Cory Evans: April 2015

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

SEO Blog Post- Week 14 (Understanding Google Panda 2.0)

For its last training session, http://www.seocertification.org/ explains Google Panda in great detail. In short, it discusses the end of black-hat over-optimization tactics and new requirements for high search engine rankings.

Due to the end of black-hat over-optimization tactics, Google Penguin 5.0 penalizes websites that result in poor user experiences. In addition, over-optimized websites utilizing black-hat tactics are punished or penalized with low search engine rankings. The following factors are examples Google Panda considers when searching for over-optimization tactics:

Backlinks Revamped
Paid Editorial Links
"Exact Match Anchor Text" Keywords
Authorship

Another important aspect of understanding Google Panda are its new requirements for high search engine rankings:

Good Content
Social Proof
Author Rank
Internal Links
HTTPS as a new Ranking Factor

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

SEO Blog Post- Week 13 (Understanding Google Panda)

According to http://www.seocertification.org/, Google Panda is an extremely important aspect of SEO to understand.

In short, Google Panda represents a series of cumulative changes to the algorithm used by Google to sort through search results rankings. It provides higher priority to sites with both original and high quality content, and lowers the rankings of sites with low quality or duplicate content. As a result, users are able to find sites or links in a more accessible manner. Google Panda was actually released to address allegations that Google SERPS delivered useless sites which had to bypassed in order to visit the site that could actually be used.

In addition, Google Panda uses artificial intelligence to maneuver through search results. In fact, Google Panda has advanced AI that monitors and tracks the quality of content on the Internet to determine what is relevant or not.

The following list demonstrates some of the key characteristics Google Panda emphasizes:

Advanced AI
The quality of articles or websites
The ability to use social media to your advantage
The ability to relate relevant backlinks to a niche
Be prepared for continuous Google Panda and Penguin updates

Tuesday, April 7, 2015

SEO Blog Post- Week 12 (Social Media Optimization)

There is an enormous amount of information regarding social media optimization on http://www.seocertification.org/, some of which I will be explaining in this blog post.

As is the case for almost all social media sites, the path to Facebook news feed optimization is through content. If you create quality content that users are interested in and will interact with, then it is more likely to show up on his or her news feed. Even more, quality content goes along with the frequency in which you post on a social media site. A user is more likely to notice or engage with content if it is reliable and frequently appearing on his or her news feed.

There are various social media marketing and optimization tools to consider when you are looking for ways to improve SEO through social media. The following list may be helpful to consider:

Regularly engaging with users
Asking questions to entice users to interact or respond to your social media pages
Holding contests
Posting videos or pictures
Monitoring both quality and frequency of user interaction with social media accounts
Envisioning yourself as a user
Contemplating what makes a unique and high-quality post

Conversion rate optimization is another key factor to examine when you are looking to improve on social media optimization. Using the "Facebook Insights" tool is a great example of how to improve on a conversion rate, since it provides you with direct feedback on conversion efforts. Ultimately, the overall goal of increasing a conversion rate should be to provide a relationship with a user.

Thursday, April 2, 2015

SEO Blog Post- Week 11 (Latest SEO Tactics and Strategies)

To begin, I would like to mention that I am officially certified from http://www.seocertification.org/, as I passed its exam earlier this week.

Material that I learned this week is related to some of the latest SEO tactics and strategies available to digital marketers. The first topic I read into was SiteLinks, which are used when you want to navigate through a website. The term "breadcrumbs" is often associated with a SiteLink, since it operates as a hierarchy that can replace URL's to show where in a website a certain result best fits. Also, I learned that Ad SiteLinks are used to attract more traffic to a website. In turn, this enables users to find a website more easily. It is also worth mentioning that Ad SiteLinks are managed at a campaign level, as opposed to a group level.

Another recent SEO tactic and strategy is Website Speed Optimization. This can result in higher search results if Google Webmaster Tools are utilized correctly. For example, Firebug Plug-in is an available tool that can increase a website's overall speed optimization. The following strategies should be monitored to further improve loading speed:

Script Language
Hosting Server Speed
Coding Quality
Picture Resolution
Bulky Applications

Lastly, increasing traffic by using social bookmarking can also assist SEO efforts. For instance, Facebook Ad Tactics consider geography, age, gender, education, relationship status, workplace, and keywords to ensure ads are approved. Carefully selecting a target market, testing markets and improving ads, using Facebook reports, and using creativity with both text and images can also improve SEO results greatly.