So, unless you’ve been hiding under a stone recently or have just arrived here from the Planet Zarg then it’s a safe bet that you’ve been hearing loads about Google+

So then why is it that yours truly is urging caution and reticence regarding this one in the latest series of offerings from our almighty Search Engine, the Big G.

Well first up, Google + is operated and run by Google.

Secondly, it’s run by Google…

And so on.

What more do you need here folks?

Lets be honest, Google’s track record in releasing offers like this is not exactly exemplary. Hands up all those who remember Google Buzz, Wave and Voice plus not to mention all those glorious Updates?

No my reasoning is more to do with the fact that I trust Google about as far as I can throw them at the moment but let me explain further.

It’s like this. You have a great website and you want to get some more action in Google over it but as we all know Google frown about all sorts of activities that might in some way give your site a slightly more competitive edge over the competition. So what do you do?  You get all your friends organised into one of these Google+ circles and get them all to “vote” for your site and then sit back and watch as your site climbs the charts?

Hmnnn, let’s think about it folks. You’ve been using a service run by Google to actually help in your intended aim of “gaming” Google.

The best bit of it all is that sooner or later some clown will come out with a WSO or E-book claiming that this is all one big Google Loophole and that this is going to be the next killer application and this is how you make it much better.

Just how dumb can we all get?

It’s like taking a big stick and standing there somewhere in the heart of the Congo Rain Forest and poking a big Gorilla with it. Folks, this, like the Google scenario, is not going to end well. Someone is likely to end up needing fairly intensive surgery and let me take this opportunity to say “it ain’t going to be Google…or the Gorilla.”

I mean, how clever is it to scheme up some really smart plan of actually creating a structure that is designed purely and solely for the purposes of getting round Google’s filters and structures….and then telling Google how we are going to do it…and when?

Let me finish this short newsletter with a quote taken from “The Filter Bubble” by Eli Pariser. In this short extract he describes the end of a conversation with a “Google insider” in which the subject of the Company Mantra “Do Not Be Evil” comes up:

“I once explained to a Google Search engineer that while I didn’t think the company was currently evil, it seemed to have at its fingertips everything it needed to do evil if it wished. He smiled broadly. “Right,” he said. “We’re not evil. We try really hard not to be evil. But if we wanted to, man, could we ever!””

Please treat Google+ with a huge amount of caution, especially if you are trying to use it as a form of SEO Weapon?

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We have saying here in the UK (and I’m sure it’s the same all over the world with different regional variations) and it goes like this.

“It’s like waiting for a London Bus – nothing happens for a long time and then along come two at once”

Well folks such is life with Google at the moment. Not only did they shake the world big time earlier this year with their not so cute and very definitely not so cuddly Panda Update but they’ve just gone one (if not two times definitely worse) better by now not only hitting us with “Panda The Sequel 2.2 – The Search Engine fights back” followed by the latest in their PR Updates which to be honest if you follow these things carefully is nothing short of a joke.

Sadly this one’s “a joke with a jag” (as we say over here in Northern Ireland) as the joke has left a bitter and sour taste in the mouths of web developers the world over.

To be honest it’s a bit early for a full report and understanding of what is going on and certainly as far as the PR Update is concerned as that is still ongoing according to Industry types the world over but “Panda the Sequel” or “Return of the SEO’s” (how many Star Wars gags can a guy crack – answer loads if needed?) is going to cause almost as much grief as the original one caused if initial feedback is concerned.

Watch this space and we’ll get some feedback live as soon as we can.

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Hi Gang,

May I preface this newsletter / email with a few words to those
of our readers and members who are either based in Japan or have
Relatives / Loved ones affected by the events of the recent few
days.

May I just simply say this? You are in our thoughts and prayers
and from all of those here may I wish you respite and care from
the tragedy and if you are one of those unlucky enough to have
been affected by personal tragedy then may whatever deity it is
you worship, may they look after you in the days and months ahead.

Without wishing to sound facetious at this point, to the matter
in hand and that is, further analysis of the Panda Update.

No doubt like you all, I appear to have been inundated with material
and information about this and to clear up some confusion about
possible conflicts may I just say that there was only just one
update form Google and that the “Panda” and “Farmer Updates” are
on and the same.

The official term for the update as far as Google are concerned
(well Messrs Cutts and Singal anway) is “Panda” but as the main
thrust of the update was to redress the situation primarily
surrounding Content Farms and/or issues of  excessive Dupe Content
the Update has become unofficially known as the Farmer Update.

As I said, this can be confusing and misleading and all of those
new products that have arisen from many a so called expert proclaiming
the upside and opportunities of the Farmer Update should technically
not be so confusing (makes you wonder what else they’re getting
slightly out of kilter but….) more misleading to the rest of
us.

Onwards with our take on it however (Free of charge ?). Now
today’s contribution comes by and large from some information
gleaned from Word tracker and our aim on the days and weeks
ahead is to try and bring to you information from as many sources
as possible to help you work your way through the update

Apparently, the aims of Panda are noble: to remove poor quality
sites from the top of Google’s results pages. Or as Matt Cutts,
Google’s head of spam, puts it in a blog post announcing Panda:

“This update is designed to reduce rankings for low-quality
sites–sites which are low-value add for users, copy content
from other websites or sites that are just not very useful.
At the same time, it will provide better rankings for high-quality
sites–sites with original content and information such as research,
in-depth reports, thoughtful analysis and so on.”

The last thing Google wants is searchers being unhappy with
what they find. They might try another search engine if that
happens.

Few people other than the low-quality sites’ owners and their
investors will have a problem with that.

But all major Google updates leave ‘collateral damage’ behind
them: sites that just don’t match the target or deserve to be
penalised. Google are aware of this and so have asked those with
“a high quality site that has been negatively affected by this
change” to let them know about it here.

So if you have a high quality site that’s been adversely affected
by Panda Farmer then let Google know.

So what Factors are likely to trigger off a Panda Attack?

- A high % of duplicate content. This might apply to a page,
a site or both. If it’s a site measure then that might contribute
to each page’s evaluation.

- A low amount of original content on a page or site.

- A high % (or number) of pages with a low amount of original
content.

- A high amount of inappropriate (they don’t match the search
queries a page does well for) adverts, especially high on the page.

- Page content (and page title tag) not matching the search queries
a page does well for.

- Unnatural language on a page including heavy-handed on-page
SEO (‘over-optimization’ to use a common oxymoron). Eg, unnatural
overuse of a word on a page.

- High bounce rate on page or site.

- Low visit times on page or site.

- Low % of users returning to a site.

- Low click through % from Google’s results pages (for page
or site).

- High % of boilerplate content (the same on every page).

- Low or no quality inbound links to a page or site (by count or %).

- Low or no mentions or links to a page or site in social media
and from other sites.

If any of these factors is relevant to Panda, it is unlikely
that they will be so on their own.

Combinations of factors will be required to get ‘Panda points’
(and points do not mean prizes in this game). Panda points will
be added up. Cross a threshold (Panda’s redline) and you are
‘blocked’.

‘Blocked’ is Matt Cutts’ word, used in that Wired interview:
“Whenever we look at the most blocked sites, it did match our
intuition and experience”. This suggests that …

… if a site gets defined as low quality then a penalty is applied
(it is ‘blocked’).

Google have since said that “low quality content on part of a
site can impact a site’s ranking as a whole.”

But ‘Low quality’ sites are not always ‘blocked’ (Matt’s use
of ‘most’ tells us this). So there must be exceptions to this
site-wide penalty.

Anyway enough of this at present and as and when more research
and information becomes available we’ll pass it on through.

Lastly we had a few questions sent through to us about our latest
initiative..”Precision Related Marketing”.

Precision Related Marketing” (hereinafter PRM) relates primarily
to drilling down and researching from one main keyword or phrase
an associate network of terms via Google’s Wonder Wheel and then
taking that list and data mining as many Blog Urls we can find
that fall within this keyword list and that are also available
for commenting upon.

We further refine this list until we are primarily left with
Blog Urls where the Page Rank is PR2 or greater for the Blog
Url itself and not the domain. This as you can imagine therefore
gives you a list of immense power in two categories. Firstly
the Blog Url for commenting lies within the direct theme or is
semantically linked to your main theme so is ideal for Google’s
purposes and secondly the actual Url itself for commenting upon
has been recognised by Google through its Url Page Rank as being
fairly noteworthy.

We’ve been using this technique within our own Client SEO Division
for some time now and the clients love it and as far as “Panda”
is concerned this ticks all the boxes. The comments are on relative
thematically linked pages and also pages with previously assessed
power as far as Google is concerned.

We will be rolling this programme out to our members shortly
but in the short term are going through presentations to clients
several times a day. This means that we are generating huge
surplus data sets that we cannot use within the short term
future and have been letting these go “at cost” to those members
of SLS who have blogs or networks of sites that suit whatever
particular Data Set we have available.

To give you an idea of how it works and the costs the Urls are
sold on a pro rata basis. The more powerful the page i.e. the
greater the Page Rank then the more expensive the cost. The
rate card is at present as follows:

PR7 Pages $700 per thousand Urls

PR6 Pages $600 per thousand Urls and so on down to PR 2.

One member recently bought one list from us and whilst the theme
must remain anonymous the list comprised of 8,579 Blog Urls and
the cost breakdown was as follows AT RETAIL PRICE:

PR    Unit Cost No    Total

8    800    1    0.8
7    700    3    2.1
6    600    64    38.4
5    500    360    180
4    400    1804    721.6
3    300    3157    947.1
2    200    3190    638
8579    2528

The Retail total price that we charge our clients would have
been $2,528 for 8,579 Urls for links which at a unit price is
an average 29 cents per link Url which is a steal. As this was
data generated for demo purposes we sold this particular batch
for $500 which was effectively at cost.

As this is all data that is generated by our suppliers we cannot
give this away for free but even at cost is one heck of a steal
(as they say). There is a minimum fee of $100 and if necessary
the member could have just bought the PR5-8 links if they so decided
and the charge for this would have been $221 but they decided
to go for the lot and as such we were able to pass these on at
a massive discount.

Anyway before I go on too much about this we have a few data sets
left over in the following subject themes:

Finance

Health

Iphones

Smartphones

Real Estate

Television

Technology

Stress

Anxiety

So if there are members out there who would like Urls for Links
plus Keywords in any of the areas above then get in touch and
we’ll see what we can do. Also we have an expanding list of
presentations coming up in the next few weeks and if there are
any members out there who would like additional areas covered
not mentioned above then now is the time to let us know as the
subject area matters not at all to us, this data is purely for
demo purposes and we are more than happy to pass this info through
at cost if the SLS member so wishes.

Let me know if anyone is interested.

Speak soon

Steve

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Hi Gang,

Well I’ve heard it all now. First of all we had “Big Daddy”
then later on we had “Florida” and god knows what in between
and now low and behold we have the Giant Panda!!

OK in this case just known as “Panda” but for all it’s worth
the Internet’s best illustrators are all using images of the
cute and cuddly Giant Panda for illustration as opposed to its
smaller cousin the Red Panda.

I would imagine there are groups of Red Panda’s the world over
all busy consulting their Lawyers as I write, trying to fathom
out how as a group they lost out on such a PR stunt but then
there you go, life isn’t fair. If it was, updates like this
wouldn’t happen in such a manner.

Ho hum

However back to business, the latest in Google Updates hereinafter
known (according to Google itself) as the Panda Update and what
an update it was?

Rather than try and second guess exactly what has happened (who
in their right mind would want the gig of trying to second guess
Google) I thought that in this case that I’d just provide some
links to other articles arguably better written than my humble
attempts at prose where you can find slightly more reverent
opinions as to what exactly is going on:

http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/03/the-panda-that-hates-farms/2/

http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/02/ff_google_algorithm/

http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/02/google-clamp-down-content-factories/

I know I know, this update was all about “nuking” those sites
that only survive by regurgitating what others have written and
here I am doing exactly just that but heck, life is too short
and too much has been written about this update by those better
qualified than “yours truly” and my concern is more or less
“where do we go from here?”. How can we survive? How do I keep
the present Mrs Morgan in the manner to which she has become
accustomed and how do I stop my son and heir to the Morgan
family overdraft from spending all the family savings.

Well the answers to the latter are questionable but I reckon
the answer to the first i.e. “How can we survive?” is not a
million miles from the approach I counselled in my last newsletter
about surviving a “Google Dance”.

If you’re in the US and you’ve been hit (and there have been
loads) then there is nothing at present you can do immediately,
the damage is done, all you can do is sit down dispassionately
and try and think logically about how you can structure your
sites from here on in.

If you are based outside of the US and your core market is not
based round Google.com in the US then there is still time to
make some emergency adjustments if necessary as Google in their
infinite wisdom have decided to hit the US first and depending
upon the outcome and how bad the collateral damage is, hit the
rest of us at a yet to be determined later date.

It would appear that Google are after the whole sector of the
Internet that exists by republishing in all shapes or forms other
peoples content. The sort of sites that appear to suffering the
most through this update funnily enough are the major Article
Directories such as Ezine Articles ( apparently they have lost
over 25% of their traffic due to this update), Hub pages, Suite101,
wisegeek, buzzle, associated content and also one of my favourites,
Articlesbase.

Looking at what exactly these sites all appear to have lost,
the overall opinion would appear to be that the real losers
here are the smaller lower quality types of articles that are
either badly spun or badly rehashed versions of other material
found elsewhere.

Now with every downside, there is a corresponding upside and it
would appear here that if you are taking lots of care as to
exactly what you allow to be published on your site both in
terms of size and originality then you appear to be OK.

This of course is a good thing and the other important factor
here is that off page aspects of SEO (such as Link Building)
appear to be of even greater importance and how you structure
things matter greatly here.

It’s not all bad news and before this newsletter gets too unwieldy
I’ll sign off by stating that certain basics of SEO still remain
the same i.e. the most important piece of “on page SEO” is getting
the tags for pages correct (the Title tag here being absolutely
essential) and then also the amount and variety of your back
link landscape.

Now in our collective rush for automation this is quite often
overlooked.

What Google wants to see now more than ever is a Back Links
Landscape that as closely as possible resembles that which would
exist if it was purely compiled through natural organic processes
such as just through human intervention. So this means as large
as possible a huge variety of Domains and IP no’s. Lots of
different types of links, Directs, In directs, do follow, no
follow (yes these too) and even mistakes such as typos and badly
coded links. All links that look as if they have been compiled
by humans and reflecting what is arguably the most common human
frailty, the ability to screw up and make mistakes.

In my next newsletter (coming out shortly) I’ll go through in
more detail additional aspects of how you can further attempt
to “bomb proof” sites from Google and a couple of services starting
almost immediately from us here at SLS that will really help to
ensure that you comply with all future Google interventions.

Usual deal.  Any questions then ask away in the Forum or if the
subject is that sensitive then feel free to email me directly.

Speak soon gang.

Steve

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For those wishing to find out the forums then follow the link on the menu bar to the right.

You will have to register and then supply me with an email as to why etc. I know this sounds elitist but it is a private members only forum and we take a zero tolerance policy to those clowns out there who wish to join just to spam the living daylights out of the rest of us with Link Spam.

We aim to help as many people as we can as our members will testify and we are a hardworking and actually very friendly bunch once you get in but sadly there are too many losers out there who just try and abuse the system so we have to follow this path.

Our Youtube channel can be found here

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Hmnnnn, this one’s actually a biggie and speaking as someone who is the main principal behind a keyword rich site name i.e. Simple Leveraging then technically that should “nail my colours” to the mast.

In the interests of fairness let me highlight two opposing viewpoints on the issue and then give you my take.

First up there is Scott Boyd at Fused Nation ( http://www.fusednation.com/seo/q-are-keywords-in-your-domain-name-an-important-ranking-factor/ ) who is of the opinion that “there was a time when keyword domains were synonymous with spam (because as I said, spammers used to buy up keyword domains and throw up spam sites because they used to rank well because of the keyword in the domain). Personally, I ignore link requests and business requests from keyword domains for that reason – this may be the exception rather than the rule, but I believe there are probably a good percentage of website owners who feel the same.”

Whilst I agree with him on certain points in that it did cause a whole wave of “brain dead SEO” i.e. never mind about anything else just get a domain name linked to your keywords I still think having your keywords in a domain name still does have a certain amount of kudos.

These probably relate more to branding awareness and associate issues more than anything else. For example David Airey in his post about the “Real Value of Keyword Rich Domain Names” (http://www.davidairey.com/domain-name-keyword-importance/ ) uses two of his own sites as examples, logodesignlove.com and davidairey.com. He states that: “logodesignlove.com has significantly gained ground on davidairey.com because people use the text ‘logo design’ within their links, as opposed to ‘David Airey’.

An inbound link (one coming from another website) pointing to davidairey.com is most likely to be typed as David Airey. A similar link to logodesignlove.com is most likely to appear as Logo Design Love.

Considering the importance of anchor text on inbound links, this will have quite a bearing on web searches for ‘logo designer’.

With that in mind, the main point still reverts to your content, because if it’s not good quality, you won’t create any inbound links.”

I can understand and agree in parts with all that the above are talking about but as of the date of this post it has to be said that in empirical tests that if possible give me a keyword rich domain name (if available) any day of the week. I am currently looking at a domain name (a .com) registered as part of a potential joint venture in an ecommerce project over 3 months ago that as I write this piece has only a Title tag, a few lines of text and nothing else but is 100% keyword specific for its market (this is DIY and Home Refurbishment) and the domain name is sitting at No 1 in both Google and Yahoo in categories where there is over 450,000 competitors and a limited amount of traffic.

So to sum, if you can, get a keyword rich domain name but don’t lose any sleep if you can’t as a successful name and profile can just as easily be built up using great content (now that’s another issue) and smart SEO.

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It appears that as of the time of the post that Google have either completed or in the final stages of completing another Page Rank Update.

As with all events like this there are winners and losers but all I have to say to anyone is that at the end of the day, Page Rank matters damn all in the universal scheme of things, its SERPS that matter and many’s the time I have seen in the SERPS, medium to high PR sites (PR4+) get their butts whipped (as an american colleague of mine so eloquently puts it) by relatively low PR sites (i.e 1 or above).

Here are a few links to how the update is being received in parts Google Page Rank Update Discussion and more detail about this can be found at this Google Info Blog

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A Lot of Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Marketing Professionals are voicing their opinions and saying than directories are dead. But remember, these are the people that also say that Page Rank is dead, SEO is dead, and the latest this is dead theory.  So is directory link building no longer worthy? well only the Search Engines can tell you for sure.

I believe the real issue with directory links is that only some of them are good and worthy, while some others are junk, being able to tell this difference is the key between loosing your time and having a fruitful link building campaign.  How you can tell if a directory is good enough or that you should pass it.  Here are the 3 main criteria of identifying a good directory from a bad one.

1) The director is listed in the Search Engines and most pages are being crawled.

You can find the directory in the most popular search engines, Google, Yahoo, MSN, and Ask. Also the category pages of the directory are cached on the search engines, if the directory offers detail pages, these should be indeed too.

2) The links are plain text, no redirects or javascript.

Check the source code of the pages of the directory. Look to see if the links are plain a href’s, without the rel=”nofollow” attribute, and no sneaky redirects are present. By validating all these you guarantee that these links are seeing and counted by Search Engines.

3) Doesn’t link to bad neighborhoods.

The directory doesn’t link to questionable websites, specially topics like gambling, casino adult, and illegal content websites. Be very wary about directory that offers sitewide likes to these type of sites.

Hopefully these guidelines will help you do more quality link building campaigns getting links from quality web directories.

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Many think that a profitable home-based business requires tons of high-tech supplies, and a never-ending stream of cash. Fortunately, that is not the case. Internet marketing can now be executed easily and successfully on a limited budget. The desire for home business enterprises is at a high point, and affordable marketing options are endless. With a bit of effort andcommitment, your internet marketing campaign can work with practical and useful advertising options.

When working with a limited amount of means, you must first construct a workable internet marketing plan. It must be decided what types of advertising and promotion will be used, and how much money will be allowed for each part of your marketing budget. Always be aware of your financial situation. There are several creative and unique promotional techniques that can be used in your internet marketing plan, which will not break your bank. Ironically, many have discovered that several of the low-cost marketing methods are just as useful as the more expensive ones.

Message boards and forums have taken over cyberspace. Joining these forums and discussion groups is another excellent way to market on a budget. Engage in groups related to your chosen service or program. Frequently posting questions and answers will build your reputation in the business community, while at the same time, advertising your services. This form of internet marketing has grown to be one of the most effective methods.

E-mail marketing has been coined as one of the most cost-efficient internet marketing methods. To utilize this marketing technique to the fullest, you must first establish a broad e-mail or newsletter list. This list will keep your customers up to date with all of your programs and services. The only problem with this form of marketing is the issue of SPAM. Be sure that each person on your list has requested to receive e-mails from you. If too many complaints are received, your web site could be closed down, and your business could be in danger.

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Ah, keyword research: the foundation of every successful website out there.

Wow, that’s a strong statement, isn’t it?

Well, it’s true.  For those of you who put little to no thought into, OR who don’t understand the high significance of keywords, the keyword research you do before getting one single web page up will have a tremendous impact on how well you market to your target audience.

No pressure.

So, why is this keyword research so darned important, you ask?

Let’s say you and I are standing behind a curtain.  You are probably the most revered speaker in your area of expertise.  I pull back the curtain and motion for you to go up to the podium and speak in front of an audience of about 200.

No problem.  You pull some notes out of your pocket, confidently place your hands on the mic and speak ever so compellingly for about 35 minutes.

After you are finished, the crowd claps nicely…almost out of obligation. You don’t understand.  It was actually one of your best presentations yet!  You were compelling, but not too sales-y.  You presented the problems, outlined the solutions available, and then unveiled your perfect product to fit the bill.

So, what happened?

This audience wasn’t waiting for you…they were actually waiting on someone else who was going to talk about a totally different subject.  They don’t even know what you were talking about.

So…..this wasn’t YOUR audience.  This was not your target market.

You had everything prepared…you had everything all perfectly laid out to be a “slippery slope” that led right to the obvious solution…your product.  But….you were talking to the wrong people.

How does this relate to keyword research?

The visitors you get to your site are a direct relation to what keywords your site is known for.  If you are telling the search engines that your site is known for “niche widget solution” or using other keywords such as your name, the name of your business…..that’s not the stuff your market is out looking for.

The keyword research you need to do is to determine what phrases people are searching for that have the problem for your solution.  They are searching for “perfect posture” or “correct golf swing” not “Xtreme Putter.”  They don’t even know your Xtreme Putter even exists!

And, unless you do effective keyword research, they never will.

So, how do you do the right kind of keyword research?  Put yourself in their shoes.  If you were someone out there with the problem your product solves, what would you be searching for?

“How to train my dog”

“Popular 30 something hangouts in L.A.”

“Seattle modern art”

“Ping golf clubs”

These are the things prospective buyers are searching for….you just need to have the right keywords as bait to catch them before they go surfing by.

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