Category Archives: SEO

Google Penguin

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May 11, 2012

Once again Google has unleashed its power across the internet – and this time, it’s getting aggressive, in the form of the Penguin Update.

Google's New Update: Penguin

The focus is almost in reverse from what we have come to expect from algorithm updates.  Over the last year, the refinement of the Panda update has further promoted and rewarded the use of non-duplicate high quality content. However, Penguin is not about reward – it’s here to punish those who Google think have been badly behaved.

 

Penguin is designed to improve organic search results by penalising the unpleasant practices of black hat, spammer SEO companies and individuals who have been manipulating search results for years. So, if you have been buying links through link farms, spamming blog comments or forum signatures, you will feel the sharp end of Penguin’s beak.

 

Businesses may come to realise the harsh truth that their SEO consultants have been up to no good. If search engine results start to drop and organic traffic disappears, chances are that Penguin has arrived to remove the previous reward gained from dubious methods.

 

It is still early days for meaningful analysis and at the moment it’s worth just keeping an eye on search engine results while the dust settles. However, there are a few simple ways to ensure you stay on the right side of Google updates – such as making quality content which promotes user engagement and innovate, rather than automate with link building strategies.

 

The simplest way to stay on the right side of Google is to consider a move away from using a ‘link building strategy’.  Concentrate on simply creating the kind of user experience which human beings like to share and you will be rewarded.

For a brilliant video on the topic, check out this SEOmoz Whiteboard Friday Video: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/the-penguin-update-whiteboard-friday

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Google’s Latest adjustment: Semantic Search

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April 13, 2012

Google Logo

Ever since it launched, Google has done a pretty good job of delivering on its mission promise ‘to organise the world’s information’ and we’ve been thankful for it.  No-one wants to go back to the pre-Google days, where the likes of AOL and AltaVista were serving up almost totally irrelevant, messy search results.

So, what’s the latest development to come out of those brainy engineer types at the Googleplex in California? ‘Semantic search’ – a clever new service which allows Google to give you results based solely on the text/keywords that you put into the search query.  In effect, Google gives you its best guess as to what your words mean.

However, even with Google’s complex algorithm, this guess isn’t always contextually correct. Enter Google’s artificial intelligence development that it has been working hard at, in order to understand your search intent and the meaning of the query you’ve entered rather than parsing through keywords like a dictionary.

With semantic search, Google will peer deeply into the relationship between the query words and how they work together in an attempt to understand what those words mean in that holistic context.  Google will understand that when “New” and “York” are placed together, it changes the meaning. It will also continue to learn from your previous searches and no doubt integrate what it can find out about you from Google+.

Semantic search isn’t a new concept. Back in 2008, niche search engines were popping up that focused on natural language processing over reading keywords, but it remained just that – a niche interest.   But in 2012 we can see the likes of Apple’s Siri possibly revolutionising the way we search, and as ever, Google has an answer to this with Google Assistant, its Android challenger.  And now, with semantic search testing underway ahead of a full launch, we are paying attention with some excitement and anticipation.

Google’s acquisition in 2010 of start-up Metaweb Technologies is the engine of this new development.  When acquired, Metaweb had an index of some 12m ‘entities’, such as movies, books, companies, celebrities, metals, wines and cars. By comparison, online encyclopaedia Wikipedia has just 3.5m English entries.   Now, Google’s expanded entity set has swollen to more than 200m, partly by developing “extraction algorithms,” that can organise big data scattered across the web. They call it the ‘knowledge graph’, and this will be at the heart of the rollout of the new type of results.

What does this mean for brands?  Commentators suggest that 15% to 20% of searches could be affected, and that the likes of Wikipedia and Answers.com will lose out with Google’s semantic results taking a higher ranking slot. Naturally, one would expect Google to be looking at the monetisation angle, such as PPC results within the semantic results space.

The SEO community is seeing this as a forthcoming triumph for real, original and compelling content written from a user perspective, not just for search spiders (in the old sense).  As Erin Everhart observes in her eConsultancy post, brands will not just be competing against each other (in an SEO sense) for rankings, rather they will be going head to head with Google itself.  Google really is taking the organising bit to a new extreme.

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the7stars Digital View : EU Privacy Laws

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April 5, 2012

A recap…

Since we last discussed the EU Cookie Law (its adopted headline title… this is about user privacy remember!), and we creep ever closer to compliance judgement day, 26th May, what’s the latest on how the EU might enforce this law and how has the UK online business community been reacting recently?

Doom merchants are still prophesising the end of the ecommerce world as we know it, but others are perhaps more level-headed and pragmatic in their views on whether this law can actually be fully enforced in the way the Directive set out its suggested compliance almost a year ago.

To recap, the fundamental change is the ‘opt-in’ requirement around cookies versus the existing ‘opt-out’ option that websites currently include in the small print of their Privacy Policies tucked away at the bottom of their web pages.    Making this clearer is the EU’s intention, but as our recent What’s Hot piece reflected, there isn’t anything currently in the Directive distinguishing between different cookies… remember, not all cookies are bad for you.

Cookies Explained

There are essentially 3 types of cookies that are under scrutiny here;

  1. Those that help user experience, remembering your font sizes, pre-populating forms, where you are in an order/your basket contents, and allowing users to comment and share content on social networks.  Typically 1st party.
  2. Those used to retarget you with ads based on your behaviour.  Often 3rd party (e.g. ad networks) and at the heart of the privacy issue.
  3. Those that website owners will use for analytical purposes, which for many online ecommerce businesses, is absolutely critical for their existence.

Recently even the Government Digital Services has stepped up to question the validity of making analytical cookies opt-in, and Mr Ed Vaizey himself has been liaising recently with browser providers to see what can be done at this level to apply the rules (this has some way to go as browsers need to become more intelligent to handle opt-in/opt-out tracking).   The Directive’s wording around this might offer some narrow allowance around point 3 and maybe even point 1… “if what you are doing is ‘strictly necessary’ for a service requested by the user”… but the area is grey, at least for the next 7 weeks!

Current, Suggested Fixes For Sites To Achieve Compliance

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) which is overseeing the application of the Directive in the UK, has offered some initial suggestions for compliance;

  • JavaScript pop-up box on every site – this would explain cookie usage and provide ‘yes’ and ‘no’ options for consent. Horrible solution for most… as we all know how much everybody hates pop-ups and most browsers block them anyway.
  • Splash page – a big user experience (and SEO) faux-pas.
  • Header and/or footer bars– shown along the top and/or bottom of the home page to first time visitors with a tick box to allow users to consent, with cookies disabled until the visitor ticks to indicate consent.
  • Remember preferences – enhanced wording of ‘remember preferences’ such as language or font size to ensure that it’s clear that a cookie will be required to do so.
  • Flagging at Terms & Conditions level – an option where users have to log into their account. They would need to give ‘specific and informed’ consent to these pages, so consent cannot be assumed just by changing the terms and conditions
  • In addition to this, the law also requires that Privacy Policies, typically hidden for obvious reasons perhaps, are more prominent, sited more visibly on the page.

What Should You The Advertiser Take From This?

Recently posting impressive growth figures – online display has increased 27% year-on-year across 2011 according to a recent IAB study – it is clear that the online display channel has been driven by the increasing number of behavioural targeting opportunities that now exist.  The UK has spawned many innovations and indeed innovators… a whole industry around user data interpretation and usage… so naturally the industry is concerned.

the7stars believes that privacy is an important issue, but if user data is anonymous, website user experience is enhanced and industries flourish in the UK, then with a level of control, hopefully we can be allowed to effect these campaigns to the benefit of all.

The likely outcome?  A quick roundup of comments from our numerous network and exchange suppliers suggests they are unsurprisingly favouring the ad level solution that has been adopted by some… that is, the AdChoices logo in the corner of any display ads that are retargeting users. But this is clearly opt-out rather than opt-in, so that sits at odds with the current Directive. Seems as though confusion still reigns.

Until 26th May, and likely beyond, we are available to advise objectively on any and all methods of behavioural targeting so please call with any queries around current or planned campaigns and we’ll be happy to answer them!

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The Cookie Monster

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March 16, 2012

Not all cookies are bad… some are healthy and should part of a balanced web experience diet, but that subjective opinion may be worth nothing come 26th May.

A little while back in Autumn 2011, What’s Hot commented on the EU ePrivacy Directive, being implemented here by the UK Information Commissioner’s Office  (ICO), and how websites/publishers would need to comply with rules on web behaviour data usage.

Here in the UK, the Institute For Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) has responded to the Government’s ‘call for evidence’ (i.e. are website publishers complying?) for this new Data Protection Regulation, with a statement that asks that, whilst updating the law on data protection in light of the progress in digital technology is sensible, it does not think a new European-wide Regulation is necessary. They argue that the current proposals do not seem to strike a fair balance between the rights of the individual to ensure that their personal data is protected, and the rights of businesses to engage with consumers.

Indeed, eConsultancy just this week has reported on the situation with a survey among 700 marketers that echoes the concerns of the IPA, particularly from a business perspective.   “This will KILL online sales” screams one concerned media owner, and in a more barbed response, one states “It’s a travesty of an orchestra, conducted by Terry F***witt.  They fail to discriminate between bad stuff (multi-site/advertising/targeting) stuff and good stuff (me using Clicktale or analytics to help user experience, form pre-population etc.”

In essence, whilst highlighting the use of cookies to users  it is a positive move, What’s Hot thinks that the potential need for each site to gain permission from users is going to damage the user experience, not to mention ad revenues. And we haven’t actually seen much consumer facing education work yet on just what cookies are!

Currently the AdChoices logo is running on any ads that are retargeting users using their historical data, which is a certain level of compliance. However the eConsultancy survey has highlighted that just 54% of publishers have carried out a cookie audit in preparation for the deadline.  They’d better get their skates on or risk a not insignificant fine if the full weight of the EU’s powers are exercised despite the lobbying.

The full report is due May 26th…get your retargeting campaigns in quick just in case!

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Super Freak

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December 2, 2011

A little known fact in the world of search engines is that not everything you see is generated by giant algorithms running on thousands of servers. A group of people exists whose job it is to search for things and then work out how good a result is. ‘Google quality raters’ sit and search for things all day to ensure high standards in the search engine results page (SERP) and to also test the quality of potential algorithm upgrades – they tested 13000 of these last year alone.

The inner working of Google have always been, with very good reason a fiercely guarded secret, until recently, when someone accidentally leaked the 125 page internal document which outlines the exact criteria on how Google rates a website. Whoops indeed.

But even then, reading this document will not give you the magic solution to search engine dominance within your keyword niche. What it will do, however, is give you the inside scoop on why you see what you see in the results, a few hints on how to optimise and also the awareness that some targets are simply not possible.

Having read the document What’s Hot can see a few salient points.

Relevance

Google breaks relevance into five separate categories.

Vital

Useful

Relevant

Slightly Relevant

Off-Topic

Note should be taken of the term ‘vital’. It is the description for a site or page if it is the official or perceived ‘most authoritative’ source of information for a product, company, actor, sports star or politician. It would seem that you are given a bulletproof search engine ranking for being the #1 source, the top authority on the subject. So while working on content, fingers crossed you are the brand and therefore vital but if not, be sure the content you create is useful and unique.

As an example no matter how much SEO David Cameron (managing director at De Sangosse Ltd, the UK leader in adjuvants and molluscicides) does, he’s never ever going to hit the top of Google with anything featuring his name.

So the leaked document wasn’t the Holy Grail we expected. Though we now have new words to describe our work, nothing really changes. It turns out that by a process of collective learning, muddling along and responding the best we could to Google’s changes and updates, the digital community pretty much hit upon the right way to do things all along. So as long as we continue to remember to be compliant and create compelling content, things will continue to work out well in search.

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Google wants us to ‘+1’ search listings now but will users ‘like’ it?

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April 14, 2011

Google last week introduced the most significant social feature to its search service yet, adding a one-click button to allow users to recommend sites and share those recommendations with their friends. But will the concept of advocating content and sites which is so popular on social networks work when it comes to users’ search experiences?

Google will show ‘+1’ buttons initially next to all natural search results and later roll this out to paid ads, while encouraging other sites to include the buttons, similar to how you can ‘like’ content on websites to be published to your Facebook profile.

However it’s not totally ‘social’ in that only logged-in users can share their recommendations with contacts through their Gmail address book, Google Reader and Buzz contacts and, eventually, Twitter contacts. Google would not comment on whether Facebook contacts would eventually be integrated.

Google is characterising Plus One as a different function to Facebook’s Like, saying that recommendations are only shared within the context of relevant searches, rather than spamming all contacts.

Ultimately this move comes down to personalising search results. Users will be able to choose for recommended sites to be more visible in search results and therefore Plus One will also begin to influence the ranking of sites within search results listings. In the same way that Facebook recommendations are based on user activity and likes, users can have their search results based on their +1s and the +1s of their friends (their Google friends, that is) if they prefer.

The two are very different and should be viewed as such. The reason FB and Twitter saw such explosive growth is that they both created a peer pressure / peer encouragement
situation for people to sign-up and engage with their friends
on these services. The FB ‘like’ function acts more like a public
online (advocacy of something, whereas search is
much more of a personal experience and so will only work as
a means to personalise your search results.

The two outstanding issues to look out for will be :
how do Google monetise this? In other words, will advertisers
have to pay higher CPCs for their ads to be served to users
who have ‘+1d’ links to competitors’ sites?
If Google decide this is a genuine public brand content
advocacy tool like the FB ‘like’ button, and not just a way for their users to personalise
search results, how will FB react? Watch this digital space!

Read more

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