Boost your web page titles

With all the hype about Google's latest algorithm updates, it is easy to forget about the basics that are needed to get high rankings. Before you work on the links to your site, your web page basics must be right.

For example, the title tag has a very big influence on the search engine positions of a web page. In addition, the title tag is very important because it is the first thing that people see in the search results. There are several things that you can do to optimize your web page titles.

Step 1: check the HTML code of your web pages

It's astonishing how many pages have more than one title tag in the code. If your pages have more than one title tag, they will confuse search engine robots. The tags might not be read at all or, even worse, search engines might interpret this as a spamming attempt.

Step 2: use your keywords in your web page titles

Use the most relevant keywords at the beginning of your web page titles. Many people only scan the beginning of the titles so make sure that the beginning of the title tag contains the right words.

Step 3: make the titles clear, predictable and irresistible

The readers of your web page titles should know what your web page is about and the title should lead to a page that meets the expectations of the searcher. The web page title is the first thing that people see in the search results. Make sure that the wording of your web page titles is appealing, emotional and irresistible.

Step 4: keep the titles short

Although there is no official limit, you should keep the length of your web page titles below 70 characters. The reason for that is that most search engines truncate the titles after 65-70 characters on the search result pages. Google takes 64 characters.

Step 5: remove unnecessary words

Words such as "homepage", "Index" and your company name usually don't help your search engine rankings. Remove these words from the title tags of your web pages. Your title tags will become more relevant to the actual keywords then.

Step 6: use unique title tags

Don't use the same title tags on more than one page. Each page should have a unique title tag that reflects the content of the web page. In general, optimize different pages of your website for different keywords. The more pages of your website you optimize the better.

The title tags of your web pages are only one factor that influences the position of your web pages in Google's search results.

Googler, John Mueller took a look and noticed an unusually high amount of title attributes used on the page, many with tons and tons of keywords and words in the title attribute. John said that the way he is using the title attribute can be seen as "sneaky" to Google's algorithms.

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Google Announced 52 Search Updates

Google released their new monthly update on the changes they made to Google search engine over the past month. It is really great that Google does this and this time they shared 52 changes for April. Below are some important ones.

Penguin Related:

• Anchors bug fix
• Keyword stuffing classifier improvement
• More authoritative results
• Improvement in a freshness signal
• No freshness boost for low-quality content
• Improvements to how search terms are scored in ranking

Ranking Changes:

·         Improvement in a freshness signal. [launch codename "citron", project codename "Freshness"] This change is a minor improvement to one of the freshness signals which helps to better identify fresh documents.

·         No freshness boost for low-quality content. [launch codename "NoRot", project codename "Freshness"] We have modified a classifier we use to promote fresh content to exclude fresh content identified as particularly low-quality.

·         Smoother ranking changes for fresh results. [launch codename "sep", project codename "Freshness"] We want to help you find the freshest results, particularly for searches with important new web content, such as breaking news topics. We try to promote content that appears to be fresh. This change applies a more granular classifier, leading to more nuanced changes in ranking based on freshness.

·         Improvements to how search terms are scored in ranking. [launch codename "Bi02sw41"] One of the most fundamental signals used in search is whether and how your search terms appear on the pages you're searching. This change improves the way those terms are scored.

·         Backend improvements in serving. [launch codename "Hedges", project codename "Benson"] We've rolled out some improvements to our serving systems making them less computationally expensive and massively simplifying code.

·         Keyword stuffing classifier improvement. [project codename "Spam"] We have classifiers designed to detect when a website is keyword stuffing. This change made the keyword stuffing classifier better.

·         More authoritative results. We've tweaked a signal we use to surface more authoritative content.

Link Analysis Changes:

·         Anchors bug fix. [launch codename "Organochloride", project codename "Anchors"] This change fixed a bug related to our handling of anchors.

Index Updates:

·         Increase base index size by 15%. [project codename "Indexing"] The base search index is our main index for serving search results and every query that comes into Google is matched against this index. This change increases the number of documents served by that index by 15%. *Note: We're constantly tuning the size of our different indexes and changes may not always appear in these blog posts.

·         New index tier. [launch codename "cantina", project codename "Indexing"] We keep our index in "tiers" where different documents are indexed at different rates depending on how relevant they are likely to be to users. This month we introduced an additional indexing tier to support continued comprehensiveness in search results.

Search Listings:

·         More domain diversity. [launch codename "Horde", project codename "Domain Crowding"] Sometimes search returns too many results from the same domain. This change helps surface content from a more diverse set of domains.

·         Categorize paginated documents. [launch codename "Xirtam3", project codename "CategorizePaginatedDocuments"] Sometimes, search results can be dominated by documents from a paginated series. This change helps surface more diverse results in such cases.

·         Country identification for webpages. [launch codename "sudoku"] Location is an important signal we use to surface content more relevant to a particular country. For a while we've had systems designed to detect when a website, subdomain, or directory is relevant to a set of countries. This change extends the granularity of those systems to the page level for sites that host user generated content, meaning that some pages on a particular site can be considered relevant to France, while others might be considered relevant to Spain.

·         Disable salience in snippets. [launch codename "DSS", project codename "Snippets"] This change updates our system for generating snippets to keep it consistent with other infrastructure improvements. It also simplifies and increases consistency in the snippet generation process.

·         More text from the beginning of the page in snippets. [launch codename "solar", project codename "Snippets"] This change makes it more likely we'll show text from the beginning of a page in snippets when that text is particularly relevant.

·         Tweak to trigger behavior for Instant Previews. This change narrows the trigger area for Instant Previews so that you won't see a preview until you hover and pause over the icon to the right of each search result. In the past the feature would trigger if you moused into a larger button area.

·         Better query interpretation. This launch helps us better interpret the likely intention of your search query as suggested by your last few searches.

·         News universal results serving improvements. [launch codename "inhale"] This change streamlines the serving of news results on Google by shifting to a more unified system architecture.

·         More efficient generation of alternative titles. [launch codename "HalfMarathon"] We use a variety of signals to generate titles in search results. This change makes the process more efficient, saving tremendous CPU resources without degrading quality.

·         More concise and/or informative titles. [launch codename "kebmo"] We look at a number of factors when deciding what to show for the title of a search result. This change means you'll find more informative titles and/or more concise titles with the same information.

·         "Sub-sitelinks" in expanded sitelinks. [launch codename "thanksgiving"] This improvement digs deeper into megasitelinks by showing sub-sitelinks instead of the normal snippet.

·         Better ranking of expanded sitelinks. [project codename "Megasitelinks"] This change improves the ranking of megasitelinks by providing a minimum score for the sitelink based on a score for the same URL used in general ranking.

·         Sitelinks data refresh. [launch codename "Saralee-76"] Sitelinks (the links that appear beneath some search results and link deeper into the site) are generated in part by an offline process that analyzes site structure and other data to determine the most relevant links to show users. We've recently updated the data through our offline process. These updates happen frequently (on the order of weeks).

·         Less snippet duplication in expanded sitelinks. [project codename "Megasitelinks"] We've adopted a new technique to reduce duplication in the snippets of expanded sitelinks.

Local Changes:

·         More local sites from organizations. [project codename "ImpOrgMap2"] This change makes it more likely you'll find an organization website from your country (e.g. mexico.cnn.com for Mexico rather than cnn.com).

·         Improvements to local navigational searches. [launch codename "onebar-l"] For searches that include location terms, e.g. [dunston mint seattle] or [Vaso Azzurro Restaurant 94043], we are more likely to rank the local navigational homepages in the top position, even in cases where the navigational page does not mention the location.

·         More comprehensive predictions for local queries. [project codename "Autocomplete"] This change improves the comprehensiveness of autocomplete predictions by expanding coverage for long-tail U.S. local search queries such as addresses or small businesses.

Images & Videos:

·         Improvements to SafeSearch for videos and images. [project codename "SafeSearch"] We've made improvements to our SafeSearch signals in videos and images mode, making it less likely you'll see adult content when you aren't looking for it.

·         Improved SafeSearch models. [launch codename "Squeezie", project codename "SafeSearch"] This change improves our classifier used to categorize pages for SafeSearch in 40+ languages.

Learn More - http://insidesearch.blogspot.in/2012/05/search-quality-highlights-53-changes.html

And here are some other changes blogged about since last time:

• Updates to rich snippets
• Another step to reward high-quality sites 

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Received Google unnatural links message?

During the last few weeks, Google sent many webmaster notification messages about unnatural links. If you have received such a message, here's what you have to do to make sure that your website doesn't get penalized.

What is this Google unnatural links message?

Google has sent the following message to many webmasters:
"Dear site owner or webmaster of example.com.
We’ve detected that some of your site’s pages may be using techniques that are outside Google’s Webmaster Guidelines.
Specifically, look for possibly artificial or unnatural links pointing to your site that could be intended to manipulate PageRank. Examples of unnatural linking could include buying links to pass PageRank or participating in link schemes.
We encourage you to make changes to your site so that it meets our quality guidelines. Once you’ve made these changes, please submit your site for reconsideration in Google’s search results.
If you find unnatural links to your site that you are unable to control or remove, please provide the details in your reconsideration request.
If you have any questions about how to resolve this issue, please see our Webmaster Help Forum for support.
Sincerely,
Google Search Quality Team"

What will happen when you get such a message?

Webmasters who received such a message observed that many sites were penalized 3-4 weeks after the message. The penalty is for the keywords that are included in the unnatural links.
If most of the links that point to the website are unnatural links then the whole website might be penalized.

What are unnatural links?

There are several backlink types that Google finds unnatural:

1. Public backlink networks: Google doesn't like fully automated or paid backlink networks. If you participate in a backlink network that can be joined by anyone (even for a fee) then it is very likely that Google has already penalized the network or that the network is a target for the near future.
   
   If you can find the backlink network, Google's engineers can find it, too.
2. Private backlink networks: some SEO agencies have private backlink networks. Google probably has the technology to detect these networks without creating accounts.
3. Paid sidebar links: if your website has too many backlinks from the sidebars of other websites, Google might find them unnatural.
4. Over-optimized anchor text: if the links to your website all use exactly the same anchor text, it is likely that Google might reconsider the rankings of the linked pages.
5. Fake forum and social media links: some tools create fake forum and social media site accounts to get backlinks to your website. Chances are that Google can detect that type of link.

What should you do?

If you used one of the methods above to get backlinks to your website, try to get rid of these links as quickly as possible.
The formula to high rankings on Google is very easy:
Good content + good backlinks + no spam = high rankings
Optimize the content of your web pages to make sure that Google and other search engines know what your website is about. Then get good backlinks to show search engines that your website can be trusted.

Google has become more aggressive regarding spammy backlinks. In the past, a website might get high rankings for several months until Google detected the site. Now it seems that the it takes a maximum of 3 months until Google detects the spammers.

Do not fall for SEO solutions that promise quick and easy backlinks. It doesn't make sense to get high rankings for 2-3 months just to get penalized after that time. If you are serious about your business, you have to use strategies that deliver high rankings that will stay, even if it takes longer to get these rankings in the short term.

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How to create a content generation strategy

Tips and Tricks: Create a content generation strategy

Having a “good enough” content strategy is what puts you behind the competition. A content strategy needs to be more than high word counts and filling in white space. Your strategy needs to lay out an entire plan for the creation, publication, and control of usable and useful content.

The principles of a content strategy are centered on developing valuable website content to improve the user’s experience. Strategists need to build a structure for content to decide what content needs to be developed and decide why it should be published.

A superior content generation strategy will:

1. Build loyalty - With fresh content on a regular basis, your website or blog will urge visitors to return frequently. Consistency can help build industry credibility.
2. Appeal to search engines - Consistent and well-organized content can help you secure higher rankings in the search engines because it helps your website remain relevant.
3. Generate new traffic - Your content generation strategy helps you keep your site up-to-date and timely. As such, your website will spark more interest and bring in additional visitors.

Before you can create a content generation strategy you need to have your keyword research completed. Your keyword research will help you maintain a focus for your content generation strategy.

Creating a content generation strategy begins with brainstorming. Use your keyword research as a structure to appease the search engines, but find topics surrounding the keywords to be relevant to readers.

Once you have brainstormed topics and determined what you to write, organizing the information is next. From an SEO perspective, organizing your information prevents you from duplicating content.

You can organize your content by putting different topics in categories and lists. By mapping out your content, your strategy helps solidify quality content that will engage the right audience. Decide what type of content works best including blog content, eBook content, white papers, or even webinar content. It also helps to build a style guide for your site so everyone who will be contributing content will be able to work within your set strategy and structure.

By combining critical thinking with brainstorming and keeping yourself organized, you can maximize your content generation strategy by making sure to hit all the SEO basics such as creating links and including images, alt text, videos, and audio.

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The Successful Landing Pages

The Secrets Behind Successful Landing Pages

Generating traffic to your website is great, but it isn’t the ultimate goal. Traffic is only beneficial so far as you convert the visitors into customers. If you utilize email campaigns, pay-per-click advertising, or even if you gain website visitors directly from search engines, you could be losing the opportunity to convert website traffic into customers if you don’t create the right landing pages.

An all too common mistake businesses make is directing earned visitors to the home page. By dropping people off on your home page, it requires the visitors to navigate themselves and you are more likely to suffer from higher bounce rates and lower conversion rates.

Using a few key elements, building the right landing page is not only possible but more likely to be successful.

Where to Start

Landing pages are created for the sole purpose of promoting a particular product, service, or offer. These pages are designed to gather information from website visitors by introducing a lead generating form. If done right, a landing page will entice a visitor to fill out the form.
If people are looking for something specific, and you provide a valuable solution, your landing page should reflect this and provide a way for visitors to connect with you.

There are two critical questions you have to ask yourself prior to perfecting a landing page:

1. What do you want visitors to do on your website?
2. How can you ensure visitors do what you want them to do on your website?

Optimized properly, you can subtly tell customers exactly what to do and how to do it.

Getting People to the Page

Sometimes, you need to nail down the basics. First things first for a creating a successful landing page is making certain you take advantage of the title and meta data. The title is displayed in the browser and search results page as the link that goes to your site. Be sure to include keywords in the title. Write your title strategically, and try to include your brand. A lot of specialists recommend leveraging your brand because it can help increase click-through rates.

Writing the meta-description is of equal importance. The meta description provides a brief synopsis of the page and should entice people to go to your page. If you leave this section blank, the search engines will simply pull content from your site that may not be useful. It should also include keywords as well as a clear call to action telling people what to do.

Landing Page Pointers

When people get to your landing page, tell them everything with the headline. The headline of a page has a lot of responsibility. This single line has to capture attention, describe the page, include keywords, and read naturally. Because the headline of the landing page is the first thing visitors see, you want the headline to be straight to the point. A solid headline is a brief statement and should match up with the title of the page. It also happens to be the first thing the search engines index.

The actual content on a landing page should be visually appealing. Huge blocks of text turn visitors away. In an attempt to make your landing page engaging, consider breaking up the page with:

• Lists
• Bullets
• Videos
• Images

The content needs to be long enough to cover the subject at hand, but short enough to maintain interest. Try to be both descriptive and clear, and do not forget to have a call to action.

One of the most important things to optimize on a landing page is the actual lead generating form. The key to a solid form is to determine how much information you need from the audience. If you ask for too much information, you run the risk of getting less leads, but the leads you do secure could be more valuable. If you don’t ask for enough information, you may get more leads, but those leads might be a waste of time. Find a balance for your industry, and test it. A good start is just asking for a name and email address.

Perfecting the Landing Page

When all is said and done, it helps to get an unbiased opinion about your landing page. After you put your hard work in, an outsider’s perspective can help you see if you’ve missed the mark or have perhaps been a little too over promotional. If you want your landing pages to really pay off, a second opinion can help ensure it looks natural for better conversion rates—and that’s what it is really all about.

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Remove your paid links ASAP!

Google: Go As Far Back As Possible To Remove Paid Links

Google's John Mueller responded in a Google Webmaster Help thread to a webmaster who received one of those unnatural links warnings.

He made a few points that I wanted to highlight for SEOs:

Do Not Wait Out Penalties

Google said not to wait out penalties because they can take a long time to be reversed. Instead, submit a reconsideration request to help expedite it. John said, "- If you're serious about your site's standing in our search results, then I'd strongly advise not to try to wait the penalty out. These are generally not issues that expire after a few days, they can affect your site's standing for quite some time."

Remove All Paid Links Going Back As Far As You Paid Links

Google said that if you have been paying for links for two years, go back two years and remove those paid links. If it is five year, go back five years. Google wants to see a serious attempt to remove all the paid links you acquired over the years.

John said, "Regarding the age of the unnatural links, I'd work to have them all removed, regardless of the age. For instance, in the general case where a site has been buying links for 2 years, it would be a good idea to go back that far."

Getting A Notification Now Doesn't Mean It Is A New Penalty

Google stepped up their notifications, so if you get a notification today, it doesn't mean it is a new penalty. Google is sending notifications out for old penalties. John explained, "while we have just recently started sending out these messages, they may apply to issues that were already known (and affecting your site's standing in our search results) for a while."

John added a few more points we covered here a few times but feel free to check out the Google Webmaster Help thread.

40+ Google Search Quality Updates in March

This week, Google announced 40+ changes they made to search over the past month or so. Prior to this, 40 changes in February, then 17 changes in January of this year.

Matt McGee summarized the most important changes, as he sees fit, which include anchor text changes, image search changes, indexing symbols, navigation query changes and more.

One thing that really stands out is this one:

Improvements to processing for detection of site quality. [launch codename "Curlup"] We’ve made some improvements to a longstanding system we have to detect site quality. This improvement allows us to get greater confidence in our classifications.

Here is the full list for the most recent updates:

1. Autocomplete with math symbols.

2. Improvements to handling of symbols for indexing.

3. Better scoring of news groupings.

4. Sitelinks data refresh.

5. Improvements to autocomplete backends, coverage.

6. Better handling of password changes.

7. Better indexing of profile pages.

8. UI refresh for News Universal.

9. Improvements to results for navigational queries.

10. High-quality sites algorithm data update and freshness improvements.

11. Live results for UEFA Champions League and KHL.

12. Tennis search feature.

13. More relevant image search results.

14. Fresher image predictions in all languages.

15. SafeSearch algorithm tuning.

16. Tweaks to handling of anchor text.

17. Simplifications to Images Universal codebase.

18. Better application ranking and UI on mobile.

19. Improvements to freshness in Video Universal.

20. Fewer undesired synonyms.

21. Better handling of queries with both navigational and local intent.

22. Improvements to freshness.

23. Improvements to processing for detection of site quality.

24. Better interpretation and use of anchor text.

25. Better local results and sources in Google News.

26. Deprecating signal related to ranking in a news cluster.

27. Fewer "sibling" synonyms.

28. Better synonym accuracy and performance.

29. Retrieval system tuning.

30. Less aggressive synonyms.

31. Update to systems relying on geographic data.

32. Improvements to name detection.

33. Updates to personalization signals.

34. Improvements to Image Search relevance.

35. Remove deprecated signal from site relevance signals.

36. More precise detection of old pages.

37. Tweaks to language detection in autocomplete.

38. Improvements in date detection for blog/forum pages.

39. More predictions in autocomplete by live rewriting of query prefixes.

40. Expanded sitelinks on mobile.

41. More accurate short answers.

42. Migration of video advanced search backends.

43. +1 button in search for more countries and domains.

44. Local result UI refresh on tablet.

There are several places this is being discussed such as at Google on Google+, Matt Cutts on Google+, HackerNews and WebmasterWorld.

Lots of things here, some of them we covered previous in our April Google Webmaster report.

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