Tag: Google

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Footer and Link Use Google Penalizes

Red Flag Warning
Red Flag Warning

In the changing world of earning placement on Google.com, Google has been fairly forthright in regards to what it now does not like and will actually penalize a website for doing. What is important to understand is that what Google does not now like was a mainstream SEO and commonly used tactic.When you see a site that has things like this in the footer:

lemon lawyer Columbus Ohio, lemon lawyer Cleveland Ohio, lemon lawyer Akron Ohio, lemon lawyer Dayton Ohio, lemon lawyer Dublin Ohio, lemon lawyer Wabash Ohio, lemon lawyer Siteville Ohio, lemon lawyer Cincinnati Ohio, lemon lawyer Hamilton Ohio, lemon lawyer Arlington Ohio

AND each one of those phrases is linked to a page on that topic which has very little unique content other than a city location change in the content. You should know that Google has specifically said they DO NOT LIKE content or links formatted or used in this way.

Here is a site to review that is using this type of tactic as an illustration of what not to do.

Google is not penalizing for navigational links in your footer that look like this:

Home | About Us | Web Visibility | Google AdWords Services | Blog Writing

Google understands that you may need to repeat your navigation at the bottom to aid readers to travel your site, but it is the repetitive use of keywords, locations and search phrases that Google is disavowing and penalizing websites for using.

Here are a few sites that I have found that are really bending the rules on Google and may already be receiving a penalty for over optimization:

Make sure to read this great article over at SiteProNews for other great examples of what NOT to do.

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Don’t let Things Get Lost in Translation

Reach a wider market with translation services.
Reach a wider market with translation services.

Any business that is operating on the web has to find ways to expand their customer base. One way to do that can be to appeal to those living in other countries. This is something that can certainly be considered but there may be something that is currently holding you back.This is where it helps to spend some time and money on a translation management system. There are some businesses that may be able to try crowd sourcing for a one time translation project for a specific product or as a way to enter only one market at a time. You could also consider choosing a vendor; evaluating them by checking references, looking at their client list and experience and making sure that translation management is at the heart of their business.

You may even want to try some free translation tools first before you pay to have your whole website translated and localized. I like to use Google Translate. You can click the icons in my left sidebar to automatically translate this blog post. Although automated tools don’t always give the best translation, using them allows you to test at a very low cost to see if website translation is a workable approach for your needs.

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Looking for an Alternative to Google Reader or iGoogle?

If you’ve used and loved iGoogle or Google Reader, be aware that Google is retiring this service on July 1, 2013. Not to worry though, you’ll want to check out MyMSN as your need feed reader platform and guess what I know that you’ll like it better!

I’ve been using www.My.MSN.com preferentially as my RSS/XML feed aggregator for years. This simple and easy to use interface is fully customizable. I watch 30 news feeds in my control panel and even have feeds for stocks and weather. It is easy to add a new feed when you find it by clicking Add Content on the top right and then you paste in your feed URL or you can select from preset MSN news modules.

I like My.MSN.com much better than the Yahoo version as I have mine set up to show three columns per page, have very little advertising and I have lots of customization options.

So if you are bemoaning the fact that iGoogle or Google Reader is going away, switch now and check out My.MSN.com. I personally think that you will like it better and will drop iGoogle before July 1st.

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Google+ Local Allows Multiple Locations

Finally Google+ Local has listened to businesses that have multiple people in an office building or location and is now allowing more than one Google+ Local page per address.

Previously if you were a real estate agent located in an office the first person who grabbed that location in Google+ Local owned it and you could not set up an account to show your business. What was worse was if someone other than the legal business owner grabbed the location, you were stuck!

Now Google has allowed multiple businesses who may be in different suites, cubicles or floors to now verify an address. That’s great news for many small businesses and consultants.

Here’s what Google says specifically that is a nice new change:

“Individual practitioners may be listed individually as long as those practitioners are public-facing within their parent organization. Common examples of such practitioners are doctors, dentists, lawyers, and real estate agents. The practitioner should be directly contactable at the verified location during stated hours. A practitioner should not have multiple listings to cover all of his or her specializations.”
“Departments within businesses, universities, hospitals, and government buildings may be listed separately. These departments must be publicly distinct as entities or groups within their parent organization, and ideally will have separate phone numbers and/or customer entrances.”

To find out more about the Google+ Local guidelines, please visit this Google information page.