In the spotlight this week:
- SEO Ranking Factors galore;
- new Google update and 60% loss of search engine traffic at Traffic Generation Café;
- pingback vs trackback;
- Google+ turns 2 and celebrates with a few cool plugins;
- Google Reader alternatives, including the new Hootsuite Syndicator;
- Google sues IRS;
- and more.
Let’s start with the news from Traffic Generation Café.
At TrafficGenerationCafe.com
WordPress Trackbacks & Pingbacks: How to Use Them For SEO & Traffic
A definitely must to understand pingbacks, trackbacks, and how to use them on your own blog as well as use them to bring in traffic from popular blogs.
Here’s a little taste:
SEO
SEO Ranking Factors 2013 - SearchMetrics
SearchMetrics has released their Ranking Factors – Rank Correlation 2013 Study for Google USA.
The main focus of this study was to answer the question:
What do web pages that are well-positioned by Google have in common and what distinguishes them from lower ranking pages?
What factors are playing (and how big) a role?
Top highlights of 2013:
1. Keyword domains and keyword links have lost relevance
2. Brands are the exception to many rules
3. Social signals continue to correlate very well with better rankings
4. Good content is always important: it comes to quality!
5. The number of backlinks remains immensely important
6. On-page technology remains one of the basics
(click to enlarge)
Notice Google+ taking the top spot - no surprise here.
If you are still on the fence about G+, read my recent:
Google Author Rank: Are You Too Late?
And don’t forget to add +Ana Hoffman to your circles; I am a big fan of Google+ and will be happy to show you the ropes:
SearchMetrics has also put together this awesome inforgraphic to sum up their findings:
(click to enlarge)
SEO Ranking Factors 2013 - Netmark
And here’s another set of SEO Ranking Factors; this time from Netmark.com.
(click to enlarge)
Quite a different picture to say the least. As a matter of fact, many of Netmark’s findings fly in the face of everything we’ve known about Google’s latest changes.
You can learn more about Netmark’s methodology they used to come up with the data here.
Quite honestly, they lost me at:
If you can figure it out, all the more power to you…
Here’s what Netmark had to say about their SEO Ranking Factors 2013:
These are the ten factors from our study that showed the highest correlation to ranking well on Google. We were a bit surprised to find that off-page factors still had a much higher correlation to rankings on Google than on-page factors. In addition, it was interesting to see that even with Google’s EMD update, an exact match domain to the search query is still the factor that has the highest correlation with rankings.
Google Update Underway
It appears that yet another Google algo update is on its way - one that will be rolling out over a “multi-week” timeframe, according to Google’s head of search spam, Matt Cutts’ tweet:
The tweet went out in response to a question about why some of the search results looked spammy.
Matt replied saying, “Yup we saw that. Multi-week rollout going on now, from next week all the way to the week after July 4th.”
According to Search Engine Land:
It is unclear exactly what this is an update for. Is it in response to an update on the PayDay algorithm or maybe the softer Panda update? We asked Matt Cutts and Google to clarify but Google won’t clarify.
Search Engine Traffic at Traffic Generation Café
Just to give you a benchmark as to how Google updates can affect quality sites, here’s the screenshot of my search engine traffic pre-Penguin 2.0 (in orange) and post-Penguin 2.0 (in blue):
(click to enlarge)
As you can see, my organic Google traffic is down almost 60%.
Social Media
Happy Birthday, Google+!
Google+ is 2 years old now.
Naturally, many social media news this week rotated around it.
Google Plus = Future Social Ebay?
A few days ago, the Google File System Blog reported upon a new application from Google, which it referred to by the name Google Mine (as in, “it’s mine,” rather than as in Google mining more information about your life).
The post tells us that the app allows you to be pretty active about posting your belongings.
As you can see, the service lets you enter a lot of information about your objects.
For example, you can change the status of an object to “lent”, “given away”, “got it back”, “lost it”, “had in the past”. You can post videos about the object, write reviews, add it to a wishlist and maybe others can buy it using Google Shopping. You can also check popular items and the items others have shared.
You can read more about this application in Bill Slawski’s
Google Plus as Tomorrow’s Social Ebay?
New Google+ Plugins
Google announced the launch of new Google+ plugins for websites, including a new follow button, a new badge for communities, and updated badges for pages and profiles.
New Badges for Pages and Profiles
You already saw my +Ana Hoffman badge as a call of action above; here’s what it looks like when setting it up:
The New Follow Button
The Google+ Follow button is a standalone plugin that — as you might expect — lets visitors follow you from your site. It’s nice and compact, so it integrates easily with your existing social buttons.
The New Community Badges
Community managers have been asking for a way to attract members across the web, so today we’re introducing badges for Google+ Communities. These badges are highly configurable, making it easy to match your site design.
Marketing This & That
Google Reader Alternatives
Like it or not, Google Reader is closing its doors in less than 2 days - July 1.
I hope you are not waiting to the last minute to transfer your feeds to another service. If you are, here’s a nifty table from MarketingLand.com to give you an “at a glance” view of some of the available alternatives.
Or take a look at my Slideshare presentation:
Hootsuite Syndicator: Google Reader Alternative
If you are an avid Hootsuite user, this just might be the best Google Reader alternative yet.
The company just announced the launch of HootSuite Syndicator, an app that brings RSS into the Hootsuite dashboard.
There’s a new version of HootSuite’s “Hootlet” Chrome extension that supports RSS feeds, and lets you add them as streams in the HootSuite dash.
For a tutorial on how to use Hootsuite Syndicator, head over to Kim Castleberry’s:
HootSuite Syndicator Tutorial – An RSS Reader For Social Media Managers
Google Sues IRS
I don’t know about you, but I’d be too scared to breathe in the direction of IRS.
Not Google.
Apparently, this is the second time this month (following PRISM), Google is taking on the U.S. Government.
According to Bloomberg, the Mountain View, CA-based technology giant is suing the IRS over an $83.5 million refund it says it deserves, claiming it was improperly denied a deduction over an AOL-related stock transaction, dating back to 2004.
Thank You
To all of you who mentioned Traffic Generation Café in any share or form in the past week, my whole-hearted THANK YOU.
Traffic Generation Café would NOT be what it is today without you.
Here are just some of the mentions I came across in the past week:
The Writer’s Weekly Wrap-Up (Issue #7) - Kimberley Grabas at yourwriterplatform.com
Fetching Friday – 21 Marketing Links for June 21st - Kristi Hines at Kikolani.com
Backlinks and Reconsideration Requests, Instagram Videos, WordPress 3.5.2 - Francisco Perez at iblogzone.com
Friday Recommendations: Link Roundups for June 21, 2013 - Joseph Adediji at bloggingtipstoday.com
6 things you should do right now instead of creating more content - Dan Norris at wpliveninja.com
WPCP 010: Milestone Episode – time to celebrate! - Kim Doyal at thewpchick.com
Social Media Automation - William at blogtomedia.com
Four Guest Blogging Tips to Land on ANY Blog - Ian Mason at iblogzone.com
6 Tips For Learning Google Analytics - Luke Clum at infotrustllc.com
Small Business Ideas For Women - Gurwinder Singh Bhinder at protechnologyblog.com
International SEO Checklist [Traffic News 6/26] - Nick Stewart at nickstraffictricks.com
Fetching Friday – 22 Marketing Links - Kristi Hines at Kikolani.com
Blogging Insight Of The Week: Blog Post Round-Up - Peter at ubersteward.com
Also, a huge THANK YOU to my Triberr “Other People’s Influence” Automatic tribe for sharing my newly published posts with your Twitter followers.
These awesome folks automatically share Traffic Generation Café blog posts via Triberr, helping me reach more people than I could ever reach on my own while providing their Twitter followers with quality content and, by doing that, commanding respect in their respective niches AND getting even more followers as a result.
Win-win, I’d say.
If you’d like to join my tribe, we’d love to have you. Just click on the banner to go to Triberr.
Want to learn about Triberr? Read this post:
Triberr: Your Step by Step Guide to Being Heard
Have I missed your mention? Let me know in the comments!
Want to see your name here? Mention Traffic Generation Café in your next blog post!
To an even better next week,
Weekly Marketing Skinny • September 7, 2013
Weekly Marketing Skinny • August 31, 2013
Weekly Marketing Skinny • August 24, 2013
Weekly Marketing Skinny: August 17, 2013
Ana,
Thank GOD for your ability to simplify things in ebooks and Slideshares. Your “Mommy, Where Does..” book finally made some things clear to me that weren’t before, in a non-technical and non-condescending way. It’s what earned you my respect.
Your Slideshare about WordPress trackbacks has done the some for me. I’ve always wanted to ‘get’ it… what’s a trackback vs a pingback and so much more, but never had the attention span for the techie stuff. Thanks for breakin’ it down. Okay for me to share that Slideshare on my site?
Keep Stepping,
Kurt
You are so very welcome, Kurt, and yes, by all means, share my Slideshare.
Tamra Hart
The link in the sentence “You can design your own Google+ badge here.” gives me a 404. And as a result I keep hearing a voice saying “Badges? We don’t need no stinkin’ badges.”
Thanks for letting me know, Tamra - for some reason, the link just refuses to open correctly. Try this: https://developers.google.com/+/web/badge/
Anna! i added you on google+.
i also got some more blogging friends thru dis.
Great article!!good keypoints regarding SEO techniques
i need your help anna!
i run a cultural and artistic site.and i need a good website where i can interact with artistic peoples of the world.
can u teel me?
I wish I could help, Jasmine, but art world is not my area of expertise. On the bright side, trust me, this is something a little Google research can fix in a heartbeat.
Thanks for putting this together Ana - pretty interesting stuff going on in the SEO world - Google is turning many tables down! I’m sure you will get your traffic back as you did last time
They certainly do know how to shake things up, don’t they?
Hey Ana! Those Google comments are very interesting. If you are not signed in to Google, they are not visible! I just figured that out after visiting here and not seeing the comment I knew I left the other day. And now, if it’s okay with you, I will leave one here with a link that represents a fresh start toward the new Google normal - but wait - I still have too many links on my blog. To really be one with G+ I should wipe the template clean, remove infolinks and LinkWithin, get rid of my sidebars… but I’m not there yet. (I may never be!)
http://dave-lucas.blogspot.com/2013/06/solving-penguin-problem.html
I didn’t know you couldn’t see G+ comments unless you are signed in, Dave; probably, because I am always signed in.
Hi Ana:
How are you?
I was quite shocked to read this post
where you say that EMDs
are no longer of importance.
Is this really true?
Hoping to get an answer from you
Take care.
Best wishes and regards
Veena
I believe it was back in September when Google released an EMD update, taking away the importance of having keyword-oriented domains and focusing more on brands.
Yet another great roundup Ana.. Love the infographics about the ranking factors.. Interesting how G+ is paving its way through being one of the most important factors.. Now an in depth study “in there” is warranted, lol.
Thanks for the mention and enjoy your weekend
It made sense for a long time that G+ would be the cornerstone of SEO one way or another; it’s just that so many bloggers kept waiting for it to fold, and it’s still here.
Just wanna know where you got that beautiful sharebar from…?
What’s the nameof the plugin?
Thanks
It’s called Flare.
Anna,
I have actually seen an increase in traffic. I have joined several groups and we are all commenting one another’ s site. I feel if you want return customers you need to support them as well. Example within one of my groups I hired someone to help with my blog site. If this person hadn’t been supporting my blogs, well frankly I probably would not have hire them. It is all about helping another. I have learned so much along the way.
Glad to hear your blog is doing well despite the updates, Arleen.
I am not too concerned about it; I know it’s just another of Google dances and my traffic will come back.
Meanwhile, just as you said, I am here to help.
Rogerio Moreira
Lady you are divine … I love your brain …. as powerful as intelligent … do you sleep at night? I hope so….
Thanks a lot for sharing!
Warmly,
Roger
Feel free to come by to pay me a compliment any time you feel like it, Rogerio. lol
Thanks for another lovely article and for showing us the new badges . G+ is the best
and once you learn how to use it you can milk them in so much ways (Y)
G+ has become my platform of choice for sure, Osei; thanks for always giving my posts at Traffic Generation Café thumbs up on it.
You’re welcome think i might share with with some of the communities i’m in that helps me alot i got 300+ visits from G+ when i first shared my content to their respective communities
Share away!
I add you in my Google account Anna. Here you have much excellent information. Google plus us really the best way for success of your site which i use strongly. Thank for showing it tome.
You are very welcome, Ilia - thanks for coming by, as usual.
You mentioned the Panda 2 update above and I have a question. I was reading an article yesterday and the writer all but said guest blogging was dead due to the content linking factor. Do you agree and what’s your opinion?
This is one of those “the sky is a-falling” topics that plenty of people have an opinion on simply because plenty of people are willing to read about it, Gust.
Truth is Matt Cutts was only referring to “done for links” kind of guest posting - lower-quality mass produced guest posts with dofollow product placement links in them.
True guest posting is done for exposure and traffic, which you’ll get no matter what Google says.
Hi Ana
we have been noticing a drop in our revenue over the months and couldn’t see why, our price points were good, we were getting good traffic.
It was only when we went onto our Google analytics to see where our traffic was coming from and 50% were using mobile devices, we were using dudamobile to convert our site to a somewhat mobile friendly site, but still mobile visitors were having a 99% bounce rate, with an average stay of a mind blowing .45 minutes (45 seconds), in other words they did not like what they were seeing.
We then compared our stats to same month a year ago and the bounce rate was 60% pages visited were higher and time spent on site was higher.
We came to the conclusion that a year ago customers were not that mobile savvy and there were not many mobile friendly sites so the customer suffered these non compliant sites.
Compared to today where the consumer is far more mobile savvy there are many more mobile friendly sites and they don’t suffer the non compliant sites they just leave.
We are currently having our site converted to a mobile friendly platform, we look forward to our visitors spending more mobile time and money on our site.
So it is so important for online retailers to continually look at their stats to see what and where their customers are coming from, what they are using and like us it was a jaw dropping experience to just see why this was happening.
A real reality check for sure.
Bets Wishes
Peter
Very good points about going mobile, Peter - especially for an e-commerce site like yours.
Have your heard that Google now ranks mobile results differently and pushes down the ones that don’t comply with a few rules they’ve come up with? I think I talked about in the last Marketing Skinny: https://trafficgenerationcafe.online/weekly-marketing-skinny-june-15-2013/.
It’s smart of you to take action on what you saw in your Google Analytics; I am in the process of switching Traffic Generation Café to a responsive theme as well.
Thanks Ana ,
always trying to keep ahead of the curve.
Will let you know how our results change when fully compliant.
Peter