Bruce Clay's Blog, page 42

SMX East 2014 Speaker Series: Jim Yu on the ‘Massive Mobile Shift’

SMX East 2014 Speaker Series: Jim Yu on the ‘Massive Mobile Shift’ was originally published on BruceClay.com, home of expert search engine optimization tips.

Earlier this year, Search Engine Journal reported that the mobile market will generate an estimated $261 billion more in 2015 than it did in 2012. This is no surprise, considering that the average American now spends two hours a day on a mobile device.

It’s an undisputed fact that mobile optimization is a critical component of SEO, and Internet marketers are hungry for the latest tactics concerning mobile optimization. Later this month, you’ll find marketers gathered at Search Marketing Expo (SMX) East 2014, and one of the must-attend sessions of the conference is “What SEOs Should Be Doing With Mobile” (Oct. 1 at 9 a.m.), featuring SEO VIPs Jim Yu, Cindy Krum, Michael Martin and Gary Illyes.

Here’s a sneak preview of those mobile SEO insights as Yu, founder and CEO of BrightEdge, joins us for the second installment of our SMX East 2014 Speaker Series. Yu has made a name for himself in SEO, marketing and software development. Prior to founding BrightEdge, Yu led teams at Salesforce and IBM. He’s an in-demand speaker, sharing his knowledge at conferences around the globe. Today, he’s sharing them right here in an exclusive interview for the Bruce Clay, Inc. Blog.

BrightEdge just hosted its own conference called Share14. You focused on content, measurement and mobile optimization. How do these 3 cornerstones translate to your SMX East presentation?

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to talk with you today. I am really looking forward to my session at SMX East this year and sharing further insights into how marketers can optimize for mobile.

As you mentioned, the theme this year at BrightEdge Share14 was content, measurement and optimization. Content marketing has developed to become the catalyst that has fueled the convergence of search, social and digital marketing disciplines. In parallel, mobile growth and adoption has skyrocketed to become one of the fastest-growing channels for driving revenue through consumer engagement.

In order for marketers to maximize their return on investment in mobile they must understand, measure and optimize their mobile search strategies. Mobile was a key talking point at Share14. You can watch my keynote address at Share14 and other highlights here.

Can you share some tips on content creation for the mobile user? What content works and what doesn’t?

What works and what does not work … That’s a great question. BrightEdge data tells us that mobile is outpacing desktop by 10 and, because of this massive shift, marketers have had to recalibrate their mobile strategies.

People now consume media across multiple mobile device types and hence each device type requires a different approach. The important thing to remember about mobile is that all mobile content is not created equally; what works and reads well on one device type (for example, mobile vs. tablet) may not work on another. The key to the success of mobile content lies in understanding the customer experience and serving content that serves a purpose and has meaning and value for the user. For this reason “mobile” can mean video and “mobile” can mean social. YouTube (who presented at Share14 on content, social and mobile) is the third largest search engine in the world and serves as a great example.

How can marketers best benchmark and measure for mobile? Do you have any dos and don’ts for measuring mobile?

Do: Utilize all mobile data at your disposal. Track, measure and optimize/optimize and measure. Your ultimate goal as a marketer is to measure conversion and ROI, and in order to do it, it’s vital to track the changing SERP (blended rank and mobile rank). Ensure that you measure mobile and local landing pages and build solid mobile campaign reporting dashboards.

Don’t: Take your eye off the SERP. Do not take a one-size-fits-all approach to mobile measurement. Conversions vary dramatically via device type, content type, location and industry!

Do: Keep on adding and testing content types and measuring the corresponding, multiple, mobile tracking variables.

As we head into 2015, what are some trends in mobile optimization that marketers need to know about? What optimization strategies should we leave behind?

As I mentioned earlier, leave behind the one-size-fits-all mobile approach. On average, 62 percent of organic searches show different results depending on whether the search was performed on a desktop or smartphone, according to BrightEdge research. Further BrightEdge research found that on average, 27 percent of websites were misconfigured for smartphone searches, which resulted in an average 68 percent loss of smartphone traffic to those websites. If these mobile sites were to regain the full potential of their traffic, it would equal a 212 percent jump from what they currently experience.  As you can see, the mobile optimization opportunity is still massive!

In 2015 keep an eye out for new developments with regard to mobile app optimization and the integration of mobile and wearable technology.

Can you share your top recommendations for further reading on SEO-for-mobile matters?

1. The Mobile Opportunity: How to Capture Upwards of 200% in Lost Traffic

2. How the Mobile Channel Compares with the Desktop Channel: How These Channels Drive Conversions

3. How to Prepare for MoCo: Mobile, Content and Advanced SEO

4. Mobile Site Configuration: How to Choose

Want more of the SMX East 2014 Speaker Series? Check out our interview with Jason White, director of SEO at DragonSearch — his rousing interview laid the groundwork for “stupid successful” keyword research and link development. The SMX East 2014 Speaker Series continues all this month. Follow Bruce Clay, Inc. and Kristi Kellogg on Twitter and be the first to know when the next interview is up. We have Joanna Lord, Cindy Krum, Rhea Drysdale and our own Bruce Clay on deck.

 

SMX East 2014: The Conference, The Liveblog Schedule & More

SMX East 2014: The Conference, The Liveblog Schedule & More was originally published on BruceClay.com, home of expert search engine optimization tips.

Search Marketing Expo (SMX) East 2014 is right around the corner. In less than a month, Internet marketers will gather in the heart of New York for the conference of the fall. More than 100 SEO, SEM, social media and content marketing experts will share their top strategies and recommendations in tactic-packed sessions Sept. 30 through Oct. 2, Bruce Clay among them.

Where to Find Bruce

Clay will lead his acclaimed One-Day SEO Training on Sept. 29 (it’s already sold out).
Clay and fellow search leaders will answer questions from the audience in the “Ask the Search Engines & SEOs” panel (always a big hit) at 2:30 p.m. on Oct. 2. Get there early — seats fill up fast when you Bruce and VIPs from Bing, Google, Ford and more take the stage.
When evening falls on Sept. 29, Clay can be found at the SMX Meet & Greet. Bruce Clay, Inc. is the SMX  Meet and Greet sponsor — come have a drink on Clay! Mix and mingle from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Inc Lounge (224 W. 49th St.).


Throughout the entire conference, you can stop by booth #406 in the Expo Hall to meet Bruce and co.

SMX East 2014 Liveblog Schedule

Virginia Nussey and I will be liveblogging key sessions throughout SMX East 2014. Here are the sessions you can expect to see covered on the blog, as they happen!

Day 1: Tuesday, Sept. 30

Time
SMX East Session
Blogger


9 a.m.

Search Marketing Boot Camp

No, SEO is Never Dead … It’s Just Trying to Be
All Search is Now Social
Branding Your Data Visualizations


Virginia


9 a.m.
Let’s Work Together: How SEO & SMM Can Help Each Other
Kristi


10:45 a.m.
Competitive Research for SEO
Kristi


1:30 p.m.
Search Marketing Boot Camp

Automation Does Not Equal Strategy (Or, A Tool Box Does Not a Cabinet Make)
The 4th Wave of Content Marketing
The Future of a Brand


Virginia


3:30 p.m.
Up Close with Twitter Cards & Facebook’s Open Graph
Kristi


3:30 p.m.
Search Marketing Boot Camp

Search & Find: Marketing in the Age of the Internet of Things
The Importance of Imagery
The Audience Imperative


Virginia


6 p.m.
Evening Forum with Danny Sullivan
Kristi

 

Day 2: Wednesday, Oct. 1

Time
SMX East Session
Blogger


9 a.m.
Breathing New Life Into a Tired Paid Search Campaign
Virginia


9 a.m.
What SEOs Should Be Doing with Mobile
Kristi


10:45 a.m.
25 Smart Examples of Structured Data You Can Use Now
Virginia


10:45 a.m.
Creating, Testing & Optimizing Paid Search Ads
Kristi


1:30 p.m.
Deconstructing Pigeon, Google’s New Local Search Algorithm
Virginia


1:30 p.m.
Tough Love: What I Wish CMOs Knew About Search Marketing
Kristi


5 p.m.
Keynote Conversation: Jonah Peretti, Founder & CEO of BuzzFeed
Virginia

 

Day 3: Thursday, Oct. 2

Time
SMX East Session
Blogger


9 a.m.
Keyword Research for Better Content & Audience Engagement
Kristi


10:45 a.m.
Conversion Rate Rock Stars
Kristi


1 p.m.
How to Secure Your Site for Google’s HTTPS Algorithm
Kristi


2:30 p.m.
Meet the Search Engines and SEOs
Kristi

 

We’ll see you at the SMX East 2014! In the meantime, check out our SMX 2014 Speaker Interview Series.

[VIDEO] Bruce Clay, Inc. Accepts Client’s ALS #IceBucketChallenge, Sponsors Walk to Defeat ALS

[VIDEO] Bruce Clay, Inc. Accepts Client’s ALS #IceBucketChallenge, Sponsors Walk to Defeat ALS was originally published on BruceClay.com, home of expert search engine optimization tips.

You knew this day would come. It was bound to happen one way or another. This is how it went down.

President of our long-time SEO client BenefitsCafe.com, Bruce Jugan, a board member of the ALS Association Golden West Chapter, nominated Bruce Clay and the “whole team” to partake in the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. We’re believers in the power of social media memes to accelerate awareness. Challenge accepted! Video and pics below the fold!

Considering that California is in the state’s worst drought in a century, we brought the challenge to a local park where we could water the grass. In the spirit of ethical SEO (and ethical ice bucket challenges), we ran our plans by the Simi Valley Recreation & Park District and got their enthusiastic blessing.

At about 1:30 PM yesterday, eager Bruce Clay, Inc. team members met at Rancho Madera Community Park in Simi Valley where Bruce announced the company would be sponsoring the Los Angeles Walk to Defeat ALS at Exposition Park on October 19. As tradition goes, we challenged two organizations whom we know and love, aimClear and Pixelsilk. As for the rest, well, you’ll just have to see for yourself.

Funny story: the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge and marketing lessons gleaned from the viral phenomenon is the topic of yesterday’s SEM Synergy podcast. If you listen to the segment pre-recorded last week, you’ll hear Bruce proposing his own preferred interpretation of an ice bucket challenge, much like Patrick Stewart’s version but imagined days before that video hit the web. Sorry, boss! But your traditional take meant we all got to join in on the fun.

If you’re a fan of Bruce Clay, Inc., social media memes and Internet marketing, subscribe to our monthly SEO Newsletter email for SEO and Internet marketing news and education from a thought-leading organization in online marketing.

#icebucketchallenge step 1: Get your appropriately enthusiastic bucket.

Right before the bucket dump. Oh boy…

Wow that’s cold!

Victory!

For those who got to the park a moment too late, there was a second chance dunk!

BCI’s social media fans unite for ALS awareness! (L to R: Paula Allen, Bruce Clay, Virginia Nussey, Kristi Kellogg)

#icebucketchallenge aftermath

Complete PPC PLA Shopping Campaign Crash Course ─ Conversion Deadline Sunday!

Complete PPC PLA Shopping Campaign Crash Course ─ Conversion Deadline Sunday! was originally published on BruceClay.com, home of expert search engine optimization tips.

Before you start packing up and traveling with family, remember that August 31, this Sunday, is the last day to upgrade your Product Listing Ad (PLA) campaigns.

Don’t panic!

Photo by Mycatkins (CC by 2.0), modified

In efforts to make this weekend much more enjoyable for you, here are some tips on upgrading to Shopping Campaigns I think will shine light on the “phases” that take effect in September if you do not upgrade your PLA campaigns.

Tips for AdWords Shopping Campaign Conversion

If you haven’t already upgraded your PLA campaigns, the Google team, announced a new tool earlier this month, to help you create a Shopping Campaign from your existing PLA campaigns. The new campaign will include your campaign structure and bids based on your existing PLA campaign(s) and on their historical performance. Trust me, this tool will help you a lot of time! Note: Although the purpose of this tool is to help you upgrade your PLA campaigns instantly, not all campaigns will be compatible. If your campaign includes AdWords labels or “groupings” in your product targeting, you have to update your data feed with customs labels before any upgrading can take place.
Check out the AdWords Blog, where the Google team has provided the advertising community a great list of resources to reference for upgrading and optimizing your Shopping Campaigns. In efforts to save you the time and get your weekend started as soon as possible, review the following resources below:

Shopping Campaign Tutorial Videos

How to create a campaign
How to prep my data feed
How to optimize my product groups

Instructional Hangouts on Air

Shopping Campaigns Upgrade 101: Where and how to start (beginner)
Shopping Campaigns Upgrade 201: What to do now (advanced)

Help Center Resources

AdWords Help Center
Merchant Center Help Center
AdWords Community

What Happens If You Don’t Transition Your PLA Campaigns?

Last week, Google AdWords shared another piece of news with the advertising community. If advertisers do not upgrade before Monday, the following two phases will take place during September.

Phase 1: Limited functionality of all regular PLA campaigns. You will not be able to make any edits to product targeting, max CPC bids, promotional text and destination URLs. The only thing you will be able to edit is campaign status and budgets.
Phase 2: Auto-upgrade to Shopping campaigns. If you do not upgrade your campaigns before deadline, your PLA campaigns will be auto-upgraded. Sounds easy right? Well not entirely. Although your campaigns will auto-upgrade during the month of the September, some settings and bids might not be included in the transition into the new campaign, due to “technical limitation” as described by Google. Once your PLA campaigns have been converted, your regular PLA campaigns will stop serving and remain paused.

Final Thoughts

To really enjoy this Labor Day weekend, make sure to upgrade your regular PLA campaigns before Monday. Avoid the forced phases and limited functionality of the automatic upgrade option. Also remember that although your PLA campaigns will be auto-upgraded if you don’t do it yourself before September, not all elements for your existing regular PLAs will transfer over. So, make this Friday count and dedicate some time to not only upgrade but also optimize your new Shopping Campaigns to receive the best results! And, if you find out about the transition a little too late or want some help cleaning up your campaigns once they’ve reached the phase stage, feel free to reach out to me and the BCI SEM services team where we’ve been busy transitioning multi-campaign PLAs for clients across a variety of verticals.

Resources to Help You Transition from PLAs to Shopping Campaigns

Best Practices for NEW Google Shopping Campaigns (Bruce Clay, Inc.)
[Webinar Recording] 8 Tips To Optimize Your Google Shopping Campaigns (PPC Hero)
Google Shopping Campaigns Transition Tips (Search Engine Watch)
Do AdWords Shopping Campaigns Work? (Wordstream)

SMX East 2014 Speaker Series: Jason White’s ‘Stupid Successful’ SEO Guide to Keywords, Link Cleanup and Personal Success

SMX East 2014 Speaker Series: Jason White’s ‘Stupid Successful’ SEO Guide to Keywords, Link Cleanup and Personal Success was originally published on BruceClay.com, home of expert search engine optimization tips.

Search Marketing Expo (SMX) East 2014 is fast-approaching. In preparation for the acclaimed Internet marketing conference, I’ve invited a handful of distinguished speakers (Bruce Clay among them) to sit down for an interview. First up is Jason White, the director of SEO at DragonSearch. The New York native has graced the SMX stage before and has also shared his vast SEO knowledge with the next generation of Internet marketers as a guest lecturer at New York University. White’s writing has appeared on Search Engine Journal, WordStream and the Marketology Blog.

“Anything that requires some strategy and a burning desire to figure out the why tends to be what gets me revved up,” White said. “More than anything I like to make my clients stupid successful.”

White will be speaking in two sessions at SMX East: “Earning Authority: Successful Link Acquisition & Auditing Advice” and “Keyword Research For Better Content & Audience Engagement.” Accordingly, I picked his brain on keyword best practices, content marketing success stories, link management and more.

Can you share a must-do and a must-don’t when it comes to keyword research?

Gather data from as many sources as you can and don’t use just the Keyword Planner. Go offline and talk to the sales team, listen to sales calls and flag the terminology and words that are being used. If the client is using PPC, mine all of that information including the negative keywords. If everyone is using the same tools for their keyword research, juke  and go with a different current, the opportunity is away from the pack. Long-tail keywords have been steadily diminishing so you need to be willing to consume other forms of data and hunt.

What mistakes are SEOs making when it comes to managing and/or disavowing links?

I’ve seen brands get hit by Google’s Penguin and submit the disavow with Bing. I’ve also seen marketers disavow YouTube and Facebook links. I’ve encountered people who had a manual penalty and were fearful of submitting a reconsideration request. These are extreme examples but it’s insanity. The misinformation is absolutely mind-boggling.

If you’re about to embark on a Penguin cleanup campaign, the best thing you can do for your client is to deep dive and do the research. If you have questions, reach out to people and ask — there is a lot of snake oil in our little industry but there are even more caring, knowledgeable people who are willing to share and help.

Can you share some examples of brands doing it right when it comes to content?

The International Space Station’s Instagram feed is fantastic. It’s bringing back the romanticism of our space program. Keeping with the government theme, the TSA’s blog is an example of what can be done when you work with what you have and I like how it’s humorous yet educational.

What is your philosophy on building your individual brand?

Being myself and sharing my knowledge freely has opened magnificent doors. I coach my team to understand that the best personal opportunities will come when they’re overworked and feeling like they are at their limit, but they should ignore those feelings and do the work, and push a little harder when someone presents an opportunity for them to seize. There is a Buddhist proverb that says something to the effect of ‘the urge to quit is strongest the moment before success is achieved.’ This is something that has become a bit of a mantra for me. At the same time, when the zombie apocalypse comes, the sum total of the work I’ve produced will be meaningless … which is something else I remind myself often.

TLDR? —> Give. Work a little harder than your perceived limit but don’t take yourself too seriously.

You’re an avid participant in #SEOchat, the weekly chat discussing all things SEO (Thursdays at 10 a.m. PT). What’s the value of staying connected with your fellow SEOs and sharing knowledge?

It’s all love. Love the people around you and be interested in their success, they’ll pay it back in spades.

In addition to #SEOchat, how do you stay on top of Internet marketing news? Blogs, books, hangouts – tell us anything and everything.

I have a very select group of people who I follow on Twitter and Google+. I attempt to get out of the echo chamber as much as I can so that I can get new ideas and concepts whenever possible.

I follow different people for different reasons; I like following Eric Enge on Google+ because of the wacky times I’ll get invited to one of his awesome Google Hangouts. It’s stupid, but I’m hell-bent on figuring out if the timing is completely random or if there is science behind it. It’s almost to the point where I’m expecting to unravel his strategy and earn the keys to the universe. Almost.

I read a lot of content from Amazon, I love the ESPN digital blog and I lurk on a lot of black hat forums. I also stalk some select verticals to earn new ideas but the who and how will only be admitted after a few beers. I like IPA.

Who are your top three favorite Twitter users and why?

Ian Lurie . He’s free and giving with his knowledge, has tested most everything or it at least appears that way and I appreciate his humor.
Mike King . He just gets it done with no bull and is interested in marketing which is something I feel that many SEOs are missing the boat on.
Bill Slawski . I value his ability to connect random facets from different periods of time. The ability to recognize unrelated opportunities is where magic happens and Bill seems to have this as a sixth sense.

When you’re not directing SEO, what are your favorite ways to spend your time?

Making sure my little human is growing up as a well-adjusted person, fixing my old house and telling my wife how much appreciate her for dealing with my brand of crazy. Occasionally the stars align just so and I get to ride my bike in the mountains which is something I really enjoy.

Hangout on Recent Google Updates: Panda, Penguin and HTTPS

Hangout on Recent Google Updates: Panda, Penguin and HTTPS was originally published on BruceClay.com, home of expert search engine optimization tips.

Do you have an action plan now that Google says HTTPS is a ranking signal?

Are you eager for the next Penguin Update?

Have you ingested the newest version of Google’s Quality Rating Guidelines and integrated them into your optimization approach?

As web marketing professionals, Google keeps us on our toes, and August has been a busy month on the Google organic algorithm front. There’s been:

A mini Panda update
Confirmed progress on a coming Penguin update
And a new ranking signal, SSL encryption

In this Hangout you’ll hear what we’re doing and recommending for our clients in light of the recent Google updates. Our SEO manager, Mindy Weinstein, and our senior lead SEO analyst, Rob Ramirez, video chat about those three big changes to Google’s organic ranking algorithm and touch on takeaways from our reading of the 160-page Google Quality Rating Guidelines version 5. Listen to our conversation and read the highlights below.

SEO industry insiders, has Panda, Penguin or HTTPS got you thinking about a new approach?

Unconfirmed Mini Panda Refresh

A rankings shake-up in early August is suspected to have been caused by an adjustment to Google’s Panda algorithm (evaluation of content quality). Another theory is that the highly volatile Google rankings over the last week were due to the tweaking of multiple ranking signals at once ━ a multi-pack update, as it’s sometimes called.

As Hangout moderator, I thought we’d break the ice with this subject. But to be honest, things got more interesting as we broached topics with more critical and unknown implications. Like … could a Penguin backlink refresh be a bad thing for a lot of websites?

Overdue Penguin Update In the Works

In a Google Webmaster Hangout, John Mueller confirmed that engineers are working on a Penguin refresh, and while some outcry from the community suggests SEOs are eager for the update, John explained it’s not as simple as flipping a switch. Rob said there’s speculation that recent fluctuations in SERPs could be Google live testing the effect of Penguin elements and looking at what those SERPs will look like in the wild if they were to flip those switches.

Rob said he suspects the delay to refresh Penguin can probably be traced in part to the massive amount of data that’s been generated from disavow files. If Google wants to use that data, and presumably they do, there are so many domains that have been disavowed that it’s hard for Google to filter out the signal from the noise. Rob suspects that, from its tests to see what SERPs look like if they account for all the disavow data, Google doesn’t like what it sees. Read more about Rob’s criticism of Google’s Penguin refresh delay in Does Google Have a Responsibility to Refresh Its Penguin Algorithm?

Mindy asserted that we don’t know what the next update is going to look like, and that it might actually make things harder for many businesses, rather than better. With each update Penguin gets a little stricter, and so while the SEO community anticipates the refresh, it’s an unknown that could be as much of a risk as a benefit.

What’s our recommended action plan if a client is playing the waiting game against Penguin’s cold shoulder?

Work on improving your site, your user experience.
Engage in a campaign to build traffic and visibility, and while you may not see your efforts reflected in the rankings, work to make the site as strong as it can be so it’s ready when Penguin is refreshed.
Prove your pages’ value and make your site more engaging and likely to convert visitors once Google recognizes your backlink clean-up effort.

Minor Ranking Signal Introduced in HTTPS

HTTPS is a confirmed ranking signal, albeit minor, as of August 7. Page encryption is not as highly valued as other signals, probably because it’s not an option that makes sense for every website. In our discussion, Rob described SSL certificates and encrypted connections as a best practice for sites that accept money and have a payment gateway. However, doing it across all pages is cost prohibitive, especially for sites with hundreds of thousands of pages and sites hosted in the cloud. There’s also the matter of implementing HTTPS properly; if you don’t redirect pages and define canonicals, you can end up with duplicate pages in Google’s index and an SEO clean-up hassle.

Mindy recalled SMX Advanced in June, when Google explained its reasons for recommending encrypted and secure sites. Now, months later, Google has indicated that encryption is a minor ranking signal. Mindy said she considers this the beginning of an ongoing progression toward increased emphasis on site security by Google.

Here’s another thing to consider about the implications of this new ranking signal. It puts businesses that can afford expensive SSL certificates at an advantage and may disadvantage smaller businesses that aren’t able to buy top-of-the-line certificates.

But Google, Rob reminded us, wants to make sure their algorithm doesn’t punish local, mom-and-pop businesses that are focused on their goods, services and customers. A lot of those businesses aren’t going to change their sites so they’re fully encrypted ━ only a small percentage of websites even pay attention to SEO. Google has to balance that reality with its desire to support initiatives for online security via HTTPS as a ranking factor.

One other consequence of a fully encrypted site that Rob mentioned is that it removes Google’s need to encrypt searches and thus filter keyword referral data, known as “Not Provided.” If Google is pointing to an encrypted page on an encrypted site from SERPs, the search engine doesn’t need to hide the referral data from prying eyes. Right now the decision to encrypt a site requires consideration of the cost and effort involved, and whether the benefit is worth that cost. If Google were to return keyword referral data for encrypted sites, Rob would certainly advise his clients to secure their sites.

Google Quality Rating Guidelines

I’d scheduled our Hangout for 30 minutes and we had a few minutes to spare, so I asked Rob and Mindy what stood out to them in their reading of  the May 2014 Google Quality Rating Guidelines that were leaked this summer.

Mindy was struck by the fact that the guidelines instruct human raters to look off-site to get a sense of a site’s reputation. A brand’s or business’s reputation is an important consideration in Google’s rankings, and that means that rankings take into account realities apart from that brand’s carefully curated and owned presence, its website.

Yes, to show you’re an expert, your website needs to align with your subject of expertise. But a true expert’s expertise is reflected in what others say about them. Mindy encouraged online businesses to consider the roots of marketing — getting your business in front of people and getting people to talk about your brand.

Rob pointed out that there is a classification of websites that Google holds to a higher standard, known as YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) pages, which deal with finances, legal issues and health, and sites that accept payment. For these pages especially, Google looks for signals that show time and care have been taken in writing the content, laying out the website, and making information about the business available for customers’ benefit. Contact Us pages, a privacy policy, terms of use, and disclaimers have been identified by Google as necessary trust signals for sites in spaces where a user’s livelihood is directly affected.

Final Analysis

The long and short of our chat on the latest Google updates is that there has never been a shortcut that works long-term, only actions which truly earn rankings. For businesses waiting for the Penguin algorithm to refresh, there’s work to do to improve the site so that when the refresh happens and rankings lift, your site is engaging, sticky and better at converting visitors. If you’re considering HTTPS for your site hoping to get a rankings boost, weigh this factor against the cost and effort of implementation and target areas or pages on your site for which extra security serves a purpose. And, finally, don’t overlook the value and trust signals conveyed by general “about” type pages on your site and your reputation as conveyed by what other sites say about you online.

Preparing Your Holiday PPC Campaigns ━ AdWords Changes Since Holidays 2013

Preparing Your Holiday PPC Campaigns ━ AdWords Changes Since Holidays 2013 was originally published on BruceClay.com, home of expert search engine optimization tips.

Ho ho ho! Tis the season to be campaigning. It’s that joyous time of year again to start planning and preparing for Cyber Monday, Black Friday and other holiday campaigns. For marketers and retailers across the globe, the holiday shopping season is upon us. And your holiday PPC campaigns need to be ready long before your customers start to get their shopping and bargain hunting on. In case you’ve been hibernating in a bat cave since Valentine’s Day, here’s a rundown on everything that’s changed in PPC since last Christmas when you gave your ad dollars away.

Goodbye PLAs, Hello Shopping Campaigns

Photo by Sharon Hahn Darlin (CC BY 2.0)

Advertisers loved Shopping Campaigns so much, Google decided to do away with regular product listing ad (PLA) campaigns altogether and will be transitioning all PLA campaigns to Shopping Campaigns by the end of August. There’s even a new upgrade tool that makes it easy to convert regular PLA campaigns to Shopping Campaigns for those who want a head start. BCI SEM Manager Michael Shore explains that Shopping Campaigns “give advertisers more granular reporting capabilities all in the AdWords UI. It also allows for more granular targeting and more control over the products in your feed. All-in-all easier to manage.”

Two New Tools Make Campaign Management Easier

Shopping campaigns streamline how you organize, bid and report on your ads with the addition of two new tools that make managing your campaigns a whole lot easier. With bulk uploads, you can download editable reports, edit your bids within the report, and upload it right back to your account where all your changes will apply automatically. The AdWords editor helps you efficiently manage multiple campaigns and long lists of keywords so you can make changes online or offline.

Get Better ROI With Upgraded Search and Display Campaign Type

Starting September 16, all campaigns are getting automatically upgraded to the “Search Network With Display Select” campaign type. This has been in the works since last November when Google announced it would be phasing out the old campaign type in favor of the new one, reporting higher click-through rates and a better return on investment. This new and improved campaign type makes it easier to manage campaigns and lets you customize based on desired campaign performance.

New and Improved Ad Extensions

When Google first introduced enhanced campaigns a year ago, the goal was to connect more businesses with the right people using the right ads based on user context such as location, device and time of day without having to set up and manage separate campaigns for each case scenario. Ad extensions add more value to enhanced campaigns with additional pieces of information that drive conversions. With new and improved ad extensions, advertisers now have more options for influencing their ad position, improving ad visibility, and increasing click-through rates.

Consumer Rating Annotations Boost Click-Through Rates

In the age of social media, opinions have never mattered more than they do today. With so many choices at the click of a button, people are relying more heavily on the opinions and experiences of others before investing in a brand, product or service. In consideration of this evolving consumer marketplace, Google launched Consumer Rating Annotations, a new ad format that highlights your best ratings based on data from Google Consumer Surveys. This new ad extension has been known to boost click-through rates by an average of 10 percent and complements previously-released extensions, including seller ratings and review extensions, designed to create more trust and transparency in search ads.

Google My Business Helps Your Business Stand Out

Google has replaced Google Places for Business with Google My Business and has already upgraded everyone previously using Google Places for Business and the Google+ Dashboard to manage their business information. This full-utility dashboard makes it easy for you to manage your business information across all Google products from one centralized location. Got multiple business locations? No problem. You can upload them all at once using the bulk upload tool. It’s free to use and makes managing your brand’s Google presence a whole lot easier.

Upgraded Location Extensions Deliver More Value When It Matters Most

Location extensions allow businesses to include local business information in search ads at the campaign level. The new upgrade to location extensions offers a simpler way to manage your business locations in AdWords by linking Google My Business to your AdWords campaigns. “In the past, we’d have to link individual campaigns to Google My Business accounts in order to display local store information under our PPC ads. With account-level location extensions, we can link an entire account (and all campaigns) to a client’s Google My Businesses account which eliminates the manual work of having to maintain our location extensions on a per-campaign basis,” says Shore.

Dynamic Sitelinks Increase the Relevancy of Your Ads

Sitelinks have been around for a while as a way to help users find exactly what they are looking for by linking them to specific pages on your website straight from your ad. This year, after a series of evolutions, Google rolled out with dynamic sitelinks to help optimize ad performance. These auto-generated sitelinks guide users to your most relevant pages based on their their most recent search activities. This makes it easier for users to find exactly what they are looking for. The ad extension can be disabled, but before you do so just know that the sitelinks you set up will always show up first unless Google thinks dynamic sitelinks will perform better for a given query.

New Conversion Reporting Features

You holiday PPC campaigns are useless without conversion tracking to help you make the most of your online ads. In an effort to give advertisers and marketers more insight on which campaigns drive conversions, Google has introduced a variety of conversion reporting features, including estimated total conversions across multiple devices. Earlier this year, Google introduced a new way to count AdWords conversions and, most recently, a way to identify clicks on your website that lead to calls.

Flexible Conversion Counting

Flexible conversions makes it easier to count conversions based on your specifications. After all, not all conversions are created equal. Some conversions lead to sales while others just lead to the next stage in the buying cycle. With flexible conversions, you have the option to track all conversions or unique conversions according to your business needs. This new reporting feature replaces the original one-per-click and many-per-click conversion columns with converted clicks and conversion columns instead helping you really understand the value of every click that leads to a specific type of conversion.

Website Call Conversions

Considering how many mobile users have called a business after viewing an ad, it was only a matter of time before Google introduced a way to track website call conversions too. By placing a snippet of code on your website, Google creates a dynamic forwarding number that works in conjunction with call extensions and allows you to view details of a call and count them as conversions. This helps advertisers and marketers determine the value of a call and figure out which keywords generate the most valuable calls.

A lot has changed since the last time you worked on your holiday PPC campaigns — all for the better. New shopping campaigns make campaign management easier. New and improved ad extensions help your business stand out in search more than ever before. And new conversion reporting features help you track ads that are working or not working. Are your ready for the holidays? It’ll be here before you know it.

Nowhere Left to Hide: Blocking Content from Search Engine Spiders

Nowhere Left to Hide: Blocking Content from Search Engine Spiders was originally published on BruceClay.com, home of expert search engine optimization tips.

TL;DR

If you’re considering excluding content from search engines, first make sure you’re doing it for the right reasons.
Don’t make the mistake of assuming you can hide content in a language or format the bots won’t comprehend; that’s a short-sighted strategy. Be up front with them by using the robots.txt file or Meta Robots tag.
Don’t forget that just because you’re using the recommended methods to block content you’re safe. Understand how blocking content will make your site appear to the bots.

When and How to Exclude Content from a Search Engine Index

A major facet of SEO is convincing search engines that your website is reputable and provides real value to searchers. And for search engines to determine the value and relevance of your content, they have to put themselves in the shoes of a user.

Now, the software that looks at your site has certain limitations which SEOs have traditionally exploited to keep certain resources hidden from the search engines. The bots continue to develop, however, and are continuously getting more sophisticated in their efforts to see your web page like a human user would on a browser. It’s time to re-examine the content on your site that’s unavailable to search engine bots, as well as the reasons why it’s unavailable. There are still limitations in the bots and webmasters have legitimate reasons for blocking or externalizing certain pieces of content. Since the search engines are looking for sites that give quality content to users, let the user experience guide your projects and the rest will fall into place.

Why Block Content at All?

Photo by Steven Ferris (CC BY 2.0), modified

Private content. Getting pages indexed means that they are available to show up in search results, and are therefore visible to the public. If you have private pages (customers’ account information, contact information for individuals, etc.) you want to keep them out of the index. (Some whois-type sites display registrant information in JavaScript to stop scraper bots from stealing personal info.)
Duplicated content. Whether snippets of text (trademark information, slogans or descriptions) or entire pages (e.g., custom search results within your site), if you have content that shows up on several URLs on your site, search engine spiders might see that as low-quality. You can use one of the available options to block those pages (or individual resources on a page) from being indexed. You can keep them visible to users but blocked from search results, which won’t hurt your rankings for the content you do want showing up in search.
Content from other sources. Content, like ads, which are generated by third-party sources and duplicated several places throughout the web, aren’t part of a page’s primary content. If that ad content is duplicated many times throughout the web, a webmaster may want to keep ads from being viewed as part of the page.

That Takes Care of Why, How About How?

I’m so glad you asked. One method that’s been used to keep content out of the index is to load the content from a blocked external source using a language that bots can’t parse or execute; it’s like when you spell out words to another adult because you don’t want the toddler in the room to know what you’re talking about. The problem is, the toddler in this situation is getting smarter. For a long time, if you wanted to hide something from the search engines, you could use JavaScript to load that content, meaning users get it, bots don’t.

But Google is not being at all coy about their desire to parse JavaScript with their bots. And they’re beginning to do it; the Fetch as Google tool in Webmaster Tools allows you to see individual pages as Google’s bots see them.

If you’re using JavaScript to block content on your site, you should check some pages in this tool; chances are, Google sees it.

Keep in mind, however, that just because Google can render content in JavaScript doesn’t mean that content is being cached. The “Fetch and Render” tool shows you what the bot can see; to find out what is being indexed you should still check the cached version of the page.

There are plenty of other methods for externalizing content that people discuss: iframes, AJAX, jQuery. But as far back as 2012, experiments were showing that Google could crawl links placed in iframes; so there goes that technique. In fact, the days of speaking a language that bots couldn’t understand are nearing an end.

But what if you politely ask the bots to avoid looking at certain things? Blocking or disallowing elements in your robots.txt or a Meta Robots tag is the only certain way (short of password-protecting server directories) of keeping elements or pages from being indexed.

John Mueller recently commented that content generated with AJAX/JSON feeds would be “invisible to [Google] if you disallowed crawling of your JavaScript.” He further goes on to clarify that simply blocking CSS or JavaScript will not necessarily hurt your ranking: “There’s definitely no simple ‘CSS or JavaScript is disallowed from crawling, therefore the quality algorithms view the site negatively’ relationship.” So the best way to keep content out of the index is simply asking the search engines not to index your content. This can be individual URLs, directories, or external files.

This, then, brings us back to the beginning: why. Before deciding to block any of your content, make sure you know why you’re doing it, as well as the risks. First of all, blocking your CSS or JavaScript files (especially ones that contribute substantially to your site’s layout) is risky; it can, among other things, prevent search engines from seeing if your pages are optimized for mobile. Not only that, but after the rollout of Panda 4.0, some sites that got hit hard were able to rebound by unblocking their CSS and JavaScript which would indicate that they were specifically targeted by Google’s algorithm for blocking these elements from bots.

One more risk that you run when blocking content: search engine spiders may not be able to see what is being blocked, but they know that something is being blocked, so they may be forced to make assumptions about what that content is. They know that ads, for instance, are often hidden in iframes or even CSS; so if you have too much blocked content near the top of a page, you run the risk of getting hit by the “Top Heavy” Page Layout Algorithm. Any webmasters reading this who are considering using iframes should strongly consider consulting with a reputable SEO first. (Insert shameless BCI promo here.)

POLL: Does Google Have a Responsibility to Refresh Its Penguin Algorithm?

POLL: Does Google Have a Responsibility to Refresh Its Penguin Algorithm? was originally published on BruceClay.com, home of expert search engine optimization tips.

And so we wait. . .

In the past 2 years we’ve had an increase in clients that come to our firm because they have been affected by an algorithmic or manual penalty. We offer many of these clients what we call Penalty Assessments, which are a series of deep-dive engineering documents that identify the type of penalty that the site is suffering from, offer a road map for recovery from the penalty as well as actionable recommendations for mitigating future risk. We work with penalized sites of all sizes, some attached to large corporations, others belonging to small to mid-sized businesses.

We’ve become really good at tasks like penalty identification and backlink profile clean up. We’ve gotten a number of clients out from under the revenue depressing weight of algorithmic and manual penalties alike. But lately, a number of our penalized clients are becoming impatient. It’s not anything we’ve done, and it’s not due to anything we can do. We, along with the rest of the SEO industry, have been waiting 10 months for the next Google Penguin update.

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As professionals in the search marketing field are aware, in order to truly recover from a Penguin penalty, Google needs to refresh the specific elements that manage that portion of their algorithm. Google has refreshed the Penguin algorithm twice yearly, approximately every 6 months:

Penguin 1.0 – April 24, 2012
Penguin 1.1 – May 26, 2012
Penguin 1.2 – October 5, 2012
Penguin 2.0 – May 22, 2013
Penguin 2.1 – Oct. 4, 2013

Typically Penguin refreshes have stuck to a general May/October refresh schedule. However, the last refresh occurred more than 10 months ago. Reactions from vocal contingents in the SEO industry have run the gamut, with many expressing frustration on behalf of their penalized clients, while others defend Google’s right as a private company to tweak their product as they see fit.

Add your voice to the debate through the poll above.

With Great Power, Comes Great Responsibility

There are a number of very opinionated and strong arguments to support a position that Google owes the webmaster community a refresh, and soon. To say that Google dominates online search share is an understatement. At last check, Google’s reported search market share was near 68% but most industry pundits believe Google’s true search market share is north of 80% — 90% in some verticals.

There are also many who believe that Google aims to make cheaters pay for their crimes with an unforgettable punishment, and that this delay does just that, especially if there is no update until 2015. Google is essentially the only game in town when it comes to online marketing. Some argue that diversifying your online income funnels is the key to removing yourself from under Google’s thumb, but I see no viable second option to the visibility that Google can offer a business.

Even more frustratingly, Google has seemingly passed judgment on webmasters everywhere by framing their algorithmic changes in an ethical light. While “ethics” and “morals” both relate to right and wrong, ethics are the guiding principles enforced on an individual by an external source (think religion, government or in this case, Google). For that external source to enforce an ethical standard on a community, it needs power. In this case, that power is being given to Google by its widespread use. Whether fair or intentional or not, the profitability of too many businesses and the livelihoods of too many individuals hinge on the fluctuations of Google’s search algorithms.

Google seemingly embraces this role by using language like that which appeared in Matt Cutts article announcing the original Penguin update in April 2012 entitled “Another step to reward high-quality sites.” In the article, Cutts explained that Google is interested in rewarding the “good guys” on the Internet:

“The goal of many of our ranking changes is to help searchers find sites that provide a great user experience and fulfill their information needs. We also want the ‘good guys’ making great sites for users, not just algorithms, to see their effort rewarded.”

Clearly, here Google has framed the conversation regarding their algorithmic updates in black and white. Do good and be rewarded; try to cheat Google’s algorithm and you’ll be singled-out and punished. Google’s corporate motto “Don’t be evil” aspires to be more than a mission statement and instead serves as a moral code which they have placed at the heart of all they do. Indeed, Google even offers the penalized webmasters an avenue for confessing their sins and receiving penance, having outlined the process for recovery in their Help Forums.

However, if Google is going to offer this remedy, then don’t they have a responsibility to hold up their end of the bargain and reward the contrition of the offending websites?

How many businesses, anticipating a refresh in May, have done their due diligence in scrubbing their link profiles spotless, doing Google the huge favor of helping to clean the Internet of inorganic links in the process, only to still be under penalty after nearly a year’s time, their business’ profits decimated in the interim?

The Dark Unknown of a Refresh

I would speculate that Google’s inability to refresh its Penguin algorithm is not based on intentional malice. It is much more likely that as they incorporate the data from the hundreds of thousands (millions?) of disavow files that they’ve acquired over the past year, that trial SERPs are getting markedly worse, not better. This is an almost predictable result of the blind disavowing that many webmasters (and SEOs) engaged in after being penalized. If it’s Google’s intent to use the disavow data to identify low-value sites and improve SERPs, they have quite a task ahead of them.  Google now has the unenviable task of sorting through this mess, trying to return the best search results possible in a post-Penguin world.

It should also be noted that even worse than this current climate of frustration is the possibility of the unknown. Those who expect to see a benefit from their link pruning efforts are eager for the algorithmic refresh, but it’s possible we’ll see another unexpected outcome altogether. What if when Google hits reset on its backlink calculations it makes a number of other changes at the same time? With each Penguin iteration Google’s webspam classifier becomes more restrictive. There’s a good chance it will happen in the next refresh, with Google moving the line and lowering its tolerance for what is an acceptable backlink profile.

If this happened along with a refresh, would everyone who hopes to see gains be satisfied? And if it were to happen now, just as the holiday marketing season is set to begin, what kind of panic and chaos would we witness? Perhaps the devil we know is better than the devil we don’t know.

Predictions and speculation aside, all we can do is wait for Google, who first allowed sites to be rewarded for building links, but later penalized those same links (and sites) for being a bit too effective at influencing rankings. And we have thousands upon thousands of businesses who have had their profits decimated by Penguin penalties, either through ignorance of the guidelines or through their intentional manipulation, devoting substantial time, effort and resources to link pruning in the hopes of lifting the penalty and returning to Google’s good graces. We can only hope that when we do one day see the payoff of our link pruning work, our sites are deemed the better for it.

“Do no evil” implies the power to forgive when a website “repents” for their sins. Sites have worked hard to repent. They have learned their lessons. They want and need to be forgiven.

And so we wait. . .

Automatic Bidding vs. Manual Bidding: What’s Best for Your Business?

Automatic Bidding vs. Manual Bidding: What’s Best for Your Business? was originally published on BruceClay.com, home of expert search engine optimization tips.

“What’s best for my account, automatic bidding or manual bidding?”

I’m Michael Shore, the SEM manager at Bruce Clay, Inc., and it’s a question our PPC team hears all the time. The answer? It depends!

Most people do not like hearing that answer. Trust me, I wish I had a more definitive answer, but it really does depend on many factors. Before I continue, we all must accept one of the universal truths of PPC management — every client is unique. What works for one client may not work for another. This applies to almost every aspect of a PPC campaign, especially bid and budget management.

What I can provide is a detailed explanation of automatic bidding and manual bidding, and a detailed look at the pros and cons of each. This guide can help you make a more informed decision when it comes to deciding which is the right option for your business.

What is Automatic Bidding?

Automatic bidding is the process of allowing a rule or algorithm to control ad group and/or keyword-level bids based on performance and goals.

Automatic Bidding Pros

Automatic bidding can save you a lot of time by taking over the bulk of bid and budget control.
It’s usually ideal for large, complex accounts.
If utilized correctly, it can be very effective in managing campaign budgets in addition to bids.
It can adjust for the ad marketplace’s high frequency of change. For example, BCI’s CPA Optimizer bid and budget management tool makes adjustments every 30 minutes throughout the day, 24/7 — something a human cannot easily do.
The more data, the better. Automated tools love data, as they are able to make more absolute and efficient changes.

Automatic Bidding Cons

Automatic bidding is not truly “automatic.” It still requires an experienced human to oversee everything and make sure nothing goes haywire. A tool is only as good as the person controlling it.
There’s a lack of flexibility at times. Depending on the tool you’re using, it could take some time and effort to onboard new campaigns, change budget allocations or goals.
The more data, the better. Wait, isn’t this also listed under “Pros”? If you are managing a small account with very low volume (say, less than one conversion per day on average), automatic bidding may not be the best option for you. (See manual bidding.)

Keep in mind that not all automatic bidding tools are created equal. Each have their own intricacies. For example, some tools make rule-based decisions, while others utilize algorithms. Some automated tools update bids and budgets once per day, others (like our CPA Optimizer) do it 48 times per day.

What is Manual Bidding?

Are you starting to see a pattern here? As the name suggests, manual bidding is the process of adjusting bids and budgets the good ole’ fashioned way – by hand!

Manual Bidding Pros

You maintain complete control over bids and budgets.
Changes can be made on the fly.
It’s typically sufficient for smaller accounts (smaller keyword sets, budgets, etc.).
There’s no extra investment needed for a third-party tool.

Manual Bidding Cons

It may not be the best option for larger, complex accounts with large keyword lists and budgets.
It takes time away from other important account management tasks.

What’s Best for Your Business?

So what’s the best choice for your business? It depends. You must take into account client goals, resources available, account size, competition and other factors in order to determine the right bidding strategy. Regardless of whether you choose automatic or manual bidding, you must have a process in place that is tailored to either one, ensuring you are in the best position to achieve your campaign goals.

Have a question about automatic bidding and manual bidding? Talk about it with our PPC specialists in the comments.