Tag: Search Engine Optimization
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Understanding Google’s New Page Layout Algorithm
Google issued a new warning to webmasters that it is updating its algorithms again, this time targeting websites that choose to display ads that run above the fold — that is, the section of a webpage visible without scrolling. And before you start griping that Google just won’t leave well enough alone, this change is…
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Understanding Google’s New Sitelinks
When it comes to search engine results, your company’s placement acreage atop a Google search result page is what matters. Thanks to some tinkering by the search engineers over at the Googleplex, your website’s Google search results now have a much better chance of standing out from the crowd. Just in case you missed it,…
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Google’s Own Search-Engine Tour Guide +1
Google says the World Wide Web is a big place and what we all need from time to time is an experienced tour guide. As a result, the folks over at the Googleplex have trotted out Google +1, an experimental feature that enables those with a Google Profile to share recommendations with their friends and colleagues right…
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Google’s Panda Puts Content Farms Out to Pasture
Let’s face facts: Your business isn’t on the Net if it isn’t highly indexed by Google because Google is the Internet. So when the world’s most popular search engine recently announced an update to its search algorithm, many of those businesses that use low-quality content to drive search engine traffic to their sites found themselves at…
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Make Sure Your SEO is Wearing a White Hat
The New York Times piled some fairly harmful media attention on JC Penney over the weekend by questioning how the behemoth U.S. retailer was able to consistently turn up first in line on Google’s search results for a large number of seemingly unrelated keywords. From “bedding” to “blue jeans,” the JC Penney name popped up…
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Do’s and Don’ts of Featuring Your Business in Wikipedia
It’s hard to believe that Wikipedia celebrated its 10th birthday last week. The popular online reference site was launched back on Jan. 15, 2001, by Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger. With 17 million articles in more than 250 different languages, Wikipedia is consistently ranked as one of the most popular sites on the net. And…
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What To Do if Google Says ‘Your Website May Be Compromised’
If you’re a webmaster, five words you never want to find on the search results for your website on Google are, “This site may be compromised.” The fact that hackers and crackers are making a picnic lunch out of your website pretty much means your immediate future has already been planned for you. Anything else…
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Google Caffeine and What it Means for Your Business
This week’s Four For Friday is a little different. Rather than asking you, our readers, to weigh in on four issues currently impacting businesses, today I’m asking someone else to answer four questions of my own (questions that similarly reflect the current climate in business). If this goes well–meaning if you like the format and…
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Here’s Looking at You
Search for just about any topic using any search engine and you are likely to see a hodgepodge of links for information, news, video, images and even blog posts. That’s because search engines strive to provide blended search results. To ensure that images are included in the results, search engines give them preferential treatment. Because…
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Coolness Has its Price
There’s no doubt about it: Websites designed in Flash are cool. They’re animated, interactive, multimedia eye candy. You see it, and you want it. Unfortunately, coolness has a price, and if a web designer sells you on Flash, you will be paying that price from Day One and for every second your site is live.…
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Video SEO for Your Website: Optimize your site’s search engine ranking with video
Because video has become the new darling of search engines, many startups are rushing to create and post video on their websites. Just run a Google or Bing search on any topic, and links to video clips pop up right on page one. The reason for this is that search engines are tripping over themselves…
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Optimizing Video for Search Engine Rank
Piggybacking off my February 2010 Entrepreneur magazine column (“Video SEO for Your Website“), a reader in New York City wants to know exactly how to optimize the video on his company’s website. From Bob Bello, Founder and President of CiscoKits.com: “I would like to improve and make sure the videos I am putting on my…
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5 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Abandon Your Blog for Facebook
In the rush to create a Facebook Fan Page to promote their business or brand, many companies are neglecting their existing blogs. As a result, thousands of business blogs have been left to rot, leading potential customers and business partners alike to draw their own conclusions as to why a company’s blog hasn’t been updated…
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10 Ways a Facebook Fan Page Helps Your Business
Facebook is a social network, not a shopping network, so why should any business spend resources establishing and maintaining a Fan Page on Facebook? (A Fan Page, by the way, is a profile for a business or organization rather than for an individual.) Because even if members have no intention of buying anything on Facebook,…
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Really Simple Success: Content syndication via RSS is an easy and inexpensive way to drive more traffic to your site
In search engine optimization, great content increases the likelihood of your website receiving and maintaining a high search engine rank, which ultimately drives qualified traffic and leads to your company’s website. But great content requires great distribution to really shine. Placing your content in front of the right customers at the right time is critical,…