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We are considering using CloudFlare as a CDN for a large group of sites. The fees are $5 to $200 depending on many factors. We tried the free trial on one site and were impressed with the results. I am wondering if any of you have any longer term experience with this and performance metrics, etc.
Hello Miriam,
It is the same. I understand from a local perspective a lot of people are giving this a thumb's up. I am not sure I would at this juncture and we have had a winner or two from it. With Real Estate, if you are a broker, it is a disaster in terms of terms like home(s) for sale, townhomes, real estate or these terms and a geo-locator like Houston. (Dr. Pete spoke to this around my comments on his post The Month Google Shook the SERPS.)
You know I am not a "Google done me wrong" person; it's their web property and as EGOL said for a while they did not monetize it and people had a grand ole time. Today, they are going to monetize it just like we would.
The issue is more that, IMO, user experience will suffer and I think they will begin to lose market share, but over time. I talk to enough users who are not in our field and they complain about not being able to find someone local when they are looking. For me as a searcher, I find it odd that if I want to find a specific breed of dog or a specific area for a home, etc. I am forced to use a "national" directory of some sort. Doesn't this remove the need for the search engine??
Best
Most likely (and it will take a staffer on Moz to give correct answer) it is how it shows in the rankings. So, often when we create a page our intent is this is the page that will rank for "turnips." We do pages on carrots, celery, and potatoes, but we want our turnips page number one on a search for turnips. But...google doesn't always see it that way. I can laugh today about it but early on in my seo career it drove me to distraction. How in the __ could they think this is what I wanted to rank for?
Also, you can go on the page grader and put in the page you want to grade out for a given term. I understand the limitations given a large number of pages or terms.
Best,
Robert
LELOinc
This is why I love Moz. We are all learning. Trust me with the recent whatever rollout about Local by Google I spent the last two days trying to wrap my hands around that impact and asking others in this community what they thought. Multiple brains is often better than mine.
When Miriam used the term Map out that brought me to something I find helpful when dealing with a complex project: draw it out. We have marker glass (4) in our conference room and two walls that are all glass. You can do some serious drawing and writing there. With something complex, I find it easier if I begin with a visual. Take the components and break them down, then look for relationships that may bring synergy or at least assistance or load leveling. See if that helps you get a good picture before you move forward. This is one of those issues where it will not hurt you to spend some time aiming before shooting.
All the best, thanks for your kind words,
Robert
Doug,
Great to hear from you and I think you make a massive statement when you say, "Another thing to consider is how an algorithm update might change the search terms that people use to find your clients." This is truly an experiment worth taking the time to develop.
All the best,
Robert
EGOL,
This is truly well put and worthy of multiple thumbs up. There is never a qualifier that would keep you from answering a question of mine and this is the reason. What I did not want was speculation.
You are so right about Google's original model vs. today and about how these changes are slowly cutting out sites and affecting wallets. Your paragraph:
OK... Now you ask about what to do for your client. First. Explain that he has a little algo risk... and that he has a little competitor risk... but also explain that even if you achieve the miracle of getting his website to one of the top ten positions of google that he will still be subject to a much greater risk for which you have absolutely no control. That is SERP format risk.
is exactly what we do with every client. We have tons of data before we take a client on and we are very clear about writing checks with our mouth that our ass cannot cash (we will get you on page one, etc.). We just state we will never make that kind of promise and elucidate the reasons. The beauty is we refocus them on actual business results as opposed to rankings. That, we can affect.
I have to say this latest change is really interesting in good and bad ways around some service pages (good) and then real estate (horrific). It will be interesting to see where we go from here.
Thanks and triple thumbs up,
Robert
The recent news re an update by Google is beginning to show some interesting changes. The first major piece on this came from SearchEngineLand and had top local people like Linda Buquet commenting. Another post on this regarding a "yelp" correction from Search Engine Land was also illuminating. With the real estate vertical, I am seeing zero local companies in Houston, in the first couple of SERP's, other than the large MLS system, HAR. The others showing are all real estate directories that are nationwide like realty com, zil low, tru lia, etc. You literally cannot get a local brokerage to show on the first two pages of serps using any high volume keyword.
Does this mean Google is choosing to begin relegating its search results to the directories?
Obviously, there is no right answer, but it certainly means those of us in the agency world need to be very careful (yes, even more so) going forward. I appreciate your comments.
Robert
I guess I could have posed the question more clearly. We track pages daily. With large sites and a multitude of sites we are dealing with more than keyword tracking. There is no way to win as an agency trying to track 50 to 100 terms daily for every client. You are concerned more with performance over time.
With a large home services client, they have fewer page one rankings than when they came on board with us but their business is up by 50% over 14 months that is trackable to organic methods. With them and others there we are tracking key pages, etc. but I am more interested in how you draw a conclusion about the change in the algorithm and as the result, how will your methodologies change, what will you tell your clients.
Thanks again.
Robert
First a request: Please answer this only if you own/manage more than 5 to 10 sites. Also, please understand I am trying to go beyond speculation. With the current "pigeon" update (as coined by SEL), we are seeing a lot of changes, good and not good. An example is within the real estate vertical. There is literally no "pack" whatsoever. Page one for every major real estate search in Houston: houston real estate, homes for sale, townhomes for sale, etc. is now populated by a major RE vertical player. All of these companies use the real estate rules, hire a broker, then scrape RE data from other MLS brokers.
So, there is not a single Houston real estate company showing on Page one for any of these searches. Zillow, Trulia, HAR, etc. dominate the entire organic page. Within other verticals it is a mixed bag of results. A home service provider shows up with their outlying offices for searches on that service and Houston. Etc.
Just curious how those of you who handle multiple sites analytically approach learning what is going on. I know what we do, but am very interested in others methodologies.
Best
EDIT for Clarification: I am speaking to how do you evaluate the changes (the effects of) over a fixed period in order to draw a conclusion as to what has changed, how that affects your clients, and what you will do now given the change and the knowledge you have gained.
Travis,
I think this really proves what Se ma lt was up to from the beginning. Do all the web crawl spam to gain authority and faux traffic so they could show a high DA, etc.
Good find. Thanks,
LELOnic
I want to be sure you are getting what you need from the forum; call it the caregiver in me. I understand the dilemma you face quite well and, unfortunately, there is not an easy answer here. The reason is that Google has never really supported multiple languages within G+ very well. Here is a quote from one of the smartest people on the planet re Google and Local,Places,plus, MM, etc. Mike Blumenthal: "Google has never fully supported multi-lingual listings in Places very well." This is from Nov. but those of us who have been at it a while remember when G had Local, which became Places, that begat Plus, then etc.
The reason this is difficult is that to truly answer your query it actually takes pages of writing. I am going to try to give you a synopsis that will allow you to carry out enough research to allow you to "learn" your way. When I am taking on something like multi lingual, multi country sites, I go very slowly and very methodically; I suggest you do the same here.
First go to Mike's blog and read this article on how to use MapMaker to assist your G+ with what you are trying to achieve. You will also see a download link for a PDF that was created by Dan Austin to use as a cheat sheet of sorts. I need you to read this next sentence from Mike who really knows this stuff very carefully five times: "As a side note, MapMaker is not for the faint of heart and is very quirky and often bug ridden. Caveat Emptor." Did you read it five times? If not go back as it is very important.
You need to understand that I own and manage a robust agency and I work at this daily. I have an expert on staff that I go to with my questions who lives on forums and blogs like Mike Blumenthals, Linda Buquet, and on the MOZ there is Miriam Ellis who is brilliant as well, etc. There are times we have to sit down and literally draw a picture of what will be done to be sure we get it right...and even then we can make mistakes.
You might want to go to the expense of learning Local SEO from Linda as she is a wonderful person who will also help anyone when they ask. I have paid to have our team members learn from her and my only complaint is I think she vastly undervalues herself, her knowledge, and her product that she delivers. She could probably charge 600 to $1K an hour to big companies. So. There is a ton to learn but there is also a lot of help as you go.
You can try to use the MM info by Mike that I have given you the link to and it is still fairly fresh info. Hopefully, I have provided the resources that will allow you to work things out. Then, remember, you can answer questions here as well. When you have worked through this you will have valuable knowledge. Share it.
Best
Robert
Thank You Ray-pp
I will give it a try. I really appreciate the help.
Robert
Thanks Travis,
I don't think any "out of the box" program will ever provide "full" functionality. My gut says that PM software would work much closer with having multiple disciplines involved over time. Obviously, BaseCamp has the reputation and it is deserved, but I need to find them something that they do not have to spend a lot on as they really try to ensure the money gets to the kids. (That is one of the reasons I like them so much.)
Again, thank you for your assistance.
Robert
Thanks Malcolm,
As an agency we use more SaaS than God some days! Our head of Local uses it and loves it. Several years ago we installed a different system and often I wish we had gone the BaseCamp root. We are giving that one a hard look.
SalesForce as a CRM, etc. tool gives licenses for free to non profit agencies and these guys have it, but need much different functionality. I thought that every student is really a project over time and Proj. Man. would be better...I think. So, if we can find a solution that would be willing to give them 15 or 20 licenses, I could certainly find ways to make sure the world knew they were being a positive force in the lives of kids.
Best
Thanks for the help Thomas, but let me be clear that it is the people who work with this non profit who are changing the lives. My team and I are just trying to assist them with doing CodeCamps, etc.
I really appreciate your help.
Robert
I have to say I laughed when I saw the typo. I appreciate your wanting to find one as well and I will PM all as I go forward. So far, there are none I can identify so maybe we will endeavor to start one.
Thanks
While attending a STEM conference I met the Chief Strategy Officer for a program that works with disadvantaged high school students to provide both counseling and financial assistance to allow them to go to college. Many students from lower socio economic backgrounds grow up believing college is not something they will be able to do for a myriad of reasons.
From this we are working with them to improve their database management and general functionality of systems so that they can increase the number of students they assist and improve their delivery system. To now they have had an archaic paper plus database that they must call the developer to run reports etc plus various CRM programs like SalesForce. Needless to say it is a massive time suck for those who work very hard to serve this group of kids. The cool thing is that in spite of innumerable hurdles, they have gotten 1000's of kids into college who otherwise would never have gone.
I believe they would be much better served with a Project Management System like a BaseCamp, Active Collab, etc. I am curious if anyone has used a program like that in this way and more importantly, I am wondering if any of you know someone at one of the major Proj. Mgmt. companies that I might be able to persuade to assist this group? I would be willing to offer free services to the software company, etc. if that would help. So, I am really hoping some of you in the Moz Universe will do a bit of digging and checking and offer me (really the program) some assistance with this.
Thanks
Thanks Who Wudda Thunk
I agree Webmasterworld is a great forum, it is open to all so is not strictly an agency related forum. I was wanting to do something or find something along the lines of a Vistage but online. I was a Vistage/TEC member for several years and then a member of another CEO forum. Both were very helpful in that you are talking with other business owners and learning from them. Along with that you are teaching them things you know. Home builders have an organization where builders from different cities are in a group (so they are not competing with one another in the same market) and share information, assistance that I have seen be very beneficial to their members. I would love to find something like that for agencies.
Best