SEARCH NEWS – MAY 2012
MN Design Search News is your monthly source to keep you up to date on the latest trends in search engine marketing. Youll know about emerging trends in online marketing and well explain how those trends can be put to use in your business.
First Up: Google Panda Update 3.5
Google frequently tweaks its algorithm to target sites with low-quality content, particularly those that scrape content. Google calls these updates Panda. The first one came out in February 2011 and the latest kicked into gear on April 19, 2012. Google says, Were continuing to iterate on our Panda algorithm as part of our commitment to returning high-quality sites to Google users. This most recent update is one of the over 500 changes we make to our ranking algorithms each year.
Next Up: Google Penguin Update
On April 24, Google released an update thats designed to target those who have been spamming Google through activities such as keyword stuffing, cloaking and link schemes that violate Googles guidelines. The update is called Penguin and is also known as the webspam algorithm update. Google specifically points out that the goal of this update is to punish outright spam.
Every business should know the SEO tactics that are being used to build its search rankings. Many SEO firms dont reveal their tactics and their clients have no idea whether or not theyre at high risk for Google penalties. We are transparent; we believe in honesty. Everything we do for your SEO campaign is displayed on your dashboard.
We continue to stress the importance of diversification for both SEO and online marketing to help you maintain well-rounded strategies that keep you on a steady course through updates and other changes. We encourage all our clients to use a variety of online marketing channels, such as social media, email, PPC, guest blog posts and press releases. Call us for more details on our online marketing services.
Beware of New Google PPC Rules
Google frequently makes changes to its PPC platform and you want to stay on top of them so you can make the right choices for your campaigns.
Google recently announced new matching behavior for phrase and exact match keywords. Starting in mid-May, exact and phrase match keywords will match close variants, including misspellings, singular/plural forms, stemmings, accents and abbreviations.
Google has also made a change to the ad rotation settings. After 30 days, Google will run only your ad with the highest clicks. The ad with the most clicks may not necessarily be the ad that brings the highest quality traffic to your site. An ad that Google takes out of rotation may be your most profitable ad. Google will make more money from the higher clicks, but you may not.
If youre running an Adwords campaign, be aware of these changes and take the extra steps to be in control of your campaign. Better yet, leave PPC to the professionals—US! Our PPC analysts are Google Adwords Certified and its their job to keep on top of the latest changes and configure the settings to make the most of your budget.
Are You Taking Every Opportunity to Be Visible Online?
SEO is just the first step to boosting your online visibility. We recommend that you use social media to amplify your online footprint.
Facebook is the second most popular site in the world, according to the latest three-month Alexa traffic rankings, and the time spent on a typical visit to Facebook is roughly 24 minutes. Reportedly, Facebook now has more than 900 million active users.
Chances are, you have customers and prospects who are very involved with Facebook. Get in there and start connecting with people. Your fans may not check your website everyday but they will know what youre up to when you post news, specials, coupons, events and other timely information on your Facebook page. Once you build your presence on Facebook or any social media site, you need to remain active and engaged.
Interested in learning more about using social media to diversify your online marketing? Give us a call.
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