The Top 10 Tips for Loving (Or Living With) Google’s Penguin

Never before (except perhaps in the baneful reviews of the box office bomb Happy Feet Two), have penguins been so universally despised as in the latest iteration of Google’s algorithm modifications. If you thought Farmer had ploughed you into the ground and Panda had eaten your most successful shoots, the Penguin will ice your SEO efforts and freeze your income. To beat that Penguin into submission apply these tips:

It’s All About Quality – Even though there has been more than enough public discussion about what constitutes quality and depth in writing articles, it’s very obvious what constitutes poor quality and shallowness. Any spun or transparently rewritten articles are going to attract the full wrath of the Penguin From Hades, so make sure that your content is eternally fully unique and well-written.

Limit Your Links - Too many links within a page are a clear trigger for Penguin’s bots to kick you down to Antarctica so keep the number of links to an absolute minimum and always integrate them logically and in a reader-friendly manner within your text, never in a list of links plunked into a sidebar.

Keep Your Links High Up – Above the fold is the critical place for links to be placed as they bear the most weight as well as attract the most reader attention. Penguin appreciates high up links and is not so kind to those which are dumped into a footer or at the end of an article.

Drop the Dropped Domains – One of the old standby SEO strategies is to pick up dropped domains to benefit from istorical links or PR and Google’s little polar bird is completely up to speed on this ploy so avoid it like a Penguin plague.

Never Stop Validating – Ensuring that your site is completely free from validation errors and each page is of a strictly limited file size to ensure easy loading is critical to keeping that tuxedo-wearing little bird happy and chirping away… if Penguins chirp, that is.

Stop Worrying About Negative SEO – Only in the most extreme cases do you have to be concerned about one of your rabidly vicious competitors setting up a few thousand links pointing to your site overnight to get Penguin to target you. Not only is it a whole lot of work for very little result, but the Googleplex has very few birdbrains so they’ll see through that.

Fry Up Your on Page Spam – Hawaiians believe that fried Spam is delectable, so go ahead and fry all the spam you currently have. That equates to: hidden text, keyword stuffing, thin content, cloaking, paid links, link spam, and the rest of the naughty black hat stuff which is nothing more than rancid canned meat product that is toxic to Penguins.

Bad Link, Bad, Bad Link – Come on, you know which of your links are nasty, so just go ahead and kill them now. Keeping them alive on your pages will do nothing but cause the evil Penguin Penalty to rear its ugly head from the snow and ice.

Know When to Start Over – Perhaps your current site is so riddled with Penguin Pathogens that it just may be at the unrecoverable stage. In these fairly rare cases you might be better off to just can the entire site and start completely fresh at a new URL. If you do take this extreme step, ensure that you are not carrying over any of your old calamitous habits, as well as not a single iota of any text or image content from the dearly departed site.

File the Google Feedback Form – If you think that you have been penalized by the Penguin through no fault of your own don’t listen to the paranoid hyperbola on the various SEO forums and go ahead and file The Form. There is absolutely no truth to the rumor that filing The Form will “out” your site so file with no fear and confront that rascally Penguin.

You can live happily with Penguin. Just try not to mind the ammonia odor!

Source

RSS Feeds – All You Need to Know

You’ve seen the acronym RSS everywhere. Most blogs ask you to subscribe to their RSS feeds, but what are they?

RSS commonly stands for Really Simple Syndication and it’s another way to publish articles and updates from web sites, particularly blogs, news sites, audio sites and video sites, that update frequently. An RSS feed can be displayed as either full text or a summary.

Websites can benefit enormously by utilizing RSS feeds because a web author can syndicate content completely automatically, using a service such as Feedburner, or software which creates the feeds automatically whenever anything on a website is updated.

Users sign up to receive your feed and receive an update anytime anything changes on your site. If you publish a new post on your blog, for example, subscribers will receive a summary message advising them of the title of your post and when it was added to your site. From the summary, they can then click on the link to go read the full article. Subscribers use a ‘feed reader’ or ‘aggregator’ to read the updates.

Feeds benefit publishers by letting them syndicate content automatically. A standardized XML file format creates the information a single time, but allows it to be viewed by many different programs. A feed reader, or aggregator may be web based such as in Google’s suite of tools, a desktop download or available for a mobile device.

The benefit to the subscriber is that summaries are sent to their reader automatically without them having to go to each website of interest to see if there are updates.

Benefits for Subscribers:

As a subscriber, you are kept up-to-date about items of interest without having to go to each website. You can get feeds on anything from news headlines and weather, to your favorite music releases and favorite blogs. You can discover the latest details almost as they happen and it saves you a lot of time. As a subscriber, you stay in control of what you receive, when and from whom. This leads to a cleaner inbox because RSS feeds don’t send to your email address.

Possibly one of the best advantages in using RSS feeds instead of subscribing to a website by email is that you don’t use your email address. This means you won’t be spammed. The feeds may contain advertising, but they do not spam your inbox. We all know some sites don’t honor requests to unsubscribe from emails or ask you to explain why you’re leaving, but RSS lets you unsubscribe easily by simply deleting the feed from your reader.

Benefits for Publishers:

For website owners, RSS feeds are great marketing tools.

When someone subscribes to your website via RSS they are interested in what is happening on your site. They want to know when you’ve updated your content when it happens. They can receive the latest news on your products and services without the hassle of your email ending up in their spam box.

If you’re using Feedburner or a similar service to publish your feeds, you can get details on how many subscribers you have. Some services do not provide that information. You don’t get to see who is reading your feeds and who ignores them or who unsubscribes and why. Finding out why people leave mailing lists is often a critical piece of information that can help improve a website design or content.

Despite RSS feeds being around for years, many people still don’t know anything about them and don’t use them.

Using RSS

Subscribers:

If you want to start using an RSS aggregator to receive feeds, then perhaps the simplest one is in Google + when you sign up for a free account. It’s quite user friendly and easy to read. It’s available by clicking the “more” tab when you’re signed in.

When you’re on a website you like, look for subscription options and you’ll usually find an RSS feed button. There is an RSS feed code you can enter into your reader, or the site may offer Google as an automatic option. That’s it. The feed from the site will now start coming into your reader in real time.

Publishers:

When RSS was created, the idea of Internet marketing was not considered. However, as people subscribe to your RSS feed, they are indicating an interest in your content. Of course, savvy marketers can see the benefit of sending marketing messages to those who have a specific interest in their topic.

RSS is still under used but is a very powerful way for subscribers to keep updated on many sites easily and for web sites to provide real time content updates to interested readers. If you’re not using RSS as a subscriber or a site owner, now is the time to begin.

Seo Source

9 questions writers ask about SEO copywriting

Thinking about jumping into the wild and wooly world of SEO copywriting?

You have questions – and I have answers!  Today’s post is the first in a two-part series where I answer the most common SEO copywriting questions that I hear from writers. Enjoy!

So, what is “SEO copywriting” anyway?

SEO copywriting is an umbrella term for any type of “keyphrase-based” writing. That means understanding how your prospects search – and strategically including those search terms on the page and in the code.  You can read this post to learn more.

Placing search terms on the page? Oh no – so,  SEO copywriting means writing really bad articles that repeat the same words over and over?

Goodness, no.  That’s spam.  Good copywriting is good writing, period – and it was never about keyphrase stuffing (although that’s what some people did.) Thankfully, Google is focusing more on content quality. In fact, a Google update (code name: Panda) emphasized good content, and kicked the “thin,” keyphrase-stuffed content to the search engine curb. Here’s more information about how to write copy after the Panda update.

What about blogging or tweeting? Is that SEO copywriting?

You bet. Some people call this “social media writing,” and call writing a sales page “SEO copywriting.” Whatever you call it, you’re still researching keyphrases, determining the reader’s intent and making sure that those words appear in the content and code. Here’s the difference between social media writing and “traditional” SEO copywriting.

What kind of people make the best SEO copywriters? 

I’ve met SEO copywriters from all walks of life – and they all love to write, love to research, love to learn and love working online.  They also tend to have a high tolerance for  change – which is good, since Google (as well as other providers) love to change things up on a regular basis. If you are the kind of person who gets bored easily, SEO copywriting is a great gig. I can guarantee that it’s never boring. 

Hmm…will people actually pay for this?

Yup! You could work in-house for a company, or you could freelance. Some people do both. It’s up to you.

How much will they pay?

That depends on quite a few factors. The freelance SEO copywriting range can be anywhere from $75-$1,500 a page. I’ve heard of in-house SEO copywriters making anywhere from $35,000- $100,000+ a year.  How much you make depends on who you want to work with, where you want to work, what kind of copywriting skills you have, and how much SEO knowledge you have.

How do I learn this stuff?

In a perfect world, you work with a mentor who can guide you through the process, check your work, and help you hone your craft. That’s why some people prefer to work in-house – they figure that they can earn while they learn. You’ll want to do a lot of research on traditional copywriting techniques (Bob Bly is a fantastic resource,) read everything you can about how people search online, and also consider taking my SEO Copywriting Certification training to learn best practices and the latest information.

Do I have to do all that? Can’t I just figure it out myself?

Not easily. SEO copywriting is an ever-changing skill set – and it can be somewhat overwhelming to learn for new (and even experienced) writers. You’ll need to put in the time to learn how to do it right. I can’t stress how important it is to know what you’re doing before you work with clients. If you do something wrong, it can hurt your client’s Google ranking – and damage your professional reputation.

Why should I spend all that time “honing my craft.” Isn’t Google just going to change everything anyway?

It’s true that Google loves to keep us all on our toes. However, the SEO copywriting fundamentals have stayed the same over time. Yes, strategies have changed – and there are definitely some new opportunities – but you won’t have to worry about the knowledge being obsolete in six months.

I’ll be answering even more common SEO copywriting questions next Thursday – stay tuned! In the meantime, if you have a question, please include it in the comments and I’ll make sure that I cover it next week. Thanks!

Source : http://www.seocopywriting.com/in-house-seo-copywriting/16-questions-writers-ask-about-seo-copywriting/

25 Ways to Get Penalized in Google

Have you seen a recent drop in your website’s traffic levels? Perhaps you’ve received a notification of unnatural SEO practices in your Google Webmaster Tools account?

Unfortunately, SEO penalties can happen to any website, at any time. While it is possible to repair the damage incurred by these negative effects, it’s ultimately much more effective to take a proactive stance on penalty prevention by avoiding the following known penalty causes:

1. Cheap spam links

That “10,000 links for $10” offer you see being advertised on Fiverr and other services won’t actually be a great deal if the influx of new, low value backlinks pointing at your website triggers an SEO penalty!

2. Paid links that pass PageRank

Buying links for advertising purposes is find, but be sure they’re denoted as sponsor links and use “nofollow” attributes appropriately. Purchasing links for the sole purpose of passing PageRank violates Google’s Webmaster Guidelines.

3. Link exchanges

Partnering with other websites to exchange links with each other leaves a very noticeable footprint to the search engines, which may choose to penalize these obvious manipulation attempts in the SERPs.

4. Hiding links in CSS, Javascript or other file types

The search engine robots become more advanced every day when it comes to the types of files they’re able to crawl and understand. As a result, hiding links in supplementary site files (particularly those that provide CSS and Javascript info to a site) isn’t the sneaky way to increase link juice that it used to be.

5. Low distribution of anchor text

Again, be aware that search engines often issue penalties based on detectable patterns. If you’ve built links using just a handful of SEO keyword phrases as your anchor texts, you run the risk of having these trends identified and penalized.

6. Excessive link velocity

Building too many links, too quickly is a sure sign of attempted SERPs manipulation. Instead, think natural and focus your efforts on acquiring fewer, higher quality links for each new site you build.

7. Links from foreign language sites

Relevancy matters when it comes to links, which is why the search engines may issue penalties to sites that receive a large number of inbound foreign language links. If the readers on the referring site can’t actually benefit from your content, it’s best to avoid the link type altogether.

8. Blog network links

Many of the web’s most popular blog networks were recently devalued by Google, though there are plenty of others still operating. Avoid these at all costs, as they’ll likely be the subject of future Google penalty actions.

9. Sitewide/footer links

Links that appear in blog sidebars and footers (so that they appear on all pages of the blog) represent typical areas of manipulation to the search engines. When building links to your website, focus your efforts on acquiring more valuable in-content backlinks instead.

10. Links to and from bad neighborhood sites

Because the search engines use inbound links to determine relevancy, building links from bad neighborhood websites (that is, those in the adult, gambling and other illicit industries) paints your own website in a negative light. Avoid these links at all costs!

11. Broken internal links

Periodically, take the time to ensure that your site is free of broken internal links. Too many un-crawlable pages represent a poor user experience, which the search engines attempt to devalue in the SERPs.

12. On-site over-optimization

Using SEO to promote your website is fine – until you reach the point where every page on your site makes use of every single SEO technique known to mankind! Keep your on-page SEO natural and use it to improve the user experience (not just your SERPs rankings) to prevent over-optimization penalties.

13. Website downtime

If your website is down for too long, too often, it’s possible that you’ll incur a search engine penalty, as these regular absences demonstrate that your site isn’t doing its best to serve its visitors.

14. Duplicate or scraped content

While you won’t be penalized directly for posting duplicate content (as this would put the entire press industry out of business), you risk having your web pages filtered out of the SERPs in favor of the original content copies. Replace any instances of duplicate or scraped content on your website with unique articles to ensure your highest level of natural SERPs visibility.

15. Low value content

Google and the other search engines have made it known that they want to prioritize high quality content in the search results. Even if your site hasn’t been penalized yet for posting thin content, be aware that future penalties may be coming that will make this a reality.

16. Spun content

Similarly, in an effort to fill your website with content, avoid the use of article spinning programs that spit out illegible, automated garbage that can’t be understood by human readers. This type of spam content will likely be the target of future search engine penalties.

17. Advertising real estate

If you choose to include paid advertisements on your website (for example, display blocks published by Google Adsense), make sure that these features don’t take up too much of your website’s real estate – especially above the fold. Google has explicitly stated that doing so could result in penalties.

18. Meta tag keyword stuffing

This one’s an oldie, but a goodie. While it won’t hurt you to include a few keywords in your website’s meta tags, don’t stuff in thousands at a time. Doing so is a clear indication that you’re engaging in manipulative SEO.

19. Multiple H1 tags

Because H1 tags confer a small SEO benefit, some webmasters have seen modest ranking improvements by including several of these headline tags on each page of their websites. However, this is easily detected by the search engines and is best avoided if you want to remain penalty-free.

20. Cloaked pages

All of the pages on your website should be open and accessible to the search engines. Because hiding pages through the use of cloaks goes against this, it’s a quick way to guarantee a penalty if these pages are ever detected on your site.

21. Doorway pages

Similarly, making use of doorway pages which cause the search engines to see different content than what’s made available to visitors is a well-known, well-established way to bring about search engine penalties on your site.

22. Hidden or manipulative content

This penalty cause is pretty widely known, but just in case you haven’t heard it – pasting hidden content to your website that’s the same color as your site’s background isn’t a legitimate way to improve your SEO!

23. Abuse of automated query tools

Making use of unauthorized automated query tools that ping Google’s API too frequently goes against the web giant’s Webmaster Guidelines. Though it’s an uncommon penalty cause, it’s one that large sites (or those making use of black hat techniques) should be aware of.

24. Hacked websites

If your website demonstrates evidence of being hacked, you may find yourself stuck on Google’s blacklist, which will prevent your site from ever displaying in the SERPs.

25. Promoting black hat techniques

Finally, Google isn’t above manually penalizing website that brag about the SEO loopholes they’ve discovered and exploited. If you do decide to engage in black hat SEO (and we really recommend that you don’t), the least you can do is to keep your success to yourself!

Of course, it’s also important to keep in mind that things change all the time in the SEO world – so this list shouldn’t be construed as the “end all, be all” of penalties your site might experience in 2012. It’s important to stay up-to-date on search engine changes as they occur and to adjust your own SEO techniques accordingly as new information comes to light in order to keep your site safe in the long run.

Google’s Panda 3.9 Update

This is the ninth iteration of the Panda algorithm. The previous update, 3.8, occurred on June 25. The algorithm got its name from Navneet Panda, a Google engineer.

In its tweet, Google also included a link to its guide to building high-quality sites.

"The changes to the Panda algorithm can have a positive impact on a company's website ranking if taken into consideration," said Pete Goold, managing director of Punch Communications, a PR, social media and SEO agency. "However, the negatives of not adhering to the guidelines can be costly, ultimately leading to a lack of online visibility which can affect a business's bottom line."

The enemy, Google is quick to note, is not the practice of search engine optimization itself.

"Google has said before that search engine optimization, or SEO, can be positive and constructive — and we're not the only ones," Matt Cutts, a Google distinguished engineer, wrote on the site's webmasters blog. "Effective search engine optimization can make a site more crawlable and make individual pages more accessible and easier to find. 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. To that end, we’ve launched Panda Changes that successfully returned higher-quality sites in search results."