seo news: how JCPenney and social media are affecting Google’s results

Here are a few notes about things in the SEO world that you may or may not have heard about (and may/may not care about), that I thought I’d pass along.  I’ve included a short blurb of my own thoughts and an introduction of the topic, as well as links to articles.

·Google Algorithm Changes – As the JCPenney example showed the world (read more here if you don’t know what I’m talking about: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/13/business/13search.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=jcpenney&st=cse), buying links works still in Google.  Google is working very, very hard to protect the integrity of their system and recent changes were made to their algorithm to specifically target spam.  These were rolled out in January and are focused on “low quality sites” in Google’s eyes.  Highlights of what these changes target:

oBetter detection of sites that have been hacked

oBetter detection of sites that have duplicate content and little original content

oBetter detection of sites that use lots of spammy words, or use regular words in a spammy manner (out of tolerance with norms for keyword competition)

oBetter detection/action taken against content farms

Read more about this from Google:  http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/01/google-search-and-search-engine-spam.html

·Paid/Purchased Links and Google – It has always been a violation of Google’s quality guidelines to purchase links for SEO benefit.  There also has always been a perceived gray area of links purchased for SEO versus legitimate buys for banner advertising, etc.  It is very important to be crystal clear in your intentions as Google is finally cracking down hard on those who are buying links (see JCPenney again), and even those without the scope or intent of the JCP scale are in line to get penalized or lose money.  The big takeaway here is don’t ever buy links to gain PageRank or for any other SEO benefit.  If you are buying banners, do so for traffic to the site and exposure, not SEO.  Make sure that the site posting your banner uses a rel=”nofollow” attribute in the link tag to make it clear to Google that this is an advertisement, not a paid link.
Read more good stuff about this from Bruce Clay, Inc:  http://www.bruceclay.com/blog/2011/01/paid-links-penalty/?bcinlsrc=v88-cc

·Quality Content – How do we make sure we don’t fall into that category that Google is now calling “low quality” sites, which it is looking to purge from it’s index?  There are a lot of good resources for how to create good content and copy.  Here’s a good article that defines and details it: http://www.bruceclay.com/newsletter/volume88/contentfarms.htm?bcinlsrc=v88-cc. This might be a good resource for a copywriter, client, etc.

·Google’s Results are Getting More Social – Another layer of social integration (minus Facebook – for now) are being integrated wit

Here are a few notes about things in the SEO world that you may or may not have heard about (and may/may not care about), that I thought I’d pass along. I’ve included a short blurb of my own thoughts and an introduction of the topic, as well as links to articles.

• Google Algorithm Changes – As the JCPenney example showed the world (read more here if you don’t know what I’m talking about: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/13/business/13search.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=jcpenney&st=cse), buying links works still in Google. Google is working very, very hard to protect the integrity of their system and recent changes were made to their algorithm to specifically target spam. These were rolled out in January and are focused on “low quality sites” in Google’s eyes. Highlights of what these changes target:

o Better detection of sites that have been hacked

o Better detection of sites that have duplicate content and little original content

o Better detection of sites that use lots of spammy words, or use regular words in a spammy manner (out of tolerance with norms for keyword competition)

o Better detection/action taken against content farms

Read more about this from Google: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/01/google-search-and-search-engine-spam.html

• Paid/Purchased Links and Google – It has always been a violation of Google’s quality guidelines to purchase links for SEO benefit. There also has always been a perceived gray area of links purchased for SEO versus legitimate buys for banner advertising, etc. It is very important to be crystal clear in your intentions as Google is finally cracking down hard on those who are buying links (see JCPenney again), and even those without the scope or intent of the JCP scale are in line to get penalized or lose money. The big takeaway here is don’t ever buy links to gain PageRank or for any other SEO benefit. If you are buying banners, do so for traffic to the site and exposure, not SEO. Make sure that the site posting your banner uses a rel=”nofollow” attribute in the link tag to make it clear to Google that this is an advertisement, not a paid link.

Read more good stuff about this from Bruce Clay, Inc: http://www.bruceclay.com/blog/2011/01/paid-links-penalty/?bcinlsrc=v88-cc

• Quality Content – How do we make sure we don’t fall into that category that Google is now calling “low quality” sites, which it is looking to purge from it’s index? There are a lot of good resources for how to create good content and copy. Here’s a good article that defines and details it: http://www.bruceclay.com/newsletter/volume88/contentfarms.htm?bcinlsrc=v88-cc. This might be a good resource for a copywriter, client, etc.

• Google’s Results are Getting More Social – Another layer of social integration (minus Facebook – for now) are being integrated with the search results in Google. This is supposed to also impact how sites rank as social is blending with organic more than in the past. Here’s a great article with screenshots and detailed description of how it works: http://searchengineland.com/google-expands-social-circle-in-search-results-including-page-rankings-65202

Hope some of this content is of interest or value to you.

h the search results in Google.  This is supposed to also impact how sites rank as social is blending with organic more than in the past.  Here’s a great article with screenshots and detailed description of how it works:  http://searchengineland.com/google-expands-social-circle-in-search-results-including-page-rankings-65202

Hope some of this content is of interest or value to you.