Post Panda 3.3 Analysis

Position Research continue to study the effects of Google’s Panda 3.3 update. As the update continues to play out, some of the puzzle pieces are a bit more clear.

We have been able to categorize all our SEO campaigns into several groups:

Balancing Organic and PPC SEM Strategies

In many cases, companies allocate budgets to both SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and PPC (Pay-Per-Click) campaigns.  While SEO produces a much higher click-through rate, PPC still has its place. Finding the right mix can be a challenging task.

SEO, by its very nature, is more specific and targeted to specific keyword phrases.  The 80/20 rule typically applies. That is, 80 or more percent of the traffic comes from 20 or less percent of the number of keywords.  These are also the more expensive keywords for PPC and are the best candidates for an SEO campaign.

Should Social Networking be Part of Your Online Marketing Effort?

Fundamentally, the purpose of social networking is to create a venue where by users of your products and services can communicate with you and vice versa.  It is a way to get user and supplier more closely connected to their markets. When considering Social Marketing, ask these questions.

Google Panda Update Timeline - 2011

The primary focus of Google’s “Panda” Update is to algorithmically differentiate relevant vs. useful content. Useful content as defined by Google receives higher rankings over web pages that Google deemed as “relevant”.

According to Google’s quality raters’ guidelines:

“A rating of Useful is assigned to pages that are very helpful for most users. Useful pages should be high quality and a good “fit” for the query. In addition, they often have some or all of the following characteristics: highly satisfying, authoritative, entertaining, and/or recent (such as breaking news on a topic).

Useful pages are usually well organized and pages you trust. They are from information sources that seem reliable. Useful information pages are not “spammy”.”

Google-gate

In October 2011, a leaked Google document was picked up and reported on the internet. This document contains guidelines for Google quality control raters. These raters judge the quality of a website page, which has a strong influence on its rankings.

According to this guideline, Google has 5 quality ratings:

• Vital
• Useful
• Relevant
• Slightly Relevant
• Off-Topic or Useless

Google beats Bing on CTR Study

A recent study reported by searchenginewatch.com reveals that Google click through rates (CTR) are higher than Bing’s for organic search. The study shows that #1 ranked websites in Google receive an average CTR in excess of 18%. In contrast, Bing #1 ranked websites receive an average CTR of 9%. These values are significantly greater than typical CTRs of adwords (2%) and other online advertising mediums. This study confirms that high ranking websites that invest in strong SEO receive disproportionately high CTRs.

Helpful SEO Resources Pt. 1

Google Public Keyword Tool (http://goo.gl/5A9YY) - Shows Local and Global searches (Public)

Wordtracker (http://goo.gl/COgR) – Good resource for keyword research (subscription based)

Spyfu (http://goo.gl/LWX3i) – Shows competitor’s Search Engine Marketing activity (PPC and Organic) (public and subscription based)

MajesticSEO (http://goo.gl/OieUW) – Authoritative source for backlinking information (public and subscription based)

CopyScape (http://goo.gl/DkTo) – An online tool that detects and reports duplicate content on other URLs

7 Deadly Sins with Tim Ash (http://goo.gl/PFQF) – Good webinar – expresses principals websites designed for increased conversion (public).

Webmasterworld.com (http://goo.gl/hBOh) - Very good forum and news channel that covers search engine activities (public).

 Social Networking and SEO

Overview:
There is no shortage of media coverage about social networks. We see it in the news, in blogs, on TV, and in videos. Do they have a direct impact on an SEO campaign? The answer is clearly NO. But with all respect, that was the wrong question to ask.The right question is "Can social networking have a positive affect my marketing effort?" or "does social networking have an INDIRECT influence on my SEO campaign?” The answer to both of the above questions is a resounding YES.

When social networking first came to market, many of the links placed on these sites were Search Engine Friendly (SEF).  But now, for the most part, they are not.  So the positive affect from backlinking is negligible. Still there are some that believe that even the mention of a website outside of an anchor text is a positive influence on SEO.  If it is, it is negligible.