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Google’s Vic Gundotra Talks About Google+ For An Hour [Video]

Chris Crum — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 14:43:50 +0000

On Thursday, Google announced that Google+ (as in plus.google.com) has reached 135 million active users. “Today Google+ is the fastest-growing network thingy ever,” proclaimed Google SVP, Engineering, Vic Gundotra. “More than 500 million people have upgraded, 235 million are active across Google (+1′ing apps in Google Play, hanging out in Gmail, connecting with friends in Search…), and 135 million are active in just the stream.”

Gundotra spoke with Danny Sullivan in a keynote interview at SMX in Las Vegas Thursday night, where he talked about Google+ a lot more. In fact, the conversation is over an hour long. SMX has posted the video to YouTube (or is that Google+? Or is that just Google?):

Among other things, Gundotra talked about the new Communities feature, the launch of Snapsed for free, and how to interpret Google+ user numbers.

He also reminded everyone that there are six letters ahead of the “+” in Google+. “Google+ is the next version of Google,” he said. “So, if you love YouTube, or Chrome, or Search, or Android, or Gmail, or Maps, we’re bringing it all together…and it’s exciting, even in its early stages to see this kind of momentum and growth.”

“At some point, we’re going to have a billion users who have upgraded to Google+, then when are we going to say that’s just Google? That’s just a Google user,” he adds.

He acknowledged that they already have over billion users who are just logged in Google users (without giving any specific number). “It’s just that Google never turned the light on,” he explains, referencing the pre-Google+ days. “Your best friend, your mother, your cousin…they’re on Google, but we never even asked them for their identity, so sharing between those two people was next to impossible.”

I don’t know if it was next to impossible, but Google+ is certainly making the connections among the products more obvious.

At one point in the conversation, Gundotra admits that he was told by his boss (Larry Page) to stop using Twitter – not just to represent Google+ above all other social networks, but because he tweeted about a couple of companies, and the tweets went “very, very viral, and made a lot of headline news.”

He did note that he looks at Twitter and Facebook to keep an eye on things, saying that it’s part of his job to keep up with “where the innovation is coming from”.

Here’s a liveblog of the session from Marketing Land, one of the conference’s sister sites.

Matt Cutts: Nofollow Links Are Small, Single Digit Percentage Of Links On The Web

Chris Crum — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 20:19:41 +0000

Google’s Matt Cutts recently downplayed the significance of social signals in search, compared to links. Search Marketing Expo uploaded a new video to YouTube, featuring a discussion between Cutts and moderator Danny Sullivan, in which he talks about the notion that social signals have replaced links. In short, while social signals may gain power in time, links are still pretty important.

“If you look at the library of congress, they say they have 151.4 million items,” says Cutts. “That’s roughly 34 million books, and if you convert that to just pure text like OCR, that’s something like ten terabytes. The web capture team at the library of congress says they have 235 terabytes. Now everybody in this room probably ought to be saying to themselves: 235 terabytes for the largest library in the world is not that much data. YouTube gets 72 hours of video uploaded every minute. So the web is the largest source of data we’ve ever seen before.”

“There’s more data being generated on the web, compared to any other source of data around the web, and I think, the fact is, a lot of people think, ‘Links are dying,’ or ‘Links are not a democracy,’ or ‘It’s impossible to get links that aren’t nofollow,’ or whatever,” says Cutts. “And the fact is, that’s a little bit of a bubble in my opinion, in the SEO industry, because if you look at the actual percentage of Nofollow links on the web, it’s a single digit percentage. In fact, it’s a pretty small single digit percentage. So there’s this perception that, ‘Yes, everything will go social,’ or ‘Links are completely obsolete,’ and I think it’s premature to reach that conclusion.”

“I don’t doubt that in ten years, things will be more social, and those will be more powerful signals, but I wouldn’t write the epitaph for links quite yet,” he adds.

You would think that social signals are pretty damn important, looking at Google’s results on any given day, if you’re using Search Plus Your World (and there’s a good chance you are, as it’s the default experience for signed in users). How often have you seen results appear simply because someone you’re connected to through Google+ has +1′d something?

I don’t necessarily think social is the best indicator of relevance, as I’ve discussed in the past, but I do believe they can carry a lot of weight, and perhaps more importantly, will help you diversify your traffic sources, and not have to depend on the search giant for so much of your traffic.

Google Will Soon Ignore Links You Tell It To

Chris Crum — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 18:12:18 +0000

Google’s Matt Cutts gave a keynote “You and A” presentation at SMX Advanced this week, and mentioned that Google is considering offering a tool that would let webmasters disavow certain links.

Would you find such a tool useful? Let us know in the comments.

Matt McGee at SMX sister site Search Engine Land liveblogged the conversation. Here’s his quote of Cutts, which was in response to a question about negative SEO:

The story of this year has been more transparency, but we’re also trying to be better about enforcing our quality guidelines. People have asked questions about negative SEO for a long time. Our guidelines used to say it’s nearly impossible to do that, but there have been cases where that’s happened, so we changed the wording on that part of our guidelines.

Some have suggested that Google could disavow links. Even though we put in a lot of protection against negative SEO, there’s been so much talk about that that we’re talking about being able to enable that, maybe in a month or two or three.

We recently wrote about Google’s wording change regarding negative SEO, which seemed to be an admission from the company that this practice is indeed possible. These words from Cutts seem to be further confirmation.

Rand Fishkin, CEO of SEOmoz, recently issued a challenge to people to show that if you have a strong enough reputation and link profile, you can’t be hurt by negative SEO. That seemed to go pretty well, but not everyone has the reputation of SEOmoz, even if they don’t necessarily have a bad one. Such a tool from Google could go a long way in helping combat negative SEO practices.

As far as people suggesting that Google could disavow links, Search Engine Land editor Barry Schwartz actually had a pretty good article talking about this last month. “The concept is simple,” he wrote. “You go to your link report in Google Webmaster Tools and have an action button that says ‘don’t trust this link’ or something like it. Google will then take that as a signal to not use that link as part of their link graph and ranking algorithm.”

“What I can’t understand is why hasn’t Google released it yet,” he wrote. “It is a great way for Google to do mass spam reporting by webmasters and SEOs without calling it spam reporting. You will have all these webmasters rush after a penalty to call out which links they feel are hurting them. Google can take that data to back up their algorithms to on links they already know are spam but also find new links that they might not have caught.”

He went on to make the point that Google would find more spam this way.

Once Google launches this tool, assuming that it actually does, it will be very interesting to see how the rankings shake out. It should be an indication of just how important links actually are these days.

As you may know, Google has sent out a ton of Webmaster Tools warnings this year, and such a tool would help users take quick “manual action” on links rather than spend a ton of time sending link removal requests to other sites. It might even prevent some lawsuits (and the death of the web as we know it).

According to Cutts, however, not many of the warnings were actually about links.

Follow @VegasWillWill Paccione @VegasWill
RT @schachin: Of the 700k WMT warnings 1-2% were about links. Rest were clear violations, blackhat, etc via @mattcutts #smx

Follow @mattcutts Matt Cutts
@mattcutts @VegasWill that’s the right range. I may pull the stats just to help clarify.
6 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto
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Update: Here’s his clarification:

Matt Cutts 15 minutes ago Earlier this year, Google revealed that we sent out over 700,000 messages to site owners in January and February 2012 via our free webmaster console at http://google.com/webmasters . I wanted to clarify a misconception about those messages. A lot of people assumed that most or all of the 700K messages were related to "unnatural link warnings" that some site owners received.

The reason for sending the 700,000 messages via Webmaster Tools was actually because we started sending out warnings about blackhat techniques. The vast, vast majority of manual actions we take are on pages that are engaging in egregious blackhat SEO techniques, such as automatically created gibberish or cloaking.

In fact, of the messages that we sent out to site owners, only around 3% were for unnatural or artificial links. So just to be clear, of the 700,000 messages we sent out in January and February, well above 600,000 were for obvious blackhat spam, and under 25,000 of the messages were for unnatural links. #smx #seo

Google Sent Over 700,000 Messages Via Webmaster Tools In Past Two Months
At SMX West last week Tiffany Oberoi from Google shared that Google has sent over 700,000 messages to webmasters via Google Webmaster Tools in January and February 2012. That is more than the total nu… 16 6 Powered by socialditto

By the way, Google only sends those messages when it’s a penalty, and penalties, as far as Google is concerned, are manual action.

It will be interesting to see if the new link tool helps a lot of sites recover from algorithm updates like Penguin, and/or prevents a lot of sites from getting hit. Will we see less complaining about Google’s algorithm changes? Somehow, I doubt that. I have no reason to believe we will see less finger pointing.

Will you use the new link tool if Google provides it? Let us know in the comments.

Matt Cutts Gives An Update On Penguin

Chris Crum — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 14:40:25 +0000

Googe’s Matt Cutts participated in a keynote discussion at SMX Advanced, and as you might have guess, the topics of Google’s Penguin and Panda updates came up more than once.

Matt McGee liveblogged the event for the SMX-affiliated Search Engine Land, and quoted Cutts throughout. Cutts also answered a bunch of questions on Twitter, so some of those tweets will be sprinkled throughout this article.

The first question was about Penguin. According to this liveblogged account, Cutts said, “We look at it something designed to tackle low-quality content. It started out with Panda, and then we noticed that there was still a lot of spam and Penguin was designed to tackle that. It’s an algorithmic change, but when we use a word like ‘penalty,’ we’re talking about a manual action taken by the web spam team — it wasn’t that.”

Follow @dykstaLuke Miller @dyksta
@mattcutts @dannysullivan Can very large “algorithmic” changes cause large traffic drops instantaneously? Or only “manual” penalties?

Follow @mattcutts Matt Cutts
@mattcutts @dyksta algo changes can result in abrupt drops, b/c an algo can be launched quickly. To differentiate, check for manual action in console.
6 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto
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When asked if Google just did another Penguin update, Cutts said, “No.”

Follow @damienpetitjeanDamien Petitjean @damienpetitjean
@mattcutts is there an update running today ? We’re seeing some penalties today in France

Follow @mattcutts Matt Cutts
@mattcutts @damienpetitjean no Panda or Penguin updates going out recently, no.
7 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto
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Cutts does say both Penguin and Panda will happen on nearly a monthly basis:

Follow @GaryLHendersonGary Henderson @GaryLHenderson
Penguin and Panda updates will happen roughly on a monthly basis. Via @mattcutts #SMX

Follow @mattcutts Matt Cutts
@mattcutts @GaryLHenderson and that’s a ballpark estimate, but it’s held pretty true for Panda data updates for example.
6 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto
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Cutts also confirmed that WPMU.org recovered because of the Penguin update, and the site’s cleaning up. He says there’s no white list with Penguin (or Panda).

Follow @RossHudgensRoss Hudgens @RossHudgens
.@mattcutts says http://t.co/3ozwKTMm recovered because of link cleanup, not white listing. http://t.co/Xqqn37E2 #smx

Follow @mattcutts Matt Cutts
@mattcutts @RossHudgens and the more general statement is that there is no whitelist for Penguin, just as there is no whitelist for Panda.
6 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto
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He also said, “WPMU had a pretty good number of links from lower quality sites.”

Some comments Cutts made in the past about starting over with your site if you were hit by Penguin, scared some, but this was brought up again during the keynote. “Sometimes you should. It’s possible to recover, but if you’re a fly-by-night spammer, it might be better to start over,” he’s quoted as saying.

Follow @AndyBealAndy Beal @AndyBeal
RT @jenstar: Lol. @dannysullivan to @mattcutts “if you got hit with both penguin and panda should you just give up?”

Follow @mattcutts Matt Cutts
@mattcutts @AndyBeal I think the site that set the record most recently had nine completely different things that we flagged on it. Sheesh. cc @jenstar
7 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @thompsonpaulPaul Thompson @thompsonpaul
Just what is @mattcutts relationship with his penguin? http://t.co/iJNQ2pCx #smx

Follow @mattcutts Matt Cutts
@mattcutts @thompsonpaul I take care of the penguin and he takes care of lots of search results
7 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto
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Matt Cutts: Google Doesn’t Use Bounce Rate

Chris Crum — Tue, 05 Jun 2012 21:15:58 +0000

There’s been a lot of talk over the years (especially post Panda update) about whether or not Google uses bounce rate as a ranking signal. In fact, even this morning at SMX Advanced in the SEO Periodic Table session, the topic came up. Here are a couple of tweets from an attendee of that session:

Follow @CliffyKOnline Cliff Karklin
@CliffyKOnline Bounce rates probably aren’t factored either. Doesn’t mean they aren’t important for UX @markmunroe #smx #11a
4 hours ago via Twitter for iPad · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @CliffyKOnline Cliff Karklin
@CliffyKOnline Overall bounce rate may not be important. But Google sure knows when users immediately go back to Google from your site #smx #11a
4 hours ago via Twitter for iPad · powered by @socialditto
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Apparently, Google’s Matt Cutts said flat out (via second-hand news) that Google does not use Bounce Rate. Danny Sullivan just tweeted:

Follow @dannysullivan Danny Sullivan
@dannysullivan “Google doesn’t use bounce rate” @mattcutts told @tomschmitz yesterday, tom says #smx #11c
2 minutes ago via web · powered by @socialditto
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Common thinking seems to have been that bounce rate is not a ranking signal, but this could help put a stop (or at least add a major point of argument) to the debate.

SMX Advanced: The Mad Scientists Of Paid Search [Takeaways In Tweets]

Chris Crum — Tue, 05 Jun 2012 19:35:07 +0000

Following the “Periodic Table of SEO” session at SMX Advanced today, was the Mad Scientists of Paid Search session.

SMX’s description of the session says, “Our mad scientists emerge from their PPC labs, where they’ve been assembling keywords words, bidding strategies and other assorted parts into monster PPC campaigns. Attend this session to see how they’ve successfully enhanced paid search performance with rigorous testing and trial and error. Their creations are abnormally effective!”

The speakers list was as follows:

Moderator: Matt Van Wagner, President, Find Me Faster (@mvanwagner)
Q&A Moderator: Joseph Kerschbaum, Vice President of Client Services, Clix Marketing (@joekerschbaum)
Speakers:
Michael Behrens, SVP eMarketing, WebMetro (@MichaelBehrens)
Benny Blum, Director, Strategy & Analytics, eSearchVision (@bennyblum)
Ryan Hutchings, Director, Online Marketing, VacationRoost
Matthew Mierzejewski, Vice President of PPC, RKG

As usual, attendees tweeted their own takeaways and highlights from the panel. Here’s the best of what was said:

Follow @iamjohn John McCarthy
@iamjohn @webmetro google has multiple options to map KWDS #sem #smx #11b
2 hours ago via Mobile Web · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @MartinSEM Martin SEM
@MartinSEM Tip: Use longer keyword (match length) ** Adgroup + Use keyword with highest ad-rank (Quality x Bid) #SMX #11b
2 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @iamjohn John McCarthy
@iamjohn @webmetro is now showing multiple mappings how queries are being mapped to different keywords #11b
2 hours ago via Mobile Web · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @blakedenman Blake Denman
@blakedenman Queries triggering more than one kw results in chaotic account behavior, data integrity, and accuracy of modeling & bidding #smx #11B
2 hours ago via Twitter for Mac · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @iamjohn John McCarthy
@iamjohn @webmeto mapping problems occur at both campaign and ad group levels #11b
2 hours ago via Mobile Web · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @blakedenman Blake Denman
@blakedenman On average multi-mapping happens 10% across accounts #smx #11B
2 hours ago via Twitter for Mac · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @leuk Kim Engels
@leuk Match Type length Seems to be the Most over ridden rule #smx #11B
2 hours ago via Twitter for iPad · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @MartinSEM Martin SEM
@MartinSEM Force matching through negative keywords & choose match types carefully #smx #11b
2 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @EBurgau Ellie
@EBurgau 1 query can trigger multiple keywords across adgroups & campaigns, making account control difficult! #smx #11b
2 hours ago via Twitter for iPad · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @r_bruss Ryan Bruss
@r_bruss #smx #11b if you have multiple ads per ad group and rotate evenly, multiple matching keywords is expected behavior
2 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @blakedenman Blake Denman
@blakedenman Take back control by force matching through negative keywords #smx #11B
2 hours ago via Twitter for Mac · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @jordanlebaron Jordan LeBaron
@jordanlebaron @dan_patterson I’m digging the literal rubbing of shoulders of fellow search marketers #smx #11b
2 hours ago via HootSuite · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @MartinSEM Martin SEM
@MartinSEM You know your business better than Google does (enough said) #SMX #11b
2 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @blakedenman Blake Denman
@blakedenman Cross serving on a query is a frequent issue. #smx #11B
2 hours ago via Twitter for Mac · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @MartinSEM Martin SEM
@MartinSEM Use the Google Ad Preview Tool to identify which adgroup/campaign your keywords are matched too. **it’s not always accurate though #SMX #11b
2 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @leuk Kim Engels
@leuk Solution for wrong matching: insert thousands of negatives #11B #smx
2 hours ago via Twitter for iPad · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @GaryLHenderson Gary Henderson
@GaryLHenderson Have a VERY large negative keyword list to force #Google to respect your ad groups and campaigns. #SMX #11B
2 hours ago via Tweetbot for iOS · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @blakedenman Blake Denman
@blakedenman #AdWords will “interpret on your behalf” to show what they believe the most relevant keyword regardless of your account structure #smx #11B
2 hours ago via Twitter for Mac · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @emilyevjohnson Emily E. Johnson
@emilyevjohnson I’m appreciating the sarcasm of speaker #2 #smx #11b
2 hours ago via Twitter for iPad · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @MartinSEM Martin SEM
@MartinSEM It’s not a bug, it’s a feature (said Google) #SMX #11b
2 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @EPowerMarketing E-Power Marketing
@EPowerMarketing Just because your ad is showing doesn’t mean it’s showing for what you want! -E #SMX #11B
2 hours ago via HootSuite · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @MartinSEM Martin SEM
@MartinSEM In most cases there is weak correlation between Quality Score and Conversion Rate #SMX #11b
2 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @syantien Sho Shimoda
@syantien Matthew Mierzejewski from RKG. #SMX #11B bottom ads, bottom ads higher CRT, no difference in CVR. well, at least it brings more volume?
2 hours ago via Twitter for iPad · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @MartinSEM Martin SEM
@MartinSEM Root of Google’s CPC decline (it’s not Mobile) it’s Brand Queries & PLA’s #SMX #11B
2 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @syantien Sho Shimoda
@syantien CPC 11% down, because mobile traffic has double (at lower CPC) on last qt. #SMX #11B
2 hours ago via Twitter for iPad · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @jd711 Jon
@jd711 Avoid Adwords Adrank trumping your match types by granular structures with EXTENSIVE negatives #smx #11b
2 hours ago via TweetDeck · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @dbeltramini David Beltramini
@dbeltramini RKG’s says they have seen a 51% increae in Brand query clicks and an 85% decline in CPC #smx #11b
2 hours ago via TweetDeck · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @MartinSEM Martin SEM
@MartinSEM Mobile: Lower engagement, less likely to convert #SMX #11b
2 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @MartinSEM Martin SEM
@MartinSEM Tablet: High PPV for impulse and DR / Ecom, High bounce rate for service / software #SMX #11b
2 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @jd711 Jon
@jd711 Purchase intent and engagement varies across devices. @bennyblum #smx #11b Bid strategy should reflect this!
2 hours ago via TweetDeck · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @rpboots Ryan Boots
@rpboots I’ll be interested to hear if any Google reps respond officially to some of what was said today #smx #11b
2 hours ago via Silver Bird · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @atalley Ashley Rhodes
@atalley Google rolled out new matching behavior because the system was already doing it..? Interesting thought from the scientists #smx #11B
2 hours ago via Twitter for Android · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @MartinSEM Martin SEM
@MartinSEM Question: Best practice. To group Broad Match keywords with Exact Match – or not? Should we isolate kw’s based on search demand? #smx #11b
2 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @MartinSEM Martin SEM
@MartinSEM @rpboots I’m sure they will, but I wouldn’t expect “helpful” answers.They are all great politicians. #smx #11b
2 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @ashleybarton3 Ashley Barton
@ashleybarton3 Google incorrectly matches 10% of your queries due to not following their own processes #SMX #11b
2 hours ago via Twitter for iPhone · powered by @socialditto
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Microsoft wrote a blog post about the session on its adCenter blog, including a list of tips for “taking back control”:

Use negative keywords
Force matching through negatives
Conducive account structure
Tightly themed ad groups
Maximize ad group match length rule
Easier negative implementation
Choose match types carefully
Phrase OR Broad (almost duplicate) ?
Broad OR Broad Match Modified ?
Remove duplicates/ambiguous
Maintain campaign budgets

These were from Michael Behrens’ presentation. Check out their post for a more complete recap.

Image: Aqua Teen Hunger Force (via YouTube)

SMX Advanced: The Periodic Table Of SEO: 2012 Edition [Live Twitter Reaction]

Chris Crum — Tue, 05 Jun 2012 16:25:49 +0000

SMX Advanced is officially underway in Seattle, and the first session was: The Periodic Table Of SEO: 2012 Edition. SMX’s official description for the session is as follows:

We introduced the Periodic Table Of SEO last year at SMX Advanced. Since then, new elements have been discovered, such as a penalty for pages top-heavy with ads or boosts for being in Google+. Meanwhile, Google warns that an “over-optimization” penalty may be coming.

Here’s the speaker list:

Moderator: Danny Sullivan, Editor-in-Chief, Search Engine Land (@dannysullivan)
Q&A Moderator: Jonathon Colman, Internet Marketing Manager, REI (@jcolman)
Speakers:
Jeff MacGurn, VP of SEO, Covario (@yerrbo)
Mark Munroe, Senior Director, SEO, Reply (@markemunroe)
Kristine Schachinger, Founder/Consultant, SitesWithoutWalls.com (@schachin)
Chris Silver Smith, President, Argent Media (@si1very)

Here’s what attendees are saying about the session on Twitter (we’ll update as the tweets pour in, so feel free to keep refreshing). It will be almost like being there:

Follow @MargeryS Margery Spears
@MargeryS I have never seen Danny so dressed up! Doesn’t he know he’s in Seattle? #11A #smx
3 minutes ago via Twitter for iPhone · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @CliffyKOnline Cliff Karklin
@CliffyKOnline @mattcutts is being fed grapes while sacrificing paid links backstage. If @dannysullivan says it. It must be true #smx #11a
6 minutes ago via Twitter for iPad · powered by @socialditto
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So much Matt Cutts humor. He is keynoting at the event this evening, by the way.

Follow @CliffyKOnline Cliff Karklin
@CliffyKOnline @si1very about Ranking Factors: Quality/Trust Scores can be assessed separately from prominence #smx #11a
4 minutes ago via Twitter for iPad · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @schachin Kristine Schachinger
@schachin Over 100+ factors can be assessed in quality scores (though not all will be triggered) @si1very #11A #SMX
4 minutes ago via TweetDeck · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @longtimetrekker longtimetrekker
@longtimetrekker Someone in the front row has not muted his or her very annoying computer or phone. Please mute! #smx #11a
3 minutes ago via TweetDeck · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @jaredmore Jared More
@jaredmore Brands rule, always have and always will #smx #11A
5 minutes ago via web · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @jaredmore Jared More
@jaredmore Privacy Policy important for trust!! #smx #11a
3 minutes ago via web · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @CliffyKOnline Cliff Karklin
@CliffyKOnline @si1very says: the high quality sites out there have good “About Us” pages. Low quality sites don’t #smx #11a
3 minutes ago via Twitter for iPad · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @CliffyKOnline Cliff Karklin
@CliffyKOnline @si1very quality authorship indicators (bylines, bios, social links, etc) are also quantifiable #smx #11a
2 minutes ago via Twitter for iPad · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @georgekonidis George Konidis
@georgekonidis #smx #11a only about 8% of websites have a privacy policy
2 minutes ago via Twitter for iPad · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @CliffyKOnline Cliff Karklin
@CliffyKOnline @si1very speculates a low-quality writing penalty? Learn how to write well folks. And don’t buy $3 content! #smx #11a
2 minutes ago via Twitter for iPad · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @CliffyKOnline Cliff Karklin
@CliffyKOnline @si1very Content (and links) above the fold and page width given more importance. #smx #11a
3 minutes ago via Twitter for iPad · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @AkvileHarlow Akvile Harlow
@AkvileHarlow Users spend 80% of their time looking at info above the page fold. #smx #11a
3 minutes ago via TweetDeck · powered by @socialditto
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Good thing Google is adding its Browser Size tool to Google Analytics, where you can see what content is actually above the fold on your pages.

Follow @CliffyKOnline Cliff Karklin
@CliffyKOnline SEO may be getting supplanted by User-Centered Design and Usability. We need to do what’s good for users not rankings #smx #11a
1 minute ago via Twitter for iPad · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @AaronWeiche Aaron Weiche
@AaronWeiche Great #SEO open by @si1very, simple trust signals & the thought that user-centric design is a growing rank factor. #smx #11A
2 minutes ago via Twitter for iPhone · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @CliffyKOnline Cliff Karklin
@CliffyKOnline Microformats are a factor. Users click results with snippets more. And understand what they’re clicking more – @yerrbo #smx #11a
1 minute ago via Twitter for iPad · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @mikulaja Jason Mikula
@mikulaja @yerrbo Talking micro formatting and rich snippets boosting CTR & rankings at #smx #11a
4 minutes ago via Twitter for iPad · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @CliffyKOnline Cliff Karklin
@CliffyKOnline If you don’t use rich snippets. The online world will turn into a Ben Affleck movie with an Aerosmith ballad. @yerrbo #smx #11a
3 minutes ago via Twitter for iPad · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @DavidWeichel David Weichel
@DavidWeichel Filtering Google’s search results using left nav filters instantly excludes sites that don’t have semantic markup / rich snippets #smx #11a
3 minutes ago via TweetDeck · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @CliffyKOnline Cliff Karklin
@CliffyKOnline Do-Follow, exact keyword anchor text links are seeing lowest correlation to strong rankings. High benefits to non-match #smx #11a
3 minutes ago via Twitter for iPad · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @schachin Kristine Schachinger
@schachin If Google offers a search filter and your site does NOT use rich snippet/microformats you will not be in the result #11a #smx via @yerrbo
3 minutes ago via TweetCaster for Android · powered by @socialditto
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Even Danny’s taking the time to chime in on Twitter:

Follow @dannysullivan Danny Sullivan
@dannysullivan Links are the four letter word of the SEO industry even though it has five letters @yerrbo #smx #11a
2 minutes ago via web · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @CliffyKOnline Cliff Karklin
@CliffyKOnline Social Signals Test: G+ most, Facebook like least, twitter over time, Pinterest strong overall. @yerrbo #smx #11a
2 minutes ago via Twitter for iPad · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @CliffyKOnline Cliff Karklin
@CliffyKOnline Using only social signals, a new page with no other links or onsite optimization grew to position 12 quickly. @yerrbo #smx #11a
2 minutes ago via Twitter for iPad · powered by @socialditto
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Pinterest strong overall. No wonder Bing’s Duane Forrester recommends it so highly as a Penguin recovery tip.

Follow @dannysullivan Danny Sullivan
@dannysullivan Testing what social signals help with Google surprise, Google+ was huge, but also Pinterest seems to build good links @yerrbo #smx #11a
2 minutes ago via Twitter for Android · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @CliffyKOnline Cliff Karklin
@CliffyKOnline Great analysis of the social explosion of the anti-SOPA “Operation Blackout” by @yerrbo #smx #11a.
1 minute ago via Twitter for iPad · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @AkvileHarlow Akvile Harlow
@AkvileHarlow Interesting – Over 10k peices of content collected from social platforms on the SOPA blackout. Less then 15% became popular. #smx #11a
3 minutes ago via TweetDeck · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @TommyGriffith Tommy Griffith
@TommyGriffith 68% of content that goes viral on reddit is just an image hosted on imgur #smx #11a
1 minute ago via web · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @CliffyKOnline Cliff Karklin
@CliffyKOnline Almost 70% of what goes viral on reddit is an image. @yerrbo #smx #11a. I’d guess 60% of that are memes!
1 minute ago via Twitter for iPad · powered by @socialditto
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I’d add that the majority of those images are hosting on Imgur (which hit 2 billion page views per month recently). Read here about how Imgur can drive big traffic to product pages (and they don’t even have iPhone and Android apps yet. They’re coming this fall.)

Follow @cordman31 Jorge Cordova
@cordman31 for sure @yerrbo is a #reddit guy. What time does the narwhal bacon? #smx #11a
2 minutes ago via web · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @StephStMartin Stephanie St. Martin
@StephStMartin Need to find this Canadian guy who is responsible for 2% of all viral content #11A #smx
2 minutes ago via web · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @schachin Kristine Schachinger
@schachin Most content consumed at work hrs. Serious in am. Humorous in pm @yerrbo study of 10k pieces of #some & #SOPA virality #smx #11a
2 minutes ago via TweetCaster for Android · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @CliffyKOnline Cliff Karklin
@CliffyKOnline @markmunroe 2005 SEO was fat, dumb, and happy. Not anymore #smx #11a
1 minute ago via Twitter for iPad · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @schachin Kristine Schachinger
@schachin #SEO 2005 buy some links build some doorway pages … not anymore Google is about relevance & trust @markmunroe #smx #11a
47 seconds ago via TweetCaster for Android · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @CliffyKOnline Cliff Karklin
@CliffyKOnline Google giving answers right in the results. more knowledge graph can mean less clicks. Be fantastic to get clicked! #smx #11a
2 minutes ago via Twitter for iPad · powered by @socialditto
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It just occurred to me to check the session’s hashtag on Google+. Not a lot happening there. Not a good sign for Google+ engagement, when the updates aren’t rolling in from an SEO conference.

Google+ Engagement” />

Follow @CliffyKOnline Cliff Karklin
@CliffyKOnline Google has thresholds for their “quality” metrics. You don’t know where you are, and you could plummet at any time. #smx #11a @markmunroe
4 minutes ago via Twitter for iPad · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @CliffyKOnline Cliff Karklin
@CliffyKOnline Google Analytics likely not directly used as a quality indicator @markmunroe #smx #11a
2 minutes ago via Twitter for iPad · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @CliffyKOnline Cliff Karklin
@CliffyKOnline Bounce rates probably aren’t factored either. Doesn’t mean they aren’t important for UX @markmunroe #smx #11a
1 minute ago via Twitter for iPad · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @AkvileHarlow Akvile Harlow
@AkvileHarlow “If your website sucks, get SUX” (Search UX) “- @markemunroe #smx #11a
54 seconds ago via TweetDeck · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @lima8338 Li Ma
@lima8338 SUX is the new SEO! #smx #11a
3 minutes ago via Twitter for Android · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @CliffyKOnline Cliff Karklin
@CliffyKOnline Overall bounce rate may not be important. But Google sure knows when users immediately go back to Google from your site #smx #11a
3 minutes ago via Twitter for iPad · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @StephStMartin Stephanie St. Martin
@StephStMartin Apparently we are more advanced monkeys @jaredmore #smx #11A
3 minutes ago via web · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @CliffyKOnline Cliff Karklin
@CliffyKOnline “Google has perfect knowledge of how your site performs in the SERPs. You have none” – @markmunroe #smx #11a
2 minutes ago via Twitter for iPad · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @CliffyKOnline Cliff Karklin
@CliffyKOnline “Everything starts with a question on the SERPs” – @markmunroe #smx #11a
1 minute ago via Twitter for iPad · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @AkvileHarlow Akvile Harlow
@AkvileHarlow Engagement tools help if they’re a response to the search query. Use relevant engagement tools that are specific to search queries #smx #11a
1 minute ago via TweetDeck · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @marcbaumann Marc Baumann
@marcbaumann #Content can only be judged in response to a #search query. @markmunroe #smx #11a
1 minute ago via TweetDeck · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @schachin Kristine Schachinger
@schachin Optimize for search experience. Are users finding on your site what they are searching for in Google? Via @markmunroe #smx #11a
2 minutes ago via TweetCaster for Android · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @jaredmore Jared More
@jaredmore optimizing for UX not Company Goals? Problem is you get to be too info based, and not sales based. Balance #SMX #11A
2 minutes ago via web · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @CliffyKOnline Cliff Karklin
@CliffyKOnline If you aren’t integrating user-testing and surveys into your strategy, you are missing out on major opportunities #smx #11a
1 minute ago via Twitter for iPad · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @dannysullivan Danny Sullivan
@dannysullivan Site sucks in Google? Maybe SUX issue: bad search user experience, searchers don’t find answer bounce back to results @markmunroe #smx #11a
1 minute ago via Twitter for Android · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @schachin Kristine Schachinger
@schachin To Google are users’ search needs being met? If yes..good If no..check your goals @markmunroe #smx #11a
2 minutes ago via TweetCaster for Android · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @mikulaja Jason Mikula
@mikulaja Are we really talking correlation v causation? Must we have this at every SEO conference? #smx #11a
1 minute ago via Twitter for iPad · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @jaredmore Jared More
@jaredmore correlation is not causation, sounds like @randfish #SMX #11A
1 minute ago via web · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @CliffyKOnline Cliff Karklin
@CliffyKOnline @schachin – “Correlation doesn’t equal Causation.” I feel like I’ve heard some great SEO say that before. @randfishkin #smx #11a
1 minute ago via Twitter for iPad · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @StephStMartin Stephanie St. Martin
@StephStMartin Anyone at #11a of #smx – it’s FREEZING in here! Can we turn up the heat!
1 minute ago via web · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @CliffyKOnline Cliff Karklin
@CliffyKOnline @schachin – “Observer perception is often incorrect.” #smx #11a
2 minutes ago via Twitter for iPad · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @StephStMartin Stephanie St. Martin
@StephStMartin @si1very @schachin I feel like I’m back in my philosophy logic class! #11a #smx
2 minutes ago via web · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @jaredmore Jared More
@jaredmore SEO changes but what users want does not #SMX #11A
2 minutes ago via web · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @CliffyKOnline Cliff Karklin
@CliffyKOnline When Penguin hit, a lot of people were looking for Penguin-problems that were actually caused by Panda related issues @schachin #smx #11a
1 minute ago via Twitter for iPad · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @mikulaja Jason Mikula
@mikulaja @dannysullivan FYI this room is freeeeeeeeeezing #smx #11a
1 minute ago via Twitter for iPad · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @smx SearchMarketingExpo
@smx @StephStMartin We’re working on turning the cold air down in this session room #smx #11a
2 minutes ago via TweetDeck · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @StephStMartin Stephanie St. Martin
@StephStMartin Trying to understand the Correlative, Causal, Causation argument in #smx #11a? Go here: http://t.co/8eAi0BAx
4 minutes ago via web · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @CliffyKOnline Cliff Karklin
@CliffyKOnline “Put 10 SEOs in a room and they’ll all have a different opinion” @schachin #smx #11a
3 minutes ago via Twitter for iPad · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @Cut2SizeMetals Cut2SizeMetals.com
@Cut2SizeMetals @monicawright we’re getting the same message about Pinterest in #smx #11A
3 minutes ago via HootSuite · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @erikeric Erik Erickson
@erikeric Fantastic panel on new ranking factors &indicates Google is, or likely is using. Lots of stuff to implement. #smx #11a http://t.co/Wgv9ZmSH
1 minute ago via Photos on iOS · powered by @socialditto
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Follow @renewabelle Jessica Commins
@renewabelle People of #SMX — please help. Someone picked up my iPhone in the #11A session. I’m desperate. If you have it, pls turn it in to concierge?
38 minutes ago via web · powered by @socialditto
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If you want more of a liveblogged account of the session, Barry Schwartz has one at Search Engine Roundtable.

Matt Cutts To Keynote SMX Advanced, Leaves Panda, Florida Apparel At Home

Chris Crum — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 15:53:34 +0000

SMX Advanced gets started on Tuesday in Seattle. In what many, I’m sure, will consider the highlight, Google’s Matt Cutts will keynote.

Here’s what the SMX site says about it:

Google software engineer Matt Cutts will be returning to SMX Advanced in 2012. As the head of Google’s web spam team, Matt’s been dealing with webmaster issues for Google since 2000 and is well known to many advanced search marketers from his blog and public speaking.

Matt will participate in an always popular and engaging “You&A” format keynote, in which he’ll address questions from the SMX Advanced audience. So bring those questions, and don’t miss out on this SMX Advanced tradition!

Just don’t expect any Panda or Florida t-shirts. Cutts tweeted:

Follow @mattcutts Matt Cutts
@mattcutts Almost done packing for #SMX. Leaving T-shirts with pandas or Florida on them at home for this trip. http://t.co/ASJpwdYS
22 hours ago via Twitter for Android · powered by @socialditto
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He didn’t say anything about Penguin apparel. There are certainly plenty of fashionable options in the market:

Hopefully he’ll show up in the “Come at Me Bro” (Google’s first shopping result):

Either way, I’m sure the subject of Penguin will come up more that once at the event. Google’s Penguin update was designed to tackle webspam. That is Cutts’ department, after all.

Google’s Amit Singhal: Penguin A Success

Chris Crum — Sat, 26 May 2012 21:32:32 +0000

Early this morning, Google Fellow Amit Singhal was interviewed by Danny Sullivan at Chris Sherman on stage at SMX London, the sister conference of Search Engine Land. Singhal discussed a variety of Google search-related topics.

We were hoping to get a some in depth discussion about Google’s recent Penguin update, but apparently that wasn’t a major point of conversation. Daniel Waisberg liveblogged the discussion at Search Engine Land, and Penguin only came up briefly. Here’s the relevant snippet of the liveblog:

Danny talks about Penguin and asks how it is going from Google standpoint, are search results better? Amit says that in the end of the day, users will stay with the search engine that provides the most relevant results. Google’s objective was to reward high quality sites and that was a success with Penguin. One of the beauties of running a search engine is that the search engines that can measure best what the users feel is the one that will succeed more.

From Google’s perspective they use any signal that is available for them, more than 200 of them. They have to make sure they are accurate and good. They will use any signal, whether it is organic or not.

@SEOsherlock
SEO Sherlock“Google Penguin’s objective is to reward high quality sites and authors” Amit Singhal #smxlondon 4 hours ago via Twitter for iPhone · Reply · Retweet · Favorite · powered by @socialditto

@ysekand
YousafPanda and penguin update has gone really well… Can someone show amit the results for Viagra #smx 4 hours ago via Twitter for iPad · Reply · Retweet · Favorite · powered by @socialditto

@IrishWonder
IrishWonder@dannysullivan please ask Amit if he has any Penguin recovery tips apart from removing links #smx 4 hours ago via web · Reply · Retweet · Favorite · powered by @socialditto

Google’s Matt Cutts also recently said that Google has considered Penguin a success, though plenty out there disagree.

If you want Google’s advice on Penguin recovery, check out these videos Matt Cutts says to watch, these tips he endorsed on Twitter, and of course Google’s quality guidelines.

Google: Personalized Search Results Are Lifting Clickthrough Rates

Chris Crum — Wed, 16 May 2012 10:24:09 +0000

Google launched Search Plus Your World earlier this year. Most Google users probably just know it as Google filling their results with a lot more results based on social connections. A lot of users complained about it, but Google appears to consider the whole thing a success (not unlike the Penguin update).

Google Fellow Amit Singhal spoke at SMX London this morning, and talked about the feature, and search personalization in general.

Daniel Waisberg at SMX sister site Search Engine Land liveblogged Singhal’s on-stage discussion with Danny Sullivan and Chris Sherman. Singhal indicated that the SPYW is actually increasing search result clicks, and that the filter bubble is not much of an issue. From Waisberg’s liveblog:

Amit says the key motivation behind Search Plus Your World is to have a secured search, it is the first baby step to achieve Google’s dream, and data shows that Google users like the personal results. It also gives the user one click removal from their personalized results. Google is currently analyzing and improving their personalization engine.
Chris mentions that personalization can be narrowing, as it gives people the same results and they do not discover new things. Amit answers that there should be different points of views in any search results, and Google is aware of that and they balance between personalized and non-personalized results.

Danny mentions a Pew research that concluded that people do not want personalization. Amit says “I am a scientist, when I look at researches I look at how the question was asked.” He discussed the specific research, and said that personalization is valuable for Google users. Danny asks: can you tell what percentage of personalized searches are clicked? Amit says people are clicking more than before on searches and it is lifting CTR from search pages. Chris mentions Bing Social efforts and how it is different from Google’s. Amit says: “the key challenge with personalization is that no one can judge a personalized search for someone else.” That’s why Google looks at the data about how users like their results. Search Plus Your World is the same approach as Universal Search, people have to find what they intend to find on their results.

Bing, as you may know, unveiled a big redesign last week, which appears to be the search engine’s answer to Google’s SPYW personalized results. Bing, of course, has data from Facebook and Twitter, which Google doesn’t, which should be one of Bing’s biggest selling points, if you care about social results.

There hasn’t been much indicating that Google will be gaining access to the Facebook and Twitter data anytime soon. The subject was mentioned briefly during the SMX London discussion. Waisberg liveblogs: “Danny mentions the integration Bing did with Twitter and Facebook, and how this might be good for users. Will Google do that in the future? Amit said that their contract with Twitter expired. Google cannot add Twitter and Facebook right now as their information is hidden behind a wall. It has been tough to build an integration in this terms.”

Google’s lack of this data is extremely evident at times – particularly the lack of realtime search when big, breaking events are happening.

The good news is that at least Twitter and Google are talking frequently. Twitter CEO Dick Costolo was recently quoted as saying, “We continue to talk to Google frequently and on an ongoing basis. They are a company that’s doing several different things right now. Those conversations have a complexity to them that is different than our conversations with the company.”

Who knows where these talks may one day lead.