Google’s latest batch of search quality updates is online, and offers some insight into a variety of search- and SEO-related topics.
Though some of Google’s monthly updates have included more than 50 items, this one comes in at 39. But it looks like there’s still plenty to digest.
Here’s a look at what stands out for me after a first read of Google’s blog post.
Inorganic Backlinks & Penguin
There are two items that would appear to be closely related to one another:
Better application of inorganic backlinks signals. [launch codename "improv-fix", project codename "Page Quality"] We have algorithms in place designed to detect a variety of link schemes, a common spam technique. This change ensures we’re using those signals appropriately in the rest of our ranking.
Improvements to Penguin. [launch codename "twref2", project codename "Page Quality"] This month we rolled out a couple minor tweaks to improve signals and refresh the data used by the penguin algorithm.
The fact that they’re listed separately suggests that the item about “inorganic backlinks” is not actually part of the Penguin algorithm. So what does the first item mean? I think Google might be saying that the signals it uses to detect link-related spam/schemes have been “appropriately” applied to other parts of the ranking algorithm, perhaps to help detect other types of spam/schemes. The wording isn’t clear, which is pretty much par for the course with these monthly updates. (I envision the search quality and webspam teams reading my recaps and your comments and chuckling at our attempts to figure this stuff out.)
Page Titles
A friend emailed me a week or so ago to ask what was going on with Google changing and editing his company’s page titles in the search results. I mentioned that Google had discussed this back in January, and that I was unaware of anything new.
How wrong I was. Google lists three changes in May related to how it displays page titles:
Trigger alt title when HTML title is truncated. [launch codename "tomwaits", project codename "Snippets"] We have algorithms designed to present the best possible result titles. This change will show a more succinct title for results where the current title is so long that it gets truncated. We’ll only do this when the new, shorter title is just as accurate as the old one.
Efficiency improvements in alternative title generation. [launch codename "TopOfTheRock", project codename "Snippets"] With this change we’ve improved the efficiency of title generation systems, leading to significant savings in cpu usage and a more focused set of titles actually shown in search results.
Better demotion of boilerplate anchors in alternate title generation. [launch codename "otisredding", project codename "Snippets"] When presenting titles in search results, we want to avoid boilerplate copy that doesn’t describe the page accurately, such as “Go Back.” This change helps improve titles by avoiding these less useful bits of text.
The first item there is what my friend was emailing about. Pages that had two-to-three long-tail keywords in the page title were being edited, and Google was displaying only the first keyword phrase in its search results. This was for an e-commerce site that sells items which can be described in a few different ways; Google apparently didn’t like seeing several keyword phrases in its search results.
Freshness
Not sure if fresh content and fresh search results are important to Google? I’m pretty certain that every monthly update Google has published (they began back in November) has included something related to trying to make search results fresher. Keep that in mind. Here are the four freshness-related changes announced today:
Better detection of major new events. [project codename "Freshness"] This change helps ensure that Google can return fresh web results in realtime seconds after a major event occurs.
Smoother ranking functions for freshness. [launch codename "flsp", project codename "Freshness"] This change replaces a number of thresholds used for identifying fresh documents with more continuous functions.
Better detection of searches looking for fresh content. [launch codename "Pineapples", project codename "Freshness"] This change introduces a brand new classifier to help detect searches that are likely looking for fresh content.
Freshness algorithm simplifications. [launch codename "febofu", project codename "Freshness"] This month we rolled out a simplification to our freshness algorithms, which will make it easier to understand bugs and tune signals.
In addition to the above, there are several items related to Google’s Autocomplete feature, including one which will show some Autocomplete suggestions as “Related Searches” within the search results page and another that aims to reduce “low-quality predictions” from Autocomplete.
Also look for several items related to how and when sports-related answers are displayed, including showing such answers more often.
And the very first item on Google’s list, called “Deeper detection of hacked pages,” indicates that hacking notices are now showing up on deeper, internal pages that may be compromised, not just when the home page URL appears in search results.
Resource-http://searchengineland.com/googles-may-updates-inorganic-backlinks-page-titles-fresh-results-more-123951
3 Hard Lessons to Learn From Penguin: Be Relevant, Be Balanced, Keep it Real
The most recent update of penguin has caused a storm of controversy since it began cracking down on search engine enemy No. 1: “unnatural” links.
The Panda update targeted low value on-page optimization focusing on duplicate content and spammy outbound links, while Penguin is targeting largely inbound links, dropping the rankings of sites/pages that might have unnatural links pointing to them. Some businesses that were early adopters of SEO are seeing rankings, traffic, and income vanish with lower rankings.
Jonathan Allen wrote an excellent post covering what happened to one small business site that for two years has been deriving its ranking by using mainly black hat SEO tactics – from article spinning, buying links, forced anchor text, to inbound links from link networks. The site owner hadn’t appreciated how profoundly these spam tactics went against Google’s mission, which is purportedly to provide the most relevant results to users. And why would he? Until the latest update, his online sales were increasing, even after Panda!
Recently, his website felt the wrath of Penguin.
What Allen says, which I agree with, is that “small businesses are completely at a loss as to what constitutes ‘ethical’ SEO.”
There is a strong case for an algorithm update like Penguin. As a user, you want to find the best possible answers to your queries, not fall prey to the trickery of manipulative SEO. The rub is that not every webmaster is an SEO master. There is a fuzzy line as to how much optimization is too much optimization.
Google’s guidelines and updates, to most webmasters, are like following a pastry recipe that tells you the ingredients but not the measurements. Baking is a science, add too much or too little of one ingredient and your whole recipe could be ruined.
With the mercurial search engine algorithm, what worked one year ago, or even three months ago, is subject to change. Drastically. If you aren't in the know about an algorithm change, you risk putting your online business in a vulnerable position. Which begs the question…
Is it possible to run by Using Bleach White Hat SEO?
Thanks to Penguin, we’re about to find out. To clean up the "cesspool" that Eric Schmidt so tenderly referred the Internet as, “fishy” links need to go. So if you’re serving mackerel, turbot, or minnow as part of your link building strategy, expect the Penguin to devour your site for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Let’s do a quick recap of what constitutes a fishy link:
A number of unnatural /spammy inbound links pointing to you.
Paid text links using exact match anchor text. Google considers link buying a violation of Google’s webmaster guidelines. Overdoing exact match anchor text will also get you penalized.
Comment spam. Using exact match anchor text for your “money keywords” in comments or in the username in the comment section
Outbound links using exact match anchor text from low quality sites (or penalized by Google), or from the same IP address
Low quality paid directory listings
Link networks
Hidden links
Unnatural footer links
What Exactly is “Unnatural”, “Low Quality” or “Spammy”?”
In many ways, this is a matter of semantics and if you’re not up to date with the latest changes in SEO you might be approaching link building all wrong.
Some of the most insightful commentary I have come across regarding Penguin and the future of link building can be found in this article featured on CognitiveSEO. There, you’ll find the opinions of 13 renowned link builders on what makes a link low quality, explanation on what anchor text devaluation is, and their predictions of how link building will change in only a year’s time.
Simon Penson sees guest posting as the emergent form of building links. He says, "The key now is to become a knowledge center and work hard on promoting that fact to the key influencers in your niche."
Practicing guest posting as a link acquisition method has proven successful for many years as is using personas to increase the level of blogger engagement and build an online presence in niche segments. Now is the perfect time to consider implementing a persona plan in your digital marketing strategy.
Factor in Google’s authorship mark-up, which will increase your visibility in the SERP (given that your content is awesome too). Google is stating, point blank, the more “real” you are (in Google’s eyes), the more we’ll reward your site.
Here are three things we can learn from Penguin.
1. Be Relevant
The solution for not getting pummeled every time Google changes its algorithm is to focus on providing the best possible relevancy to users. With the introduction of Google Knowledge Graph the SEO game is about to change in a colossal way.
Search is evolving to an environment where results will be based on how concepts are meaningfully related to each other, rather than disjointed keywords. The quality of inbound and outbound links will be increasingly weighted on how relevant, useful and pertinent the information is to the end-user’s query. This is why developing authority and connections in your niche will be super important ranking factor in a post-Penguin world.
To do this, community building will be a top priority. Your greatest sources of natural links will come from engaged members of your community whether it be on a blog or through social channels. Having a community where users are actively engaging with your brand is an incredibly powerful tool for links, managing reputation, and customer retention.
2. Be Balanced
Penguin’s penalization of sites who have been spamming aims to improve the quality of the SERP for searchers. If you want prime real estate there, you’re either going to have to dish out some exceptionally relevant content or buy your spot through ad campaigns.
Let go of guerrilla optimization tactics. Keyword-dense title tags, unnatural interlinking, and low quality backlinks are the Penguin’s first targets. Also, mix\ up your content types as the SERP is becoming increasingly crammed with video results, ads, and other signals.
3. Keep it Real
Building trust, credibility, and authority in your niche should be your main focus. To do that, it may mean a total recall of your content strategy. Create better content in all relevant areas: on-page, guest posts.
The main takeaway is to:
Make it clean.
Make it clear.
Make it useful.
Tips to Help You Bounce Back From Penguin
Break out your SEO shears and cut out any low quality links, most importantly those coming from sites that have been penalized by Google, have low PR and low quality links pointing to them. This will involve using tools like Google Webmaster Tool or Open Site Explorer to analyze your incoming links and identify the bad seeds.
Analyze link type distribution. Is it found in a relevant area of an article, the comments, sponsored listing, a directory listing?
Ensure that anchor text distribution is natural. Too many links with targeted anchor text will result in a loss in value in the search engine’s eyes.
Diversify your anchor text and include a branded keyword. Be transparent about who you are.
Be selective with directory listings and choose ones with a good reputation.
Avoid link networks, Penguin will penalize you for having a suspicious number of sites interlinking with optimized anchor text.
Focus on users. This is probably the most important tip. Create content that’s updated, useful, and relevant. People, not just machines, have to get something out of it.
Conclusion
Let’s return to the question of where Penguin and semantic search technology will leave the smaller scale sites that rely on optimization strategies to get the kind of exposure they need.
While specific, useful content is a must it leads to a kind of “optimization paradox” that some in the industry believe is the inevitable future of the web.
Big brands have the obvious advantage in that they’re popular already, they have massive media and advertising budgets and they don’t depend on perfect title tags and on-page optimization for people to find them. The shift in search is likely to fall in the favor of the big brands because they are who searchers already recognize and trust.
So perhaps the lesson here is to start thinking and acting like a big brand. Your website’s future, no matter how big or small you are, depends on the recognition and trust you build in your niche.
Resource By : http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2180059/3-Hard-Lessons-to-Learn-From-Penguin-Be-Relevant-Be-Balanced-Keep-it-Real
The Panda update targeted low value on-page optimization focusing on duplicate content and spammy outbound links, while Penguin is targeting largely inbound links, dropping the rankings of sites/pages that might have unnatural links pointing to them. Some businesses that were early adopters of SEO are seeing rankings, traffic, and income vanish with lower rankings.
Jonathan Allen wrote an excellent post covering what happened to one small business site that for two years has been deriving its ranking by using mainly black hat SEO tactics – from article spinning, buying links, forced anchor text, to inbound links from link networks. The site owner hadn’t appreciated how profoundly these spam tactics went against Google’s mission, which is purportedly to provide the most relevant results to users. And why would he? Until the latest update, his online sales were increasing, even after Panda!
Recently, his website felt the wrath of Penguin.
What Allen says, which I agree with, is that “small businesses are completely at a loss as to what constitutes ‘ethical’ SEO.”
There is a strong case for an algorithm update like Penguin. As a user, you want to find the best possible answers to your queries, not fall prey to the trickery of manipulative SEO. The rub is that not every webmaster is an SEO master. There is a fuzzy line as to how much optimization is too much optimization.
Google’s guidelines and updates, to most webmasters, are like following a pastry recipe that tells you the ingredients but not the measurements. Baking is a science, add too much or too little of one ingredient and your whole recipe could be ruined.
With the mercurial search engine algorithm, what worked one year ago, or even three months ago, is subject to change. Drastically. If you aren't in the know about an algorithm change, you risk putting your online business in a vulnerable position. Which begs the question…
Is it possible to run by Using Bleach White Hat SEO?
Thanks to Penguin, we’re about to find out. To clean up the "cesspool" that Eric Schmidt so tenderly referred the Internet as, “fishy” links need to go. So if you’re serving mackerel, turbot, or minnow as part of your link building strategy, expect the Penguin to devour your site for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Let’s do a quick recap of what constitutes a fishy link:
A number of unnatural /spammy inbound links pointing to you.
Paid text links using exact match anchor text. Google considers link buying a violation of Google’s webmaster guidelines. Overdoing exact match anchor text will also get you penalized.
Comment spam. Using exact match anchor text for your “money keywords” in comments or in the username in the comment section
Outbound links using exact match anchor text from low quality sites (or penalized by Google), or from the same IP address
Low quality paid directory listings
Link networks
Hidden links
Unnatural footer links
What Exactly is “Unnatural”, “Low Quality” or “Spammy”?”
In many ways, this is a matter of semantics and if you’re not up to date with the latest changes in SEO you might be approaching link building all wrong.
Some of the most insightful commentary I have come across regarding Penguin and the future of link building can be found in this article featured on CognitiveSEO. There, you’ll find the opinions of 13 renowned link builders on what makes a link low quality, explanation on what anchor text devaluation is, and their predictions of how link building will change in only a year’s time.
Simon Penson sees guest posting as the emergent form of building links. He says, "The key now is to become a knowledge center and work hard on promoting that fact to the key influencers in your niche."
Practicing guest posting as a link acquisition method has proven successful for many years as is using personas to increase the level of blogger engagement and build an online presence in niche segments. Now is the perfect time to consider implementing a persona plan in your digital marketing strategy.
Factor in Google’s authorship mark-up, which will increase your visibility in the SERP (given that your content is awesome too). Google is stating, point blank, the more “real” you are (in Google’s eyes), the more we’ll reward your site.
Here are three things we can learn from Penguin.
1. Be Relevant
The solution for not getting pummeled every time Google changes its algorithm is to focus on providing the best possible relevancy to users. With the introduction of Google Knowledge Graph the SEO game is about to change in a colossal way.
Search is evolving to an environment where results will be based on how concepts are meaningfully related to each other, rather than disjointed keywords. The quality of inbound and outbound links will be increasingly weighted on how relevant, useful and pertinent the information is to the end-user’s query. This is why developing authority and connections in your niche will be super important ranking factor in a post-Penguin world.
To do this, community building will be a top priority. Your greatest sources of natural links will come from engaged members of your community whether it be on a blog or through social channels. Having a community where users are actively engaging with your brand is an incredibly powerful tool for links, managing reputation, and customer retention.
2. Be Balanced
Penguin’s penalization of sites who have been spamming aims to improve the quality of the SERP for searchers. If you want prime real estate there, you’re either going to have to dish out some exceptionally relevant content or buy your spot through ad campaigns.
Let go of guerrilla optimization tactics. Keyword-dense title tags, unnatural interlinking, and low quality backlinks are the Penguin’s first targets. Also, mix\ up your content types as the SERP is becoming increasingly crammed with video results, ads, and other signals.
3. Keep it Real
Building trust, credibility, and authority in your niche should be your main focus. To do that, it may mean a total recall of your content strategy. Create better content in all relevant areas: on-page, guest posts.
The main takeaway is to:
Make it clean.
Make it clear.
Make it useful.
Tips to Help You Bounce Back From Penguin
Break out your SEO shears and cut out any low quality links, most importantly those coming from sites that have been penalized by Google, have low PR and low quality links pointing to them. This will involve using tools like Google Webmaster Tool or Open Site Explorer to analyze your incoming links and identify the bad seeds.
Analyze link type distribution. Is it found in a relevant area of an article, the comments, sponsored listing, a directory listing?
Ensure that anchor text distribution is natural. Too many links with targeted anchor text will result in a loss in value in the search engine’s eyes.
Diversify your anchor text and include a branded keyword. Be transparent about who you are.
Be selective with directory listings and choose ones with a good reputation.
Avoid link networks, Penguin will penalize you for having a suspicious number of sites interlinking with optimized anchor text.
Focus on users. This is probably the most important tip. Create content that’s updated, useful, and relevant. People, not just machines, have to get something out of it.
Conclusion
Let’s return to the question of where Penguin and semantic search technology will leave the smaller scale sites that rely on optimization strategies to get the kind of exposure they need.
While specific, useful content is a must it leads to a kind of “optimization paradox” that some in the industry believe is the inevitable future of the web.
Big brands have the obvious advantage in that they’re popular already, they have massive media and advertising budgets and they don’t depend on perfect title tags and on-page optimization for people to find them. The shift in search is likely to fall in the favor of the big brands because they are who searchers already recognize and trust.
So perhaps the lesson here is to start thinking and acting like a big brand. Your website’s future, no matter how big or small you are, depends on the recognition and trust you build in your niche.
Resource By : http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2180059/3-Hard-Lessons-to-Learn-From-Penguin-Be-Relevant-Be-Balanced-Keep-it-Real
Google Releases Penguin Update 1.1
In U.S., Google has just pushed out the first update to its recent webspam-fighting Penguin algorithm. Let’s call it Penguin 1.1.
Matt Cutts the head of Google's web spam team has announced the news a short time ago on Twitter, calling it a “data refresh” that impacts less than one-tenth of a percent of English-language searches.
Minor weather report: We pushed 1st Penguin algo data refresh an hour ago. Affects <0.1% of English searches. Context: goo.gl/4f7Pq — Matt Cutts (@mattcutts) May 26, 2012 Although webmasters and SEOs have been speculating consistently in recent weeks that Google had already pushed out a Penguin update (or several), Cutts specifically says this is the first update since Penguin launched back on April 24th. Google has described Penguin as an algorithm change that’s aimed at webspam and, more specifically, “sites that we believe are violating Google’s quality guidelines.” Penguin led to immediate outcries from across the SEO industry, with many questioning if it made search results better or worse. Because it’s an algorithmic change, Google said it wouldn’t consider reconsideration requests made via Webmaster Central, but it did setup a form for webmasters to use if they believe Penguin had hit their sites by mistake.
Even though tonight’s update affects a small percentage of English searches, that form is still online.
For more about the Penguin update, see the articles listed below.
Postscript From Danny Sullivan: In the comments below, you’ll see some people wondering if they haven’t recovered from this update, does that means they’ll never recover and should start over. I’d wait a bit longer before that.
After Penguin 1.0 came out, Google said that anyone hit by that had been penalized. But soon after, there were examples of sites that didn’t appear to be spamming Google but which yet had traffic drops.
A few of these might have been false positives, but it’s far more reasonable to assume that when Google wiped out wide swathes of links, some sites that used to benefit from those links lost credit. In other words, they weren’t penalized — they just didn’t get as much credit as before.
I’m still trying to get Google to confirm this or not, if everyone hit by Penguin 1.0 was really penalized or if there were some who just don’t get as much credit as before, because others were penalized. Stay tuned.
Matt Cutts the head of Google's web spam team has announced the news a short time ago on Twitter, calling it a “data refresh” that impacts less than one-tenth of a percent of English-language searches.
Minor weather report: We pushed 1st Penguin algo data refresh an hour ago. Affects <0.1% of English searches. Context: goo.gl/4f7Pq — Matt Cutts (@mattcutts) May 26, 2012 Although webmasters and SEOs have been speculating consistently in recent weeks that Google had already pushed out a Penguin update (or several), Cutts specifically says this is the first update since Penguin launched back on April 24th. Google has described Penguin as an algorithm change that’s aimed at webspam and, more specifically, “sites that we believe are violating Google’s quality guidelines.” Penguin led to immediate outcries from across the SEO industry, with many questioning if it made search results better or worse. Because it’s an algorithmic change, Google said it wouldn’t consider reconsideration requests made via Webmaster Central, but it did setup a form for webmasters to use if they believe Penguin had hit their sites by mistake.
Even though tonight’s update affects a small percentage of English searches, that form is still online.
For more about the Penguin update, see the articles listed below.
Postscript From Danny Sullivan: In the comments below, you’ll see some people wondering if they haven’t recovered from this update, does that means they’ll never recover and should start over. I’d wait a bit longer before that.
After Penguin 1.0 came out, Google said that anyone hit by that had been penalized. But soon after, there were examples of sites that didn’t appear to be spamming Google but which yet had traffic drops.
A few of these might have been false positives, but it’s far more reasonable to assume that when Google wiped out wide swathes of links, some sites that used to benefit from those links lost credit. In other words, they weren’t penalized — they just didn’t get as much credit as before.
I’m still trying to get Google to confirm this or not, if everyone hit by Penguin 1.0 was really penalized or if there were some who just don’t get as much credit as before, because others were penalized. Stay tuned.