Google – Page 40 – McCord Web Services The Web Authority

September 30, 2013September 28, 2013

Not Provided – Masks Search Terms from Website Owners

Just this last week, Google announced that it was moving all web searches at Google.com to https settings which would mean that all keyword data would be encrypted and no longer flowed into Google Analytics.

Although this may sound like business as usual and a great improvement for the typical web searcher – “great, increased privacy”, it is turning the world of search and SEO upside down. This means that the small number of “not provided” notations in Google Analytics will now cover all searches. The only keyword activity you will see in your Google Analytics account will be from Google AdWords activity. No longer will you be able to identify the search terms that are bringing in your traffic organically or for that matter harvest keywords for SEO use from Analytics.

There’s lots of chatter on the web as to why Google would make this change without warning, some say it is a direct reaction to the Edward Snowden revelation and others say that it is to drive more advertisers into Google AdWords. Whichever option you’d like to embrace, at this time Google is not saying why they have taken this action, just that it is.

For many website owners this will create the need to purchase website analytics software so that they will know what is happening on their own website. If I find a good statistical package, I’ll make sure to let you know.

To learn more about this topic, I have found two excellent resources to express the real impact for website owners. I invite you to read them and then come back to my post and let me know your comments.

http://searchengineland.com/post-prism-google-secure-searches-172487

http://www.6smarketing.com/blog/keyword-data-is-dead-long-live-keyword-data-2/

September 19, 2013September 14, 2013

Is There Real SEO Value in Using Google+?

The unequivocal answer is yes, there is SEO value in using Google+ for your business.

How so?

Your Google+ activity, both profile and your own +1’s are shown in Google search results that others, who have circled you see. If you circle others, you see their +1 updates and Google+ profiles in your search results. This activity expands your reach but only if you are using Google+ in a maximized way. Plus your Google+ personal profile page actually has organic PageRank.

What do you mean by maximized way?

To just post Google+ updates is simply not enough to get the SEO and Social Juice that Google+ can bring. It is more about connection and interaction than it is about just spewing out content. I recommend participation in Google+ Communities and for power users creation of Google+ Communities with themselves as moderators as one of the best ways to maximize Google+ exposure.

Google+ Communities Give You Extra Exposure

When you participate in or own and moderate a Google+ Community, you reach a wider circle of individuals interested in knowing more about and in sharing information on your key topics. I’ve found just due to the nature of interaction, strong follower/followed connections occur with Communities. It is not unusual for a Community to grow quickly with many (but not all) of the Community participants choosing to follow your personal profile.

Each time you post to your own Community, Google posts your update to your own Google+ personal page as well. In a short period of time using a Google+ Community on a topic that is closely aligned to your business you can build a nice follower base. Remember each of these new followers will then in turn see your Google +1’s in their search results as well as your personal profile and articles linked to your author profile.

Use Your Google+ Personal Profile

Although I have Google+ Business Pages, the real action and exchange right now as well as the SEO and social value is all tied to your personal profile. This may change over time, but for now a Business page profile cannot moderate a Community. Equally it is hard to circle others using a business profile. Additionally Google is really focused on the individual profile when it comes to the information shared using the personal profile using rel=author. Possibly over time Google may change this strategy, but for now, understand that you need to leverage your personal profile to get the real “juice”.

We invite you to learn more about our services and Google+ by visiting our website today.

September 12, 2013September 19, 2013

Structured Data Gives Google What It Wants

Google recommends that website owners start to provide special XML code snippets to assist it in sorting and categorizing their website data. This is called structured data and is usually done in a format known as microdata.

This new format is not hard to understand nor is it hard to implement, but it is important to know that Google considers its use important and is making it fairly simple for website owners to add these code snippets.

First, not all data on your website can be marked up as structured data. For now Google is only using code for products, local businesses – including address, phone, and other information, articles, software applications, reviews, and movies. Each year Google has added new categories as they expand the types of data that they are integrating into search results.

Here’s an example of coding for a review:

<div><img src=”http://www.mccordweb.com/images/five-stars.gif” alt=”Five Stars” height=”20″ width=”83″ align=”absmiddle” border=”0″ /> Overall Rating 5 out of 5 "Very Professional and helpful. Quality of the writing was excellent."

Neil Primack, Owner, Florida Health Insurance Broker Jupiter, Florida</div>

Notice that the review has special tags that denote rating, vcard, title, name, locality, and region? This is all a part of sorting the data for Google in their approved and specific format. Google makes it pretty easy for website owners to start using structured data and has even provided some great online tools.

Here are a few resources for you to consider:

Google’s blog post on the topic:

http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2013/05/getting-started-with-structured-data.html

Structured Data Markup Helper:

https://www.google.com/webmasters/markup-helper/

Embedding Structured Data for Gmail:

https://developers.google.com/gmail/actions/embedding-schemas-in-emails

Google Webmaster Tools Data Highligher:

https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/home?hl=en

Structured Data Bread Crumb Snippet:

https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/185417?hl=en

September 5, 2013August 31, 2013

How to Develop a Keyword List for Your Organic Strategy

Even though Google says don’t keyword stuff your site or write content using an unnatural keyword density, it is still important to do careful keyword discovery and analysis as part of your content creation strategy. So how do you develop a keyword list that helps you and your writer to keep focus?

1. If you use Google AdWords, take a careful look at the keyword combinations that are generating lead conversions. Make sure to use the Search Funnel report to find last click keywords and assist click keywords.

2. Glean additional data from Google Analytics. Look for trending phrases to identify are words in a certain order are plurals used versus singular forms. Check the bounce rate for the terms you are carefully considering.

3. Put on your thinking hat. Sit down with your client and do searches on Google for terms you both think that someone would use to find his or her website. Then take a careful look at the search results. If you do not find competitors showing for that keyword phrase it may be either too general, may be too narrow, or not on topic. When I see .edu sites and Wikipedia sites showing for a query, I know that I need to keep digging to find a better match as this type of query will drive information gathering traffic not lead conversion traffic.

4. Use the Google AdWords Keyword Planner and Google Insights tool. Look for trending keyword variations and new opportunities. Look are high and low competition areas.

5. Take your list and start testing your blog posts using the keyword phrases your have created. If you feel that you have a great list start testing pages in the website to see if you can get a boost based on the new keywords.

6. Make sure to report and review monthly. Without this important step, you’ll never clearly identify if the content, meta tags, and blog posts improved placement for the site.

If you need help creating a strategy for your website, it starts first with our SEO Evaluation. Find out more about how we may be able to help you.