Category: Search Engine Trends
Explore current search engine trends with fellow SEOs.
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Was Panda applied at sub-domain or root-domain level?
Hmm, I definitely think there is a page level element but Google have gone on record to say there's also a domain level impact. I imagine that the definition Google holds of a "site" is used in this case rather than slapping the whole domain.
| TomCritchlow1 -
Is this a possible Google penalty scenario?
Yeah! That was actually the first time I had even heard of Yandex. Of course the issue is that I haven't searched in the Russian version of our keyword using the .ru SE as I'm not sure about any linguistic differences that Google Translate wouldn't account for (it's a financial industry term). I'm sure we're not ranked highly in the Russian version of the SE though, as we don't have a Russian version of the site! haha
| ACann0 -
Does my overly dynamic website hurt my SEO?
I will gladly offer a few tips on your site, but first I will make a couple observations. It sounds like you are just getting started with SEO so I would strongly suggest reading the beginner's guide to SEO from start to finish. Even if you are experienced with SEO it can be a great refresher. For your site and business, determine your niche. What makes your site different from the thousands of other sites which sell clothing? Use your niche to determine your keywords. Unless you have a massive budget, you will not be able to compete nationally with other websites, but you can do well with longtail keywords. The below is a list of a few items I would change with your site. Others may feel differently so please be clear these are my opinions: The meta description for your product pages should be unique. The page I examined had the same description as your home page. If you have more information about your company, expand your About Us page. Information such as an address, pictures and profiles of key employees, etc. give consumers confidence in your site. Consider adding badges from companies like TRUSTe, Verisign, McAfee and the BBB. These badges offer shoppers a measure of comfort and confidence in your site. I didn't go through your checkout but if you do not offer Google Checkout, then add it. It's Google's search engine you wish to rank in, and adding their checkout makes your results stand out. remove your meta keywords tag. It offers no benefit. I looked at a blog page: http://www.nvclothing.com/blog. The images at the top are not linked. What if I like what I see and wish to buy it? By linking the image you allow your viewers to be impulsive. Otherwise your visitor needs to want the product enough to search your site. I couldn't find a Home button. Once I leave the home page, how do I get back? Sure I can type in the URL or use the Back button, but I would recommend adding a Home link somewhere. There were numerous good things I noticed. Your pages have unique Title tags, you offer social sharing buttons right next to your products, and have alt tags on your images. Good luck.
| RyanKent0 -
Has anyone starting using schema.org?
Here's a little tidbit. At SMX Advanced today, Stephan Weitz, Head of Search at Bing, confirmed two things I asked. 1. He was recently interviewed by Eric Enge, owner of Stone Temple consulting. In that interview, Stephan said that Bing is moving from how they currently interpret words in content as nouns, to where they want to understand words as they relate to actions - to understand web site intent - to then match that more accurately to searcher intent. After I read that interview, schema.org was announced - a way to help search engines better understand the intent of the content. And those to concepts clicked in my head - so I asked him - do schema.org and their desire to understand web site intent (as described in that interview) go hand in hand? Are they directly related? He said yes - schema.org is the key to it all. 2. He also confirmed that "schema.org is not a ranking factor now, but it will become a ranking factor. THAT is huge. Why? because people will be required to implement it because failing to do so will harm their rankings. Adopting a microdata solution is no longer a "it would be nice if you did". it's going to be a standard practice. The search engines, in one shot, with schema.org, drew a new line in the sand. Either get with the program, or suffer. Not today, but it WILL happen. My experience with other evolving changes to this industry over the 10 years I've been involved with SEO is that when a major shift occurs, it's usually about a year before it's critical for best practices SEO. When May Day happened, I saw the writing on the wall back then - and spent the next six to 9 months helping various clients change their site architecture accordingly. None of those clients lost rankings when Panda happened. Several clients I got who came to me AFTER panda, who were seriously harmed by Panda, saw a plunge as a result of May Day. It was the advance writing on the wall for Panda in many ways. At least in my experience. So that's why I am now more confident than ever that people in this industry have a year to generally get on board. Those who can do it within six to nine months will have a competitive advantage.
| AlanBleiweiss0 -
Schema.org
I agree that the answer lies in how many people take it up. I think that one of the biggest deciding factors is going to be how easy the most popular CMS's make integrating this. If WordPress can get this done natively, for instance, a way to write a post and, via dropdown, select what type of data each line/paragraph is? I think that'd be huge, and it would explode. Personally, I've always been interested in getting Google's rich snippets to appear. I think it can have a huge influence on clickthroughs. And, I think that schema.org indicates that such content will become more and more commonplace. I've managed to get it to happen for one site, which had the majority of its content focused on recipes. We definitely saw an uptick in traffic without a ranking change. I'll be continuing to keep my eye on it, at first glance it seems like a huge task. In the end, I think it will definitely be something that we add into our work. The big search engine's partnering on this is too hard to ignore.
| BedeFahey0 -
Ranking #1 for Local, Not for National
That's the right idea. He may provide the best shrimp pizza or whatever product offering locally, but on a national level he is competing with everyone else in the country.
| RyanKent0 -
Why Are My Product Pages Ranking And Not Category
You may be correct about your sitemap. If you didn't include your category pages in there Google may not be seeing them. Something else to keep in mind is that your product pages have a much higher likelihood of being more targeted than just your category pages. Google aims to deliver very targeted results. I would analyze the SEO of a few of the pages in question to see how many backlinks you have to each page, what keywords they're ranking for, etc, and see if they are in fact better targeted than your category page. This could very well be a contributing factor. I would analyze more for you, but I'm at work right now and I don't really want to be on what looks to be a risqué site for work eyes
| CodyWheeler0 -
PageRank Is Zero For Some Reason
That seems like a pretty sensible take by Danny. I would be looking into any site that had 0 TBPR if its been running a while and I know it has a decent link profile
| firstconversion0 -
Is there a way to know what rank my site is listed on google ?
Thx for all those quick answer After searching for a bit, i end up on this site: http://www.seocentro.com/tools/search-engines/keyword-position.html which seems to indicate the correct position of keyword. I compare it whit the keyword i had in my campagne manager and even if its not always look accurate (campagne manager and this site), it at least give me a little hint of futur keyword for quick lookup at least. Again, thx you all.
| Promoteam0 -
What's the best way to discover which search terms competitors are highly-ranked for?
I agree Matt While we know most terms we want to target keyword research is an important part of our job. I regular go back and re-research keywords for clients I have worked with for years. I would be doing them a disservice if I did not.
| SEMPassion0 -
Does Length Matter... In Videos
On that level, brevity might be a plus... easier to watch 20 seconds than two minutes.
| 945010 -
If Google turns down the weight of keywords in domains then what will they be turning up?
From what I have seen so far the exact match keyword domain is still a big factor. Top 3 in my estimate but it would make sense for that to dip a bit as it makes it almost too easy to get a site highly ranked without doing much else except buying that domain.
| miloszpekala0 -
Why would my product pages no longer be indexed in Google?
Hi Ian, I see there are some 40 URLs with product in the URL from your site that are indexed in Google. Can you share with us how you were able to get those back in the index and any tips you may have learned from the experience? If you have a good writeup, do consider submitting to YOUmoz as well. Thanks!
| KeriMorgret0