LINK SCHEMES

   Ranking of your website will be based on the analysis of the sites which link to you. The quantity, quality and relevance of the links matter and these factors influence your site's ranking. The context about the subject matter is provided by the sites that link to you. The quality of your search results may be affected due to manipulating the links and is considered as the violation of webmaster guidelines.

   The following are the examples of link schemes which negatively affect your website ranking:

1. Buying or selling links that pass page rank:

This includes buying a directory listing, exchanging money for links, paying someone for writing a blog post etc.

2. Reciprocal Links or Excessive link exchanging:

This is one of the link scheme where "link to me and I'll link to you" method is followed. This is either done under the links or resource pages.

3. Linking to web spammers or unrelated sites:

You should not link to the sites that are spam such as keyword stuffing, malware issues and hidden links etc.

4. Building partner pages only for cross-linking:

   Some of the examples of unnatural links which violates Google Webmaster guidelines are:

• Text ads that pass page rank.

• Links that are used in the content of the article with little coherence.
• Low quality links from directory sites and bookmarks.
• Links embedded in widgets and distributed in several websites. For example: Visitors to this page: 1472 Car insurance
• Distributed footer links of various sites
• Forum comments containing optimized links in signature

Thanks, that's great info!
Paul
paul’s pizza san diego pizza best pizza san diego

Few other examples are:

• Links from irrelevant sites
• Links from Blogs
• Links from article directories

   Your site can be hit by unnatural link penalty if you use the techniques which violate Google quality guidelines.

How to Prevent Page Rank from Passing:

You can prevent page rank from passing in various ways as shown below:
a. Adding "rel=nofollow" attribute to tag in advertising links

b. These nofollow links can be redirected to a page which is blocked from search engines with robots.txt file.

     You can create unique content and get relevant links to you from other sites so that you can gain quick popularity. If you have useful content there would be more chances for the readers to find valuable links to it. You need to think whether the content would be beneficial to the visitors or not. The quantity of links doesn't matter but the quality and relevance of the links matters. Identify the unnatural links and delete them carefully. You should not delete your natural and beneficial links which affects your site rankings.
  
   The preferred method is to build natural links without participating in any link schemes. Remove all the bad, spammy and low quality links. It is important to have healthy links and maintain natural link profile.

Google Penguin 2.0 Insights and Recovery Tips

Google Penguin 1.0 which was rolled out in 2012 April is one of the biggest algorithm updates. This update had its impact on large number of sites that featured questionable link profiles, low quality backlinks, keyword rich anchor text and sites that were overly optimized for single term.  Penguin 2.0 was released on May 22nd which is important for us to know how it is affecting sites and what are the tips or steps we have to take if our site is affected by this algorithm.

Penguin History:

         Google algorithms are designed and rolled out with an aim to give better, relevant search results for the users to find appropriate information. Panda algorithm was designed to focus on sites that provided low-quality content. While Penguin algorithm focused on unnatural, manipulative link profiles sites. It aimed sites that were consisting links which are:

• Coming from low-quality sites
• Links on the site which are not relevant to the topic
• Paid links
• Link having rich keywords
• Overly optimized anchor text links

Inside Look of Penguin 2.0:

Vast deal of assumptions is going on whether Penguin 2.0 also targeted the same as its earlier version. But according to Matt Cutt announcement, the Penguin focuses on penalizing sites which uses Black hat SEO techniques and site that gives a good user experience ranks well. It means that sites which involve in buying links, spam low quality directory sites with links and paying for leaving huge number of blog comments will be affected. While the sites that involve in creating quality content, building ethical links and does not participate in techniques that give immediate results will be improved in overall search rankings.
Penguin 2.0 went deeper into site for detecting spam and evaluated inner pages just not the home pages. Before it was not known that Penguin 1.0 just involved in evaluating homepages inbound link profiles. Now as internal pages are also being analyzed there is no chance of escaping from Google penalty if any site deals with black-hat seo techniques.
It was estimated that Penguin 2.0 influenced around 2.1 percentage of English queries and those sites which were reflected included those where numerous results from same site dominated first page.  It was even seen that search queries that are associated with spammy results also dropped in search results.

Ways to get Solid Rankings in Google search results:

It is needed to understand and cleanup link profile if a site is affected by Penguin 2.0 algorithm update. Following are the steps that are to be followed:

Step 1: Need to know what you are looking for

It will be challenging to conduct specific analysis and recover strategy, before we start with site link audit profile we need to keep certain points in mind and these are:

• Quality of site linking: To analyze a site quality we can take Page Rank and Domain Authority in to account. Other factors to analyze quality of site are quality of design, authoritative & well written content, is site active in blog comments and social media?

• Relevancy of the links: It is important that sites that link to our site should be related to our Niche.

• Were links acquired quickly: If there is a sudden increase in number of links than there are chances of being penalized by Google if it is linked in unnatural way.

Step 2: Take an active look at site profile

If we have a clear understanding of what we are looking for then it can help us to dive and take a closer look of link profile. We need to conduct a link audit by taking time and analyze which link has to be kept and which has to be removed from our site.

Step 3: Special Attention is to be given for anchor text

Anchor text has to be analyzed with special attention. If anchor text is keyword rich then it will result in penalty due to Penguin algorithm. Also even same anchor text should not be present for too many links.

Step 4: Using disavow tool for offending links

It is the best option to make use of Google’s Disavow tool to remove questionable links from the site to recover rankings. After removal of spam links from site, they are submitted to webmaster tools and then it will be re-crawled.

Step 5: Concentrate on building Quality links

The last step is to build high quality links and maintain quality link profile. To maintain good links we need to consider relevant, high quality sites and feature diverse anchor text.

By considering above points we can rebuild the site and get ranked in Google search results.

Google Confirms Panda Update Is Rolling Out: This One Is More “Finely Targeted”

The latest Panda update was rolling out, one that seemed to be “softer” in kind than the last updates, where large number of webmasters who were primarily hit by the Panda are now claiming recuperation.

Google has confirmed a Panda update is rolling out and this particular update is “more finely targeted.”

As you can recollect, Google informed us new Panda algorithms are being thrust out occurring once a month over a ten day time. Matt Cutts did mean there was delay in shoving out their monthly Panda refresh because they have a desire to release signals that would mollify the algorithm a bit.

Google confirmed that a Panda update is being released and said:

In the past few days we have been delaying the new panda update that include new signals so it can be more properly targeted.

This is despite Google informing us they are unlikely to confirm future Panda updates.

There were large number of SEOs and webmasters claiming recoveries. We surely hope you have recovered from hit of algorithm.

We are not assuredly sure what number of Panda updates was up to, but as far as my information I would label it Panda Update – Version 26th.

Here are all the releases so far for Panda:

Panda Update 1, Feb. 24, 2011 (11.8% of queries; formal declaration; English in US only)
Panda Update 2, April 11, 2011 (2% of queries; formal declaration; rolled out in English internationally)
Panda Update 3, May 10, 2011 (no change given; confirmed, not formal declaration)
Panda Update 4, June 16, 2011 (no change given; confirmed, not formal declaration)
Panda Update 5, July 23, 2011 (no change given; confirmed, not formal declaration)
Panda Update 6, Aug. 12, 2011 (6-9% of esp. in many non-English languages; formal declaration)
Panda Update 7, Sept. 28, 2011 (no change given; confirmed, not formal declaration)
Panda Update 8, Oct. 19, 2011 (about 2% of queries; belatedly confirmed)
Panda Update 9, Nov. 18, 2011 (less than 1% of queries; formal declaration)
Panda Update 10, Jan. 18, 2012 (no change given; confirmed, not formal declaration)
Panda Update 11, Feb. 27, 2012 (no change given; formal declaration)
Panda Update 12, March 23, 2012 (about 1.6% of queries impacted; formal declaration)
Panda Update 13, April 19, 2012 (no change given; belatedly revealed)
Panda Update 14, April 27, 2012 (no change given; confirmed; first update within days of another)
Panda Update 15, June 9, 2012 (1% of queries; belatedly formal declaration)
Panda Update 16, June 25, 2012 (about 1% of queries; formal declaration)
Panda Update 17, July 24, 2012 (about 1% of queries; formal declaration)
Panda Update 18, Aug. 20, 2012 (about 1% of queries; belatedly formal declaration)
Panda Update 19, Sept. 18, 2012 (less than 0.7% of queries; formal declaration)
Panda Update 20, Sept. 27, 2012 (2.4% English queries, impacted, belatedly formal declaration
Panda Update 21, Nov. 5, 2012 (1.1% of English-language queries in US; 0.4% worldwide; confirmed, not formal declaration)
Panda Update 22, Nov. 21, 2012 (0.8% of English queries were affected; confirmed, not formal declaration)
Panda Update 23, Dec. 21, 2012 (1.3% of English queries were affected; inveterate, formal declaration)
Panda Update 24, Jan. 22, 2013 (1.2% of English queries were affected; inveterate, formal declaration)
Panda Update 25, March 15, 2013 (inveterate as coming; not inveterate as having happened)
Panda Update 26, July 18, 2013 (confirmed)

Enhanced Campaigns: How to Optimize AdWords Campaigns for Desktop And Mobile

   Enhanced campaigns lets you to easily reach people and enables to target for various devices like desktop and mobile. With the help of enhanced campaigns you can target all device types and location within the same campaign. Google Adwords released enhanced campaigns in February which simplifies the work and manages multiple devices. Let us see how to create mobile ad campaigns.

Understanding User Context:

   Search marketing allows you to connect with the audience searching for keywords which are relevant to your business. Two persons may see for different things using the same keyword depending on time, location and device.
   Let us consider an example as shown below:
   Two users A and B are searching using the same keyword "pizza" but time, location and devices differ. User A is at home and searches for "pizza" at the lunch time in his laptop. He may be seeing for the places where pizza is available with delivery. User B searches for the same "pizza" on her phone, downtown around 7:30 pm. It seems that she wants to know the directions to the pizza restaurant.

So user context depends on time, location and device while searching. If you understand the user context then you can increase your adwords profits as shown below:

You Can Create Better Ads:

   Understand user's context and make your ad copy useful to the searcher. The ad for user B should have directions to the store as she uses mobile device and ad for user A should have delivery options.

You Can Bid Smarter for Clicks:

   B2B Company values desktop search traffic on weekdays, whereas you can value mobile traffic on weekends and nearby your location.

How to Optimize Your Adwords Campaigns for Desktop and Mobile:

Bidding Options in Enhanced Campaigns:

   You can adjust your bids depending on the time, location and device using enhanced campaigns where the search begins.

You can find the location, ad schedule and device tabs in the Campaign Settings tab.

Location Bidding Options:

   Suppose your business is based in U.S and you sell the products to both U.S and Canada. If the clicks convert at lower rate from Canada when compared to the clicks in U.S you can optimize your bids less on clicks by 30% from Canada. You can bid more or less on clicks from any location. It ranges from +300% to -100%.

   If you get more number of clicks from near distance compared to far then you can bid more for the near searches and less for which is far as they would be less valuable to your business.

Time Based Bidding Options:

   It is easy to bid either more or less based on time of the day and day using enhanced campaigns. You can bid more on weekday traffic by 30% and less on weekends by 50% as shown in the below example. 

You can also adjust the bid based on time which would be valuable to your business.

Mobile Device Based Bidding Options:

   You can adjust the bid more or less for the mobile devices traffic. There would be more chances for mobile searches if your business accepts the orders through mobile. In the below example the mobile bid has been adjusted down by 10%.

 Smarter, User-Context Aware Ads:

   You can displays several user-context aware ads using enhanced campaigns based on where the search begins from. If you want to display the ads for mobile devices then you can activate the check box which shows as Mobile Preferred Ad as shown below:

   Even though these features were available previously for advertising they were used rarely as they need to create separate ad campaign. You can manage your ads and bids in already existing single campaign using enhanced campaigns without creating new one.

7 Critical Considerations to be Followed in Web Redesign

Redesigning a web-site will be inspiring but at the same time it should be remembered that focus should not be only on visual design of site. There is a need to take SEO, content and functionality into account along with visual design of site while redesigning. A site redesign will be successful only if visitors are converted into customers through traffic, conversions and functionality.

Following are the considerations that are to be implemented in site re-design:

1) Before you start, do research

If a re-designed page has to yield good results then we need to know whom we are targeting. Market research, keyword research, community mapping are to be focused while considering design, functionality and SEO. It should be noted from beginning of our plan so that it will be carried out in all aspects of redesign. Research on what has given us good results for the site at present and in the past. By doing this our site will be fueled with proven techniques and allow to estimate sites success in post-launch only.

2) Website Structure:

A redesign gives us an opportunity to reorganize the way our site is structured and it is just not to give a fresh look to site. There is a need to give priority in analyzing effectiveness of current site and for that we need to make sure that information architecture is only setup for optimal visibility and conversions. Those are:
Analyze which pages convert best?
Best and most common route through the site?
Are there any pages that have high bounce rate?

The above points help in improving architecture of the site. Other factors that are to be considered are site goals, personalization, site complexity, time frame and budgets. Each of these factors has their own advantages.

3) Canonicals and 301- Redirections

List out all the pages, incoming links and high ranking pages along with sub-domains from the beginning. It is important to redirect traffic to new pages or new URL as the URL structure is changed and this brings even SEO rankings as well. Using tools we can analyze from where incoming links are coming from and going to. After backward links list is ready they are to be mapped along with all pages to new URL with the help of 301 redirections. At the same time it is best to implement canonical to avoid duplication.

4) Navigation:

There will be a significant effect on visibility and success of re-designed website basing on how humans, search engine spiders can navigate site. A site structure has to be considered from two points:

• How your site will be noticed by people?

　　　For people to find the site URL structure plays a vital role. That is in URL structure we need to consider whether it is designed without any unnecessary characters, is it shortened? Are target keywords placed in URL? Redesigned URL structure and site map have to make search engines know what each page is about and each campaign should have most important terms in it.　　　

• Once visitors view our site how will they navigate?

　　　Note visitors flow and consider the entry pages to site, what visitors need to do once they are at primary pages, how should be they directed in order to complete that action, is there any way to shorten the action and at same time increase conversions? By considering all these points and improving them will drastically improve performance of the site.　　　

5) Where to fit the Content on the pages?

A site’s success or failure is based on quality, visibility and relevance of the content. So it is an important consideration in site redesign. One of the basic considerations in what type of content has to be published on the site is:

• Is there any plan to place a blog in the site?
• Whether the content in blog will be mostly visible or else it contains long informative articles?

Another important thing is that whether content is placed in sites other than blogs that are:

• Are there any chances of publishing white papers, eBooks, and video tutorials?
• In that case how will they be delivered, should return email address be placed in it, is it public or available only to members?

6) Technical SEO:

In technical SEO we need to consider the following three key areas in re-design they are:
 1. Page load times
 2. Compliance
 3. Coding

7) Testing:

Testing of the site is very crucial and certainly gives out great advantages.

So it is very important to consider all the above points and implement them in redesigning of the site.

Top Retargeting Tips Guide

It looks like every marketer is looking to work on retargeting campaigns these days. Why not? Ads tend to work more excellent when they're directed at the right people. However, some people are retargeting considerably more than others. Here are few tips to obtain the most out of your work.

Prospecting

Set the stage: Retargeting campaigns are with a specific purpose to push consumers through the sales stack, but you need clear evaluation and understanding of retargeting to know if your campaign is running. Make sure you have the right metrics in place for hit at the top, middle, and bottom of the stack. Here are some recently asked FAQ's to get you started.

 

Build on your past successes: Once you know what works for your website, do most of it. Be sure to recognize the best keywords from your marketing campaigns. Once you find search retargeting campaign is running good, decide which keywords are getting the good ad sense and then target users carry out similar searches.

Get straight to the point: All the retargeting campaigns will not work until your creative isn’t right keywords. Be sure your originative contain a firm call to action and take the user to capture page that makes the desired action as simple and straight forward as feasible.

Stretch your dollar: Retargeting can quiet be a big deal. If you don't believe it just collate cost of top keywords on AdWords with the retargeting campaign as same keywords prices differ.

Converting

Relevancy is key: Your retargeting campaign is strong only when good data posterior to it. Use according to a program Site Retargeting to utilize as much data as possible, from the reference sites and keywords that take users to your website, that users travel after visiting your site.

Be Methodical: Don’t neglect to place transformation and expulsion pixels on your affirmation pages. After all, if somebody just purchases your product, it doesn’t make much mind to continue to aim them with exhibit ads. You must be likewise obsessive about your testing. Just in as much two ads show up similar doesn't mean they'll execute alike.

Don't ignore the Facebook Exchange (FBX) opportunity: If you’re running a retargeting campaign, it only form feel to experiment it on Facebook Exchange. The early consequence show that FBX campaigns are fulfilling brilliantly. Remember one thing Facebook Exchange allow you use 1st-party and 3rd-party data. If prices are still on low side, there isn’t much to lose or gain.

Google’s Disavow Tool: What You Need to Know, and Common Myths

With the impact of Google Penguin 2.0 update, webmasters paid more attention on website link profiles. If your main objective is to remove spam links from your site history then you have great news for it. You can do it with the several mechanisms.

What is Google Disavow?

The Disavow tool has launched in October 2012 to clean up all unsavory websites from your link profile. This tool gives you a list of bad websites which have violated Google considerations. Disavow makes Google to know that you are willing to ignore shady websites from your link profile.

What To Do Before You Resort to Disavow

If this tool is used in incorrect way, it harms your website badly. So, this tool has to be used with caution. Before you begin to use Google disavow tool, request site owners to remove your links for their websites. It is better to approach in systematic way which will be helpful for you. First, record all the information such as:
1. Site Name
2. Link URL
3. Anchor Text
4. Link that is linking to your site
5. Contact Information (Email Id, Contact Us form)

Before adding website to disavow file, try to send your message request at least three times week by week. Request the site owners in a polite manner to remove your links by making use of above information.

After a third try, if you haven't got any response from them, make a note of it.
If your site has been hit with manual penalty or some other problem and you are submitting reconsideration request to Google then include above information along with it, So that Google can able to know that you have taken steps for cleaning up your link profile. If webmasters asks you to pay for link removal, simply ignore the message and just make a note of it. Later, attach their message along with disavow request and submit.

Common Myths About Disavow Tool

1. Google disavow tool was rolled out in the month of October 2013 with the aim of cleaning up unsavory websites from link profiles. Google says that, this tool is an advanced feature and it must be used with caution. If it is used in incorrect way, it harms your website performance badly in search results.
               
                     Therefore, it is eminent to follow the procedure that Google has defined. If you are not well known with this tool, hire a professional who is familiar with this tool to check the results of your audit. At the initial stages, it is quite necessary to formulate the strategy on, which links you need to keep and which links you need to follow up.

2. Everyone make mistakes, it is quite common. If you got a spam warning message form GWT, don't worry!! Because Google gives you one more chance to rectify the mistake. But you have to make sure that you put a serious effort to reach out to the webmasters of unsavory websites in your link profiles before using disavow tool.

                   Moreover, Google considers disavow links like suggestions and act on it when manual review is triggered. It takes weeks or months to complete the task.

3. If your site has been affected by manual penalty, there are several factors you need to consider. Matt Cutts stated that, before you begin to use disavow links, it is important to view your link profile. After that, you need to take proper steps to clean up the shady links.
You need to know that, manual penalties are quite different from Google updates such as panda and penguin updates. Your site may have been dropped with the use of black hat techniques such as keyword stuffing, abundance of bad links and more. You need to submit reconsideration request to Google to get back into the Google's search results. In addition, Google disavow tool will help you to get back on to the track but you need to consider this strategy as a part of the task after doing many trials.

                   Penguin 2.0 was updated to improve search experience. To keep your site safe and protect it from Google updates and penalties you need to conduct site audits and security audits regularly.