May Day Update, Why Now and not Before?

In order to get a good idea of what we are discussing here make sure to read May Day, May Day, May Day – Google’s Long Tail Rankings Change. The question has been asked why did Google wait to change the rules on how long tail results are shown? The short answer is processing power. Think about it if you want to get results from a query that includes 3 to 7 keywords then what has to occur for that to happen? The scripts need to access the database looking for a combination of the keywords in question. Google gets roughly 34000 searches per second (2 million per minute; 121 million per hour; 3 billion per day; 88 billion per month, figures rounded). That equates to a lot of computer processing usage power that is needed.

Now that computers have a great deal more processing power Google has been able to update their data centers to be able to handle the additional processing power required for long tail queries. So along with better processing power I'm sure they have also streamlined their code with a write less, do more mentality.

In essence I think that Google's long tail algorithm now matches the algorithm that they had for smaller queries. Instead of having different sets of rules for one search over another they now can handle their queries with greater consistency.

Keep in mind these are our opinions and may not be necessarily what has occurred, but all in all it makes sense.

May Day, May Day, May Day – Google’s Long Tail Rankings Change

When it comes to long tail queries you want your web site to be of high quality! Google has once again tweaked their algorithm, this time it’s about long tail keywords. Matt Cutts at Google had this to say about this new change: ”this is an algorithmic change in Google, looking for higher quality sites to surface for long tail queries. It went through vigorous testing and isn’t going to be rolled back.” With this new change sites with lower quality pages are most likely to see a difference.

Sites with many pages without many inbound links have seen the greatest difference with this new “May Day” update. I had an ecommerce site call me this week saying that they had noticed a substantial drop off in their SERP’s, and after doing some groundwork I can only assume that this was definitely a result of the “May Day” update. Being an ecommerce site they fit the profile of those pages not having a lot if any inbound links. The quality of their page design was very poor both in structure and overall seo design. Their product mix is also in a very competitive industry, so that makes their seo structure and strategy that much more important.

So if you are a web site that has been affected by the “May Day” update your goal is to be a “higher quality” web site, and to be that you need to ensure that you have “higher quality” pages.  The way to do this is to visit those pages and go back to SEO basics to get back to where your SERPS’s should be.

It's Time to Build and Optimize Mobile Web Sites

With the introduction of the smartphones in the past few years the technology has come a long way. More and more when you type in a website you are redirected to a mobile web site when browsing with a mobile device. With (WAP - Wireless Access Protocol) a mobile website can be built that can be viewed with any mobile phone. You can check if your website is mobile ready by going to: http://ready.mobi/.

When building your mobile website it is important to optimize it for the search engines. In order to do this it is important to understand that mobile optimization is different from conventional website optimization. The main difference is when people search on their mobile phones there is normally an immediate need. So they may be looking for shopping, ringtones, tickets, music, movies, jokes, and sporting events to name a few. One think to keep in mind that is comparable to traditional search is mobile users are as or less patient when making their searches. So if they don't see what they are looking for in the first page or two they will refine their search. The last thing to know in regards to seo for mobile devices is that search queries are short, so don't optimize for long tail keywords. Searches are one or two words.

Another thing that you can use on your mobile site is a Metatxt file. With a Metatxt file you create a small text file that will help the search engines know what your site is about. This Metatxt file can be read by humans and computers. One way to create your Metatxt file is to go to: http://www.gomobileseo.com/ and insert the URL of your traditional website. If you like what this generator comes up with you can place it in your website's root directory where it will be available to any web tool. You can also make and changes or additions to the file that you would like.

Update 6/3/2010 - Mobile Shopping Doubles in 2010

To help you get additional incentive to do more with mobile design and optimization it was reported today that m-commerce sales have doubled so far in 2010. Along with the doubling of sales there has also been a doubling of Smartphone shopping usage according to PriceGrabber.com.

Google Changes Look for 2010

Google has made some changes in the way they show results on their website. They have a new streamlined logo and some new items in their navigation bar on the left side of the page. Last year Google made 550 revisions to its search engine. That's what helps them maintain their industry lead.

The Google SERPS has also seen a change in May in the way it serves up their results for long tail keywords. A speculated reason for this change is in the usage of computing power. Searching for long tail keywords increases the usage of computing power and until now Google's algorithm had limitations in this regard. In the new Google patent, Google indicates that it now has the computing power to index longer keyword phrases on web pages instead of just guessing at them.

• Number 1 – Identify who your competitors are.
• Number 2 – Look at how these competitors use anchor text.
• Number 3 – Look at the PR (PageRank) value of these sites.
• Number 4 – Look at the inbound links that these sites have an try to get close to the same on the ones that come up high in the SERPS.
• Number 5 – Look at the content of the pages that link to these competitors and throw out any that are not relevant to the industry that they serve.
  

In order to be better than your competition you need to research your competition and do things better than they do. The five steps above will help you achieve that. Good Luck.

Get Pages out of the Google Index by Returning a 410 Response Code

While this may not be a practical approach for everyone if you can do it is a worthwhile approach. You would need access to your server to return a 410 response for all web pages that you want removed. Google's John Mueller has said that a 410 will generally result in us removing a URL faster from the index. You can also use a 410 for URLs that are permanently gone, while it is not a requirement; a 404 will generally be seen similarly over time.

Newbie SEO Don'ts!

Newbie’s beware of the evil don’t do’s of SEO. It doesn’t matter if you are just starting out or if you are a seasoned professional make sure not to fall into the trap of the Blackhat SEO practices. 

The don’ts of SEO include keyword stuffing – the repeating of words to increase the frequency of those terms to gain placement in the SERPS.

Creating duplicate pages – all content should and needs to be unique.

Using hidden text – an old trick that in the early days of SEO was used by the cheaters, not worth it. 

Buying links – another old SEO tactic to increase your position in the SERPS, but if caught will get you removed.

Building a website entirely in Flash – if SEO is important to your website then building your entire site in flash would not be wise. 

Using improper title tags -  a title tag that doesn’t represent the content on the page.

Not populating the image alt tag – the alt tag lets the search engines know the topic of the image so they can index it properly.

• Content and structure are king and queen so have great content with a great, easy to follow layout.
• Know where you are going from an SEO standpoint and map it out.
• Use current or even future code that is compliant, so don't use old technology when coding otherwise why bother re-designing.
• 301 redirect any dead url's to the new url's so you can pass on the PR.
• Once your new website goes live track all results immediately and make any necessary changes.
• Consider if you need a redesigning vs. realigning, maybe a little clip and tuck here and there is all you need.
• Create storyboards of what you intend to do.
• Lastly consider the time involved in your re-design and make you have the time needed.