Category: Search Engine Optimization

Continued from Monday.

In February of this year there was more chatter in my industry about AuthorRank. Here is a great background article to review for a fuller picture.

“AuthorRank could be more disruptive than all of the Panda updates combined. ”  AJ Kohn

It appears that AuthorRank will factor into Google’s algorithm in regards to the importance of links and thus organic placement. The focus seems to be on PageRank, shares, traffic, and link numbers. These cues will all be evaluated and tied to one author. With Google already encouraging that you tie your content to your personal (not business) Google+ page this sure looks like a roll-out and big change in in the near future.

The thrust is that Google is actively and aggressively pursuing a link to content identification. To me this makes perfect sense and is in part just one piece of stopping spam and improving search quality in Google’s results.

There are two excellent articles I recommend that you read for further information on this important topic. The are as follows:

How to Prepare for AuthorRank and Get the Jump on Google

Author Rank

If you are currently not tying your content to your Google+ page I would highly recommend that you do so. If you syndicate content as I do on SiteProNews and Bing Ads Blog Community, make sure your site owners are already working to help you identify yourself as the author of content you share with them.

It is important to watch Google’s Patent Disclosures as they will give you a view on what Google considers important. I remember reading one over five years ago where Google spoke about “agents” at that time I wrote that I felt that there would eventually be an author meta tag introduced so that Google would know who really should get SEO juice credit for what they write. You can read my full blog post from February 12, 2007.

What is highly interesting is that now in 2012 Google has given a new name AuthorRank to this specific tactic and it looks like they are tying the algorithm update in with activity on Google+.  Here’s what I thought was important in 2007.

“…it appears that Google working to identify content and assign it an Agent Rank and assign an authority rating based on the author.  Well, that is it in a nutshell in very simplistic terms.”

“There has never been a more important time than to become an expert in your own field using your website to disseminate information about your area of business and to keep your clients and readers up-to-date with information using a blog, RSS news feed, and e-newsletters archived on your website.  Doing this will establish you as an authority in your marketplace and provide value to your readers.”

“In the past four months, this will be the second patent disclosure from Google that I have read.  The earlier disclosure had to do with identifying duplicated content across websites and identifying which website should be the one to receive top ranking as more authoritative.  Now we have a disclosure to identify how authoritative a writer is on the web.  These two patent appear to dovetail very nicely with each other.”

Back in 2007, Google+ was just a thought on a white board, now with Google+ being heavily entrenched into the Google mindset and algorithm, AuthorRank is finally now something to really think about as you position your website.

From my point of view there is nothing negative about AuthorRank. In fact, I consider it a huge improvement for sites such as mine, where I am a prolific writer and a target for content scraping. With AuthorRank, when I create a  whitepaper, article or blog post, Google will KNOW that I have written it and give me the full credit not a snatch and grab artist.

Check back Wednesday for more on this important topic.

Part III of III

Why Is This So Important?

All of the information in this newsletter is important because the business that is driving these changes is Google. As Google owns 65% of the online search market, to be positioned well on Google means taking full advantage of what Google considers important.It is very important to understand that Google+ is not Facebook. Google considers Google+ and +1’s integral to the it’s new face of search and how search results are shaped and delivered. These new Google offerings are very important and should be embraced quickly and completely for your future organic placement benefit.

Placement is More Than Twitter and Google+ There Are Still Links to Factor In

Sorry, you can’t just stop with Twitter and Google+ and think that you’ll garner organic placement, you’ve got to think about links too. But smart links! For most clients the easiest way to build links naturally (that is important to Google) over time is by blogging. Google considers each blog post as if it were a new page in your website. But a page that is on one topic and so may easily place in the search results for that topic.

If the page gets indexed, it can lead readers from your blog right into your website and can even improve the stickiness of your website. There is no downside, in my point of view, with blogging. It is not unusual for a website that blogs three days a week to build 156 new website pages and grow links to over thousand in a year.

Conclusion

I want to reiterate that there is no magic formula to getting organic search placement on Google.

What I do know is that Google likes content-rich authority websites that have a large number of pages and have an older established domain name.

Google likes a natural slow progression of links pointing to a website and blogging works great for growing these inbound links slowly.

They like linking and a social exchange through Twitter as Google includes tweets in their search index.

Google loves Google+ and Google +1 activity. In fact so much so, that they have a special section in your site’s Google Webmaster control panel where they track these and even show the search impact.

The bottom-line is that it is becoming increasingly harder to grow and build organic search placement, but there are still some very smart things you can do if you follow what Google themselves considers important.

We are here to help and can offer consulting services, Twitter updates, blog writing, Google+ updates, and website content services. If you need serious professional help, I invite you to call us at McCord Web Services.

Continued from Monday Part II of III.

You can read the full article and interview that was done with Matt Cutts on SiteProNews. It is worth a careful read. The article’s author goes on to state that he likes mentioning a specific phrase only two times on a page and then sprinkles in synonyms in a natural way in his content and Cutts has agreed that he likes this approach.

The bottom line is that building keyword density and working in keywords to headers, images, and links is now passe and even considered spamming by Google. What used to work to get organic search placement simply no longer works.

Twitter and Google+ Are Important

Because Google+ is a Google tool and is being integrated into every Google property to not be actively be involved in Google+ and +1’s, which are part of Google’s new placement focus, is a missed opportunity.

Twitter links and activity are indexed and shown in Google’s search results unlike those of Facebook. If you have to choose a social network to be involved with in this new world, choose Twitter over Facebook!

Why is Google+ So Important?

Based on this new focus for Google, you need to start flowing through search and social activity into your Google+ and +1 bank. If you don’t have accounts, Google can’t tie the activity to you specifically.

Let’s talk About What Google+ and +1’s Are

Google+ is a social platform. It is not like Facebook but more like Facebook and Twitter combined. However, is it much more important than any of the social networks we know and use now.

You could consider Google+ like a voting and popularity network but one that has the ear of Google. Anything you do on Google+ will most certainly impact your website’s organic placement and Web Visibility in the future. Google has said as much in their releases. Google has additionally stated that it will be showing social results from your Google+ network in their Google.com personalized search results.

What this means is that for people and businesses that embrace Google+ early and start building their network now, there will be strong benefits for their updates and links. This activity will be shown in your own personal and expanded network’s search/social results.

+1’s are Google’s versions of votes. If you like a page, like an ad, like a blog post, like a Google+ comment, you vote it up using a +1. What is crucial to understand is that a +1 is tied to your Google+ activity. These +1 votes will impact your visibility and placement on Google in the new Google Search Plus Your World results.

Google Search Plus Your World Is the New Face of Google

In mid January, Google rolled out an important change to their search index. They named it Google Search Plus Your World. In my industry we call it Search Plus. Google stated that they will be using activity, updates, Google+ activity, and +1 activity in the search results that they deliver to your personally and to those in your Google+ network.

What is interesting is that even if you are logged out of your Google account, Google is still tracking your activity. Of additional importance is the announcement that the social related results that will be shown in the Google.com index are personally selected for you and WILL contain Google+ activity across your Google+ social network.

That means if you start building your network now, your information and website could be appearing in search results for a very broad network of readers and potential prospects. As this activity comes from your personal network, just like a word of mouth referral, links to you and your profile will most likely carry more authority and legitimacy in the eyes of potential clients. Everyone weights a reference by a friend about a business more than a written review found randomly on the Web. This will be the real impact of Google+ and +1’s in the very near future.

Read the last part on Friday.