I would like to highlight & include the summaries of SEO Updates in 2012 which are published on Google webmaster central official blog.
- Video markup language for better indexation of Videos - Feb 21st 2012
- Optimize your site to handle unexpected traffic growth - Feb 09th 2012
- Webmaster tools sitemaps interface with fresh look - Jan 26th 2012
- Few changes on Top search queries data in Webmaster tools - Jan 25th 2012
- Google Algorithm update to Page layout structure - Jan 19th 2012
- Page Titles Update in Search Results - Jan 12th 2012
We all know that Google, Yahoo & Bing are supporting schema.org common markup language to make a better web. Now schema.org released mark up for Videos i.e. http://schema.org/VideoObject. Follow this markup while adding videos to your site. It will help search engines to crawl these videos effectively.
Usually popular sites face downtime issues due to sudden increase in traffic, websites will crash often in such cases. So, it’s better to plan “lightweight version of the website or mobile version” to handle traffic in difficult times. Also we can use third party services to land that particular page which is receiving higher traffic.
Earlier sitemap section used have normal interface with some basic content stats. Now added videos, images sitemap statistics with colorful interface. Compared to old interface, new interface looks pretty clean and easier to understand with better usability. Now users can delete sitemaps, which were submitted by another webmaster owner.
Normally in webmaster tools search queries data rankings will show average position of the keyword. Now onwards it will display top position of that keyword.
We often see websites with too many ads and it’s difficult to find out the difference between real content and ads. Few sites will have completely ads about the fold, users will have bad experience with these sites. As per new page layout algorithm, these sites will lose rankings and bring down from top search engine results.
Page titles will have higher impact in CTR. Usually Google pick the title tag from <title> tag and displays the same in search results and displays meta description based on the search query by collecting information from page or description tag. Now title tag also will be displayed based on search query of the visitor and it helps to improve click through rate on search results.
Following a check list is very important in search engine optimization as SEO Professionals need to take care of so many things, so chances would be higher to forget few important things. Following are the few basic SEO factors which need to be followed for new websites in 2012.
SEO Checklist:
SEO Checklist:
- Domain TLD with Targeted Country Extension
- Non-www to www redirection
- Zero Broken Links
- Search Engine friendly image Sizes
- Low Page Size
- User friendly URL Structure
- Professional design
- Easy Navigation
- Unique Title Tags
- Converting Meta Descriptions
- Descriptive Alt tags
- Customized Header Tags
- Quality Content
- HTML Sitemap
- Xml Sitemap
- Google Analytics
- Webmaster tools
- Bing Webmaster account
- YouTube
In the modern era, every website should have web & mobile design versions to reach max audience. From 2011 onwards usage of tablets has increased a lot. If a design isn’t compatible with tablets or netbooks then another version should be designed to reach tablet visitors.
Instead of having different website designs for web, mobile & tablets, we can have one design which is compatible with all devices and browsers i.e. Responsive Web Design. Responsive Design itself changes automatically based on the width and height of the visitors screen. Irrespective of design, it majorly depends on screen resolution.
Following are couple of valuable resources for Responsive Web design:
Most of organizations and professional blogs already started to have responsive designs for their sites. In future every website owner will prefer to have responsive design. It’s time for designers to learn responsive design tips to have a bright career.
Few Responsive Design Examples:
Read more: http://www.seodailyupdates.com/2012/02/what-is-responsive-web-design.html#ixzz1otmDeAjt
Every website SEO performance and results can be measured through following three factors.
1. Monitor Keyword Rankings
2. Analyze Monthly Visitors
3. Track Leads & Conversions
1) Monitor Keyword Rankings
Initially every website will be targeted to few keywords which are relevant to respective website niche. SEO Professionals should make sure that “respective landing pages of the website should be indexed & ranked for targeted keywords”. If your website is started ranking for few long tail keywords in the first month itself, it means “your SEO team is doing the right job”. Also month over month keyword rankings positions should be improved. With the help of following kind of report everybody can measure their SEO effectiveness.
Note: This will not happen in all cases, because few of the niches are highly competitive, so it will take little more time to get results.
2) Analyze Monthly Visitors
Every website visits can be tracked through Google Analytics. It’s free tool offered by Google, also simple to install & activate on website. Usually for a new website minimum two months’ time required to receive traffic from search engines. From 3rd month onwards every website will start receiving little traffic and it should be gradually increased month over month. Of course, traffic increase in every month is a difficult task, so at least existing minimum traffic shouldn’t be decreased.
If your SEO team is continuously adding new content pages then the traffic should be improved. So keep an eye on website traffic and measure your SEO team efforts. Ask your SEO team to provide monthly improvement stats and reports for your reference.
3) Track Leads & Conversions
Your website should have Phone number, Email ID and Inquiry box if you are offering services. If your site is an eCommerce portal then it’s important to have online payment facility, so that visitors will purchase your products through online.
Compare month over month stats whether you are receiving any inquiries or sales from your website or not and calculate ROI. Sometimes cannot expect immediate ROI through SEO efforts as SEO will give good results in longer run. However make sure to push and keep little pressure on your SEO team to have max output.
The popular microblogging service Twitter has made people go crazy. Developed as a social media site to tell people, “What are you doing?”, Twitter has come a long way.
Twitter has made connecting with people so easy, just requires 140 characters, or even lesser. And for this reason, everyone signs up on Twitter and starts streaming with information on their profile page. But this massive popularity has cost a few reputed and well known people dearly. Account hacking, tweeting with a false account, impersonation or even mistaken identity has become a common thing now. And to tackle these problems, Twitter is testing the process of verifying the accounts (still in Beta).
So, what is a verified account?
To prevent identity confusion, Twitter is experimenting (beta testing) with a ‘Verified Account’ feature. Twitter is working to establish authenticity with people who deal with impersonation or identity confusion on a regular basis. Accounts with a Verified are the real thing!
This is how a verified twitter account looks like -
Look at the top right side. Every verified account will sport a Verified Account badge ensuring authenticity of the account.
So if you are competing against impersonation, you better get your Twitter account verified. Also, this verification process is not for individuals alone, its meant for businesses as well.
Do not let anyone take your reputation for granted while you try hard to build it by tweeting.
In the last 5 years or so, we have seen many websites turning into successful businesses. Be it Google, Digg, Facebook or TechCrunch. Of course its an incredible moment for the founders of these sites, but sometimes the popularity just bigger and bigger.
Twitter is one such website that has become a household name now. Today, even a kid knows the significance of a tweet or RT or @ (reply). The fact that people use the wordtwitter as a verb or noun shows its popularity and global appeal. And considering such a massive attractive appeal, Twitter has added another feather to its cap by finding a place in the dictionary.
The Collins English Dictionary has decided to include the word ‘twitter‘ in its 30th anniversary edition to be published later this year. Here’s how twitter would be defined:
As a Noun: “a website where people can post short messages about their current activities”
As a Verb: “to write short messages on the Twitter website”.
About 3 years ago ‘google‘ was added to the Merriam Webster Collegiate Dictionary and the Oxford English Dictionary. Though twitter is a pure word and google is a revised version of googol, but the fact that the names of websites/businesses are making their way to dictionaries is self explanatory about their popularity.
If this trend continues, then we might see businesses being set up on existing words (duh. its already happening) and becoming popular enough to replace the original definition of the word with that of the business in dictionaries. Irrespective of its effect on the businesses, such a phenomenon will surely screw our English. What do you think?
Twitter – the cool application that has been used by everybody today is a great resource for building links to your site or blog. Backlinks have always been very useful in determining the ranking of a site in the search engines. Though the overall process is termed as SEO, but building quality backlinks is a major step in achieving higher search engine rankings.
There are tons of articles on the web that describe the best link building techniques, which you can refer to. In this post, I will discuss on how you can use Twitter to build quality dofollow backlinks which will not only increase traffic to your site but also pass on quality link juice.
Twitter offers three opportunities to pass links from your profile. One through the status messages, second through your Twitter Bio and third through the application(s) you use for tweeting. Twitter had nofollowed the links that we pass on in the status messages since a long time. They had kept the links in the Bio field dofollow, until Matt Cutts made the Twitter Bio links nofollow. And I bet, you never thought about the third option as a means to pass links.
Bob ArdKor has written a great article on achieving dofollow links from Twitter. Though his original post is written in French, but you can find the Google Translated version of the same in English.
Bob says,
On twitter, users post their tweet from customers for I-phone as Twitterfon, Nambu … others use Firefox extensions TwitterFox to post their message on Twitter, others pass by scripts that use the API and Of course, others go directly from Twitter.When you post from these applications, as appears tweet posted a statement containing the date of publication of the tweet and at what support you have posted the message with a link to the site of application.This link is dofollow and followed by search engines.
Bob has explained the method of customizing those links for leveraging the link juice. It’s a great find by Bob who has implemented this strategy in his Twitter profile and seems to benefit from the same. But with Twitter becoming a threat to Google with the ability to search real time updates, it’s a matter of time when they will make those links nofollow as well. Therefore, start using this method right from today and give a boost to your SEO efforts.
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