More on the Disavow Link Tool from Google

So you’ve used the Disavow Link Tool to re-mediate your website placement and remove spammy links that have nailed you in the SERPs, so how long do you have to wait to see improvement?

In this interesting article two heavy weights from my industry weigh in with Matt Cutts from Google stating:

“It can definitely take some time, and potentially months. There’s a time delay for data to be baked into the index. Then there can also be the time delay after that for data to be refreshed in various algorithms.”

You’ll want to read the full article and exchange between Danny Sullivan and Matt Cutts on this topic at SiteProNews.

The bottom-line is that anything to do with organic placement takes time. Give yourself six months easily to be doing everything right after you have corrected problems to see even a glimmer of results. But be careful about when you first see your site pop up in the results.

I have found once you start to move your site will typically fall in the results after the initial ranking. I like to test placement again four to six weeks out after the site has popped up to see where it will really fall in the index. Sometimes I will see a temporary high placement and then a drop to a regularly maintained level. Use the second ranking to evaluate if you have more work to do at that point.

Are Google+ Communities Better Than Google+ Business Pages?

Google+ Communities and what they mean for you.
Google+ Communities and what they mean for you.

Some interesting things just happened in the last few days, Google got very serious about Google+ and has started requiring Google users to enable Google+ integration. Now add to the mix Google’s new addition of Google+ Communities!I would definitely keep an eye on Communities, from my perspective. For some businesses, creating a Google+ Community for their business may allow more interaction with users than the typical Google+ Business page. For now, Google+ Communities look like a great option for merchants or brands with a strong following and not yet for the typical small to medium sized business owner. To see some examples take a look at this very interesting article on Google+ Communities from Website Magazine.

Google+ Communities are not like Facebook Groups, nor are they like a Google+ Business page. They are a hybrid and much more interactive than a Google+ Business page. First, you can invite people to join your +Community versus hoping someone will discover your Business page. Second, you can do video hangouts and others can post to your wall, share +1’s with other community members, post and hold events, and easily share content. Also typically, a Google+ Community page will have a moderator and a higher degree of interaction than would a typical Google+ Business page.

Think of your Google+ Business page like your business card or brochure and your Google+ Community like a free and wide ranging forum. The real power, from my point of view, comes into play with the ability of Communities to share +1 activity in the Google.com personalized search results. For those owning Communities that is a very, very powerful tool and may be the next big thrust for SEO and web visibility to be leveraged in 2013.

Using the Google Tag Manager

If you are managing a large website make sure to check out this new tool from Google.

I am using the Tag Manager on my own website and some of the sites of my clients. I have found it easy to use and allows for the ability to grow as Google changes. I really like the ability to add new code without having to wait for a third party webmaster to get around to scheduling time for the code addition.

The only area of difficulty that I have seen from using Tag Manager, is the confusion some webmasters have on the publishing function. Some will set up the tags properly but forget to publish the Tag Container to the site again.

Make sure to watch the video as it will take you through setting up AdWords conversion tracking as well as Google Analytics code installation. With remarketing becoming popular for many AdWords accounts, having the Tag Manager in place on the website allows you the account manager to set up remarketing by just updating the container from within the Tag Manager control panel.

Want a Vanity URL for Google+ Now? Here’s How to Get One

Although Google+ is getting ready to create vanity URLs they don’t have them available for everyone right now. So GPlus.to has created a way for you to use their third party app to create a short easy to share URL for your Google+ profile page.

It’s simple go to GPlus.to and set up an account, enter in your Google+ long URL and create a simple short vanity URL.

Here’s a short video that give you the steps if you want to watch. Just remember that if GPlus.to goes away in the future that your marketing and branding efforts are for naught, but this does make your URL way more sharable.