ link or ‘black hat link’ is it?

Over the last few weeks Google have been making lots of different changes to their algorithm (Panda etc) as well as the Penguin update, so it is not always that easy to spot if the killer Penguin has pounced on you or not.

Google have kindly (ahem) created a form which you can fill out if you think you have been wrongly affected by the Penguin update, they will then have another look at your situation. It doesn’t sound like they are that confident with their update if they are letting you complain does it? So we think we haven’t heard the last of our Penguin friend!

We are experimenting with our test sites to try and understand more about this update, if you think your website has been affected get in contact we might be able to help.