Posted by admin on May 11, 2011 under Google, Link Building, SEM, SEO | 
I feel bad for people who are new to web advertising and trying to understand the various ways to make money online, but not fully grasping what they can and cannot do. Add Google to the mix and it gets even worse. So here are some do’s and don’ts that you should know even though it’s Google’s business model as it pertains to advertising and links in particular;
- DON’T sell advertising on your website. Google frowns on websites that sell ad space on their sites because they think that you’re trying to manipulate the rankings by allowing other websites to benefit from the popularity on your site. Google will devalue your site if it sees that you’re selling banners or links by searching your site for terms like “Advertise here” or “Advertise with us”. However, Google is allowed to sell ad space on their website though, because of supply and demand. Google is the most popular search engine online today and that’s one of the primary ways they generate revenue. Yes, I know that’s what you’re trying to do now that your site is generating good traffic and people actually want to buy advertising on your site which is exactly what Google is doing, but Google is the Tony Soprano of the web and it’s just wise not to do what they do.
Don’t offer products or services in exchange for a link. Google does not like it when you make offers such as “Get a free listing on our site if you link to us from yours!”. Forget that something like this is referred to as reciprocal linking and really doesn’t have much value in the first place, but it will be even worse if Google sees it (which they will….maybe). If the practice runs rampant on your site, you run the risk of getting your site penalized. Google looks at this practice as a means of you swaying a person into linking to your website which will cause their algorithms to award you improperly. Forget the fact that each and every year, Google gives away thousands of free phones, tablets, etc. so that people can help to expand their hold on the industry.
- Do not buy paid links. Google does not want you to purchase links on website because that may possibly give you an unfair advantage. Getting a link on a site with high PageRank (even if you have to purchase it) could possibly give you a boost (but most likely not). Google would prefer that you only buy links from them. Yes, that is okay.
Posted by admin on March 30, 2011 under Google, Link Building, SEM, SEO, Social Networking |
If there wasn’t enough to worry about with Google’s Social Search project that has been looming about in various pieces for a while now, Google just announced that it will be launching Google +1. Essentially this gives the searcher an opportunity (when logged in) to click a +1 button next to a search result. This will then show websites that people +1′d in your network and also sites that they have themselves +1′d previously. Not only do the organic search results get this +1 attention, but so do the paid listings. Advertisers should start freaking out…..now.
Exactly how this new +1 feature will possibly skew results, if any, is unknown. One would assume that if a site is neck and neck with a competitor, but one has more +1 votes, it just may be an algorithm attribute taken into consideration to push a site into the higher slot. If it’s not going to be used that way, then what’s the point? This was Google’s answer to the Facebook Like button, but there is also an upcoming feature that will allow webmasters to incorporate the +1 button onto their website as well. Will that functionality pull the +1 data from the SERP’s and input them there and vice versa? Will a click on the website +1 button add a “vote” to the SERP listing?
The ad part is the most disconcerting and especially for new advertisers that don’t have any established votes. You can see what a site that has received multiple votes looks like on this new report from Search Engine Land that covers this new feature in somewhat good detail, but it raises more questions than it answers. While it’s understood what it’s supposed to do and why it’s there when looked at in comparison to the Facebook Like button, what it doesn’t explain is exactly how Google plans to use the +1 feature. Will it be used as part of their algorithm, even if very minutely? Will it have an effect on Adwords or factored in as part of the Google Quality Score? How much of a frenzy will it create when CTR’s start taking a dramatic upward spike due to “accidental” click-throughs?
Regardless of how you feel, it’s coming and is being pushed out in waves. If you don’t see it in your results, but want to take part of this experiment, head over to http://www.google.com/experimental/index.html and opt in. SEO experts should probably consider clicking on their client websites sooner rather than later to get the jump on competition. How skewed can this data get and how will they monitor these “votes” for legitimacy? Or will it be yet one more back alley tactic that black hats will start using somehow to their advantage. Since we don’t yet know the full implication, all we can do is start clicking as much as possible because it will be used. We just don’t know for what or even why.
