Are you ready for the Google Mobile-friendly algorithm change which could be 'bigger than Panda or Penguin'?
Back in November 2014, Google gave its first guidance about the impending algorithm changes to affect mobile SEO which were summarised in this Smart Insights alert. More recently, Google has been unusually specific and has revealed on its blog that there will be an algorithm update on the 21st April 2015, that will expand their use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal.
How much difference will the mobile-friendly update make?
The indications are that this will be a major change with Google describing it as 'significant' in their alerts. Then, in this alarming quote, Google's Zineb Ait Bahajji said at SMX Munich that the upcoming mobile-friendly algorithm update will impact more sites than their Panda or Penguin algorithms. Although this sounds alarming it is to be expected since…
Is it best to boost a Facebook post, create an ad using the post or create a separate ad that's not in newsfeed?
I used to strongly advise clients against “boosting” posts on Facebook. It’s not that I’m generally against paying Facebook for reach (although of course a little more free reach would be nice), it’s just that boosting used to be the sloppy, non targeted way that the newbies and amateurs used. It cost them more money, got them fans they’d probably prefer to avoid and whilst quick and simple, wasn’t very clever.
So back in the day, I used to recommend going into the Ad Manager or Power Editor, and creating an ad using the organic post as the source but promoting it rather than boosting it. You got far more targeting control and consequently…
Check your competitor’s SEO strategies with the Ahrefs Site Explorer and Backlink History tools
We live in an age of competition where you have to be at the top of your game to survive, let alone thrive. If you are in the field of Internet Marketing, then you have probably been encouraged to improve your content and your promotion techniques on several occasions to achieve better results. All of these work perfectly fine, but they are not enough to get you across the finishing line ahead of your competitors.
Sometimes you are required to broaden your horizon and think slightly out of the box. How can you do that? Well it’s simple. Tap into the minds of your competitors and figure out the strategies that they are devising. This way, you can better equip yourself to compete with them and outsmart them.
When it comes to SEO, checking your competitor’s strategy with …
Facebook's Power Editor ads platform is certainly not for the faint hearted, but once you're confident with it, it's unlikely you'll return to the native "self serve" ad platform.
I've used Facebook's Power Editor for ads for several years now, and went through the pain barrier because, back in the day, it was the only way to surface really good sized newsfeed ads (using the now virtually defunct "dark post" function). As with many things Power Editor, this and other features has been rolled out onto the self serve platform, but there are still good reasons to be using Power Editor.
Here's a compilation of reasons to use Power Editor. As with all things Facebook, functionality changes on a near daily basis so please do correct me if I've missed something:
16 reasons to use Power Editor when creating Facebook ads
New features are rolled…
New consumer insights showing the importance of search in different sectors
When I'm asked by people who are starting new businesses where they should focus their online marketing, search marketing is usually near the top of the recommendation. Of course it depends on the level of consumer intent or demand for the new service, i.e. how many people are searching for products and services.
The importance of search marketing today is shown by our new infographic created by JBH Marketing. It shows the importance of search drawing on the latest data from SimilarWeb on the level of consumer demand through searching and including practical advice and analysis from some of the top places to learn about search like Moz, Search Engine Land and Searchmetrics.
So, I hope you agree that the infographic presents a compelling case for investing more…
Updated Webcertain 2015 Global Search and Social Report
Value: [rating=4]
The international search and social findings report from Webcertain spans 32 countries and measures social media engagement in terms of account ownership, visitation and usage. It has a snapshot of each market and shows which platforms are important, which you certainly won't know unless you're a specialist in these areas.
Did you know that the Japanese are the least socially active - on average they spend 30 minutes a day on social networking sites? Or that Baidu is not the sole search engine in China, as Qihoo 360 degree (Haosou) search engine accounts for 30% of the market.
2015 report Findings on Global Search & Social Report
Our commentary: This well-established report will be of particular interest for marketers responsible for international marketing since it helps puts some key data surrounding…
Will this be Google's biggest algorithm update of the year so far?
Importance: [rating=4]
Recommended link: Google’s official announcement - ‘An update on Doorway pages’
Wow, this seems a strange one! It feels like back to the 1990s when Doorway pages were a common SEO technique to get ranked in Altavista which was popular before Google even launched. When Google launched in 1998, their push to create more relevant results soon saw them outlaw Doorway pages and issue webmasters guidance to avoid them. So a definite sense of Déjà vu for me and many other search marketers I’m sure!
I’ve rated this alert as 4 out of 5 since although this webspam penalty is clearly aimed at targeting SEO spammers, there is always the risk of false positives from companies who are looking to practice ethical SEO. Google has issued a warning on their Webmasters Tools blog and updated their definition of doorway pages,…
How European marketers are using retargeting
Adroll Targeting data has been analysed from 4,000 European Advertisers to find out how retargeting campaigns are working and what the future holds. The report shares key findings including:
1. 88% feel it's equal or better than search.
2. 64% plan to increase their spend this year.
3. The top 3 goals are 1. Brand awareness 2. To increase sales and 3. Retention.
So what's the hottest topic for retargeting?
According to the report on the 'State of the Industry - Europe' from adroll.com, Facebook improves engagement when it's included - increasing impressions by 1.77% and 2x more clicks.
[si_guide_block id="43325" title="Download resources – Ad Retargeting Guide" description="Gain practical advice on retargeting, planning segmentation, creative, retargeting methods, partner selection, tracking and evaluation."/]
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An introduction to getting visibility in social streams by understanding the algorithms used by Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn and Pinterest
Google was the first major search engine to use a sophisticated algorithm to determine the relevancy of web pages in search results. Their ‘PageRank’ algorithm – together with a ton of other SEO ranking signals – became synonymous with the search engine and rendered many of the incumbents useless. Goodbye Excite and Lycos.
Most social media marketers will be aware of the mysterious and ever-changing ‘EdgeRank’ algorithm employed by Facebook. I have written before on Smart Insights on the ranking / visibility factors for EdgeRank in Facebook’s news feed ranking algorithm which determines whether your post is worthy of dissemination and to whom. EdgeRank is also responsible for the way in which older (but apparently popular) updates often appear on top of newer pieces of content on news feed.
EdgeRank is not dissimilar to Google’s PageRank algorithm which is…
Five methods to prove the efficiency and effectiveness of SEO
Calculating and proving the value of SEO isn't easy. Not only is there the misunderstanding of how SEO works when discussing SEO with senior stakeholders, but there’s also the added complexity of measurement in a world of ‘Not Provided keywords’.
While rankings can show us how we’re performing for a particular set of keywords, search results are now personalised and this does not demonstrate ROI. Factors including personalisation, localisation and limitations on the number of keywords one can track mean that rankings should be used more as a high-level KPI rather than a solid success metric.
At an executive level, ranking data will not effectively communicate the true value of organic search so we need to find methodologies that will enable us to speak the ‘language of the board room’ and generate buy-in for further activity.
Structure measurement…
