Central Perk

miercuri, 25 mai 2011

SEOmoz Daily SEO Blog

How SEOmoz Gained 1000s of Visits from Google News (You Can Too)

Posted: 24 May 2011 02:10 PM PDT

Consider this image below from the SEOmoz Google Analytics account. Behold a sight rarely displayed in SEO blogs.

Google vs Kansas

Notice the similarities to a typical Kansas highway. Both are dead flat, contain no peaks or valleys, and are traffic free.

Such was the sad state of SEOmoz’s referral traffic from Google News prior to April of this year. In truth, SEOmoz didn't really pursue traffic from Google News for several reasons.

Google News never sent us significant traffic in the past
In our minds, we don't consider ourselves a "news" organization
Unlike news organizations, SEOmoz doesn't drive revenue through advertising

What Changed Our Minds?

In April, Rand’s post on White Hat SEO went nuclear. The blogosphere exploded with commentary and traffic poured in from all corners of the Internet. We recorded 8000 visits from Google News the first two days alone.

The drought was over.

But why that particular post? Rob Ousey from Distilled pointed out that the few SEOmoz posts included in Google's News index all had one thing in common. They each contained a number in the URL. For example:

../blog/white-hat-seo-it-fing-works-12421
../blog/google-told-you-so-12428
../ugc/dissecting-local-seo-via-competitive-analysis-12284

Given the way Google News indexes content, this makes sense:

“Display a three-digit number. The URL for each article must contain a unique number consisting of at least three digits… Please note that this rule is waived with News sitemaps.”
- From Google (publishers) Help

Our indexation was pure accident! By default, most SEOmoz blog URLs don't contain numbers.

We decided to dispose of our previous perceptions and chart a proactive course in gaining visits from Google News. Here's how we did it - and how you can too.

1. Are You Newsworthy? Yes You Are

You no longer have to be a big news player (or a spammer) to find your way in Google News. Google clearly states both blogs and news organizations alike qualify for inclusion.

Ask yourself the following questions. Consider yourself a candidate if you meet the following criteria.

Do you discuss current events?
Is your content timely?
Do you offer commentary?
Is your blog itself newsworthy?

These are some of the same qualifications that make for great content in any context. The number of categories in Google News is staggering. It includes topics as varied as business, education, humor and even ice hockey.

There's room for everything in Google News. Love to write about hair? Yep, there's news for that.

Don't sell yourself short. If you’re not already producing newsworthy content, you should.

Rock Purr

2. Qualify Your Site

Not everyone gets in Google News automatically. To see if you're already included in the index, perform a “site:” command within Google News using your domain. In our case, SEOmoz was already included.

If Google hasn’t included your site in its news index, you can request inclusion.

Rand addressed how to improve your chances of appearing in Google News in a recent PRO Webinar. He recommended improving your site's substantive metrics, including such factors as the number of inbound links and subscribers to your blog. Having a good user interface can also help.

Again, even if getting in Google News isn't your focus, these are the same benchmarks for increasing your visibility on the Web in any market.

3. Get Your Content Indexed

Google keeps it's news index separate from it's regular web index. Just because Google crawls your site and you appear in search results, doesn't mean your content is included in Google news.

There are two ways to get your content included in the index:

1. Number your URLs (see above)
or
2. Create a Google News Sitemap.

The sitemap contains a number of advantages over simply numbering your URLs. Sitemaps allow you to tag your article with proper titles and publication dates. In addition to categorizing your content more accurately, sitemaps also give you the ability to annotate your content with metadata such as keywords or stock tickers.

Tag Your Content With News Sitemaps

The downside is news sitemaps can be complicated to build if you lack development skills. Google dictates that your news sitemap should only contain articles published in the last 24 hours. So you'll want an automated system. In our case, Casey Henry was able to build a custom sitemap generator that met these specifications.

If you run a blog using a third party platform, a number of good solutions exist for Wordpress, Joomla, Drupal and more.

4. Rise to the Top

A number of great articles have been written about how Google News works and how to get indexed. Indexation relies on several factors:

Topic Factors – How hot is the story topic? Last week it was The Governator, but it could be anything, even kittens.
Story Factors – How relevant and fresh is your specific content to this topic.
Publication Reputation – Sort of like Domain Authority, except specific to news publication.

Timing is key to Google news. Paraphrasing from Rand's aformentioned webinar: "If you break a big story first, you can see more traffic than you ever imagined from the first page of Google News."

But timing a great story is hard to predict.

What you can control are a number of on-page factors that improve your chances. For example, adding a good photo next to your headline increases the likelihood of Google displaying the photo, which also helps your CTR. Adding a unique video to your post (along with maintaining an active video sitemap) also improves your chances of rising to the top.

images and video in Google News

Other best practices to consider include titles, article text, and more. This great interview with Josh Cohen highlights many of these techniques.

5. What About the Results?

After we added a sitemap, Google News became the 4th largest referring traffic source for SEOmoz, bigger than Linkedin, StumbleUpon and Hacker News (but significantly behind Twitter, Facebook, and Google Image search.)

Google-News-Much-Improved

In the last month, three different posts received over 1000 extra visits. Our future posts are "primed" for more. To be fair, this isn't a huge amount of traffic for a site like SEOmoz. The traffic has a high bounce rate and low conversion rate.

That said, SEOmoz has not changed its content one iota to gain more traffic from Google News. We don't "chase the algorithm." Were we to optimize our content towards this goal, our traffic would undoubtedly rise higher.

Got a success story or more tips? Please share in the comments below.

Do you like this post? Yes No

Announcing Next Generation Fuel Economy Labels

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

The President and his Administration have made it a priority to protect consumers against rising gas prices. Earlier this year, he announced a plan to reduce our oil imports by a third by 2025 -- leveraging domestic resources while reducing the oil we consume. And he has taken steps to invest in new technologies and more efficient transportation initiatives that are already helping us move towards this important goal.

Today, as part of these efforts, the Administration introduced next generation fuel economy labels that will empower car buyers with better information about what they will spend or save on fuels costs when looking to purchase a new vehicle.

The new fuel economy labels will still provide the same familiar and important information about city and highway mileage for new vehicles, but now for the first time, they will also include comparable fuel economy and environmental ratings for all new vehicles, including advanced technology vehicles like electric cars and hybrids.

The new labels underscore the benefits of the historic passenger car and truck fuel economy rule adopted under this administration by the EPA and DOT in 2010 that will save 1.8 billion barrels of oil over the life of the program and reduce fuel costs for the average consumer by $3,000.

The bottom line is that these labels will help people make more informed decisions when they're buying a car, so that they can save money at the gas pump. Learn more at www.fueleconomy.gov.

Car buyers can expect to see the new labels early next year when 2013 model vehicles hit the showroom floors, and possibly even earlier on some vehicles, but you can get a sneak preview of the new design here:

Additionally, as part of Administration efforts to make sure that the government is leading by example when it comes to fuel economy standards, the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. General Services Administration and White House Council on Environmental Quality came together this week to announce another major step in boosting clean energy technologies in our Federal fleet.

President Obama issued a Presidential Memorandum that will implement new Federal fleet management practices to further the Administration's goals to cut oil imports by one-third by 2025 and to put one million advanced vehicles on the road by 2015.

In tandem, GSA launched a historic Electric Vehicle Pilot program that will put the President’s plan into action and place alternative fueled vehicles into the Federal fleet in cities across the country.

White House Highlights

Saving You Money at the Pump and Protecting the Air We Breathe
May 25, 2011
New fuel economy labels will help consumers get the best deal and protect the environment.

Generation Fuel Economy Labels Arm Consumers with Information They Can Use
May 25, 2011
Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson introduce a new fuel economy labels that will empower car buyers with better information about what they will spend or save on fuel costs when looking to purchase a new vehicle.

Driving our Nation Toward America's Clean Energy Future
May 24, 2011
Today, U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu, U.S. General Services Administrator Martha Johnson and White House Council on Environmental Quality Chair Nancy Sutley came together to announce another major step in leading by example and reducing our dependence on oil by boosting clean energy technologies in our Federal fleet.

America’s Home Energy Education Challenge
May 24, 2011
It can be quite a feat coming up with new and exciting ways to engage our young folk when it comes to energy and science, but the Department of Energy and the National Science Teachers Association have put together a new challenge to ignite that spark.

Protecting Families at the Pump and Expanding Responsible Domestic Oil Production
May 17,2011
Heather Zichal, Deputy Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change, discusses the Administration’s policies to support safe and responsible domestic oil and gas production.

Weekly Address: Expanding Responsible Oil Production in America
May 14, 2011
As part of his long-term plan to reduce our reliance on foreign oil, President Obama lays out his strategy to continue expanding safe and responsible domestic oil production.

Working with Communities to Restore a Healthy and Prosperous Gulf Coast
May 12.2011
CEQ Chair Nancy Sutley travels to Mobile, Alabama to participate in the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Task Force public meeting and discuss the Administration's work to protect and restore the Gulf Coast.

Weekly Address: Clean Energy to Out-Innovate the Rest of the World
May 7, 2011
Speaking from a hybrid vehicle transmission company in Indiana, the President explains how investments in a clean energy economy are the only solution to high gas prices in the long term

The President on Jobs & Gas Prices: Read His Remarks, Download the Graphic
May 6,2011
Speaking at a hybrid vehicle transmission plant in Indiana, the President explains how these kinds of industries will not only help get gas prices down in the long term, they'll provide the next generation of jobs.

The 'America's Next Top Energy Innovator' Challenge Begins Today
May 2, 2011
Starting today and until December 15, start-up companies can apply for one of the Department of Energy's thousands of unlicensed patents for greatly reduced cost and paperwork.

Weekly Address: Ending Taxpayer Subsidies for Oil Companies
April 30, 2011
At a time of high gas prices and massive oil industry profits, the President renews his call to end the $4 billion-per-year subsidies for oil and gas companies and invest in clean energy.

Get Updates

Stay Connected

This email was sent to e0nstar1.blog@gmail.com
Manage Subscriptions for e0nstar1.blog@gmail.com
Sign Up for Updates from the White House
Unsubscribe e0nstar1.blog@gmail.com | Privacy Policy
Please do not reply to this email. Contact the White House

The White House • 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW • Washington, DC 20500 • 202-456-1111

The President and First Lady Meet the Duke and Duchess

Your Daily Snapshot for
Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Photo of the Day

President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama talk with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in the 1844 Room at Buckingham Palace in London, England, May 24, 2011. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Foreign Languages As A Competitive Differentiator Graywolf's SEO Blog

Foreign Languages As A Competitive Differentiator

Posted: 24 May 2011 10:27 PM PDT

A common issue online marketers have is coming up with unique differentiators. SEOs have this problem – it takes virtually no effort for an intermediate or advanced SEO to understand a competitors’ main link acquisition strategies in an hour or less. That allows new entrants into the field to easily duplicate your hard, pioneering efforts. Affiliates have this problem – there are so many people vying to sell the same thing that it’s hard to stand out. User friendliness and pricing no longer help – price comparisons, coupons, deals and reviews are now commodified. So let’s define the problem: Differentiating your site in a lasting way is difficult, because competitors can copy you without much trouble.

But what about throwing up a language barrier?

Suppose you’re an SEO blogger and you start reaching out to Russian SEOs. Suddenly, it’s a lot harder for your competitors to build the same links. Even if they see where you’re getting the links, they can’t immediately figure out how you earned them. Google Translate may help, but it’s not great. Besides, it doesn’t even begin to allow them to get in touch and solicit the links. And if your competitors try to outsource Russian language link solicitation, they have to initially put blind faith into the outsourcing company that they’re not spamming and that they’re doing what they promised, and doing it well. They sure as hell aren’t going to start checking the Russian outsourcing company’s grammar.

Suppose you’re an affiliate who starts producing content in French. The same problem applies to competitors – how are they going to source French language content? How will they proofread it? This simple tactical idea applies advanced SEOs’ 7 curiously obvious rules. For example, it questions the assumption that you need to do business in the same language as your competitors. Why not mix it up? And whoever moves first, will likely have a big advantage.

Another example of applying the principles, is that this idea was inspired from experience. I’m currently planning a new SEO plugin, and my friend Jacob Share (who teaches folks to find jobs) asked me whether I’d want it coded in a way that enables translated versions. That seemed an excellent idea to me, as my first WP plugin – Internal Link Building (details on V3 here) – got loads of links from around the world, and was even translated into Russian and ported to other CMSes.

If you liked this, get a free chapter from my book on advanced SEO. The text is done, and we’re finalizing the cover for printing .
photo credit: Photospin

Using Google Sitemaps for Competitive Intelligence I’m a big fan of the Google Webmaster Central Program...
Who’s Afraid Of The Big Gray Wolf? 1 in 7 SEOs I’ve been promoting my advanced SEO book‘s free chapter for...
Outsourcing Content Creation Vs. Hiring in House One of the first considerations for a web site owner...
You’re All Wrong! Paid Links From Offtopic Sites Do Count “Paid links from off topic sites get devalued and flagged.”...
No More Link Begging: 4 Engagement Methods for Content-Based Link Building Link begging is the practice of identifying link prospects, usually...

Advertisers:

Text Link Ads - New customers can get $100 in free text links.
BOTW.org - Get a premier listing in the internet's oldest directory.
Ezilon.com Regional Directory - Check to see if your website is listed!
Directory Journal - Get permanent deep links in a search engine friendly directory
Glass Whiteboards - For a professional durable white board with no ghosting, streaking or marker stains, see my Glass Whiteboard Review
Need an SEO Audit for your website, look at my SEO Consulting Services
Link Building- Backlink Build offers 45 PR5+ Backlinks for $295
KnowEm - Protect your brand, product or company name with a continually growing list of social media sites.
Links From PR9 Sites - - Get In Top 3 Google ASAP
Scribe SEO Review find out how to better optimize your wordpress posts.
TigerTech - Great Web Hosting service at a great price.
What Motivates You - what makes you want to get up and be successful

This post originally came from Michael Gray who is an SEO Consultant. Be sure not to miss the Thesis Wordpress Theme review.

Foreign Languages As A Competitive Differentiator

Article Marketing in a Post Panda World

Posted: 24 May 2011 11:30 AM PDT

Article marketing has been one of the foundations of link building ever since I got started in SEO. However, since sites like Ezinearticles and Suite 101 have taken a huge loss in ranking and traffic as a result of the panda update, should article marketing still be a part of your overall strategy? We need to take a step back and look at the big picture to find the answer …

While many people will debate this, I don’t believe sites like Ezinearticles were passing much link equity for quite some time. The links acted more like pointers and helped with discovery. The pages themselves could accumulate trust/authority/pagerank, but they weren’t transferring much of that value to the website linked to in the bio paragraph.

Secondly, if the article was republished somewhere else, it was most likely treated as duplicate content. Ezinearticles had more trust than the almost any other site republishing the article, so they were given credit as the original content “owner”. The real value from Ezinearticles was finding people who were interested in taking your content and publishing it in exchange for a link, then tracking the competition in the space to see what other link building sources/methods they were using.

So should article marketing still be a part of your strategy? Yes–just a much less important one. First, you need to be honest about the quality of the articles you submitted. Chances are good that the $3 articles with 250 words that read like it was written by an ESL student working the night shift at an all night convenience store while his boss wasn’t around isn’t worth spending time/money on anymore. Most article directories have raised the bar for quality while trying to get back in Google’s good graces. So, if you are going to use article directories, you will need to send them higher quality content. Unless you are a brand new website, I wouldn’t create more than 15-20 articles a year: the ROI just isn’t there anymore. Keep in mind that you will have to point links at your articles from a variety of sources if you want them to have maximum effect.

If you are doing any ORM work, article marketing is still viable. Get the person/company name in the title, point a few links, and, unless you are competing against major sources, you should be good to go.

Your link building activities should never be dominated by just one tactic.You need to have a blend/mixture for maximum effectiveness. If you focus on just one technique, you run the ris:k of losing all your rankings if that tactic gets devalued.

So what are the takeaways from this post

Article marketing should still be part of your overall marketing strategy–just a less important one.
Bring the quality of your articles up to good or better.
Submit to 3-4 article directories, not just one.
Submit 15-20 articles per year.
Point links directly at your articles from your website and other sources.
Don’t expect a huge transfer of link equity. Think of it as a “fresh pointer”.
For ORM, article marketing can be used much more aggressively.

Getting More Out of Article Distribution Websites At this stage of the game syndicating your content with...
How Do You Archive Pages on a High Post Volume Website Today’s post is an answer to a question I took...
Andrew Wise of SEOLinkWheelers Talks About the Panda Update The following is a sponsored post. For today’s post we’re...
Forbes Article I’m mentioned in a Forbes article about Google along with...
What is a Compilation Post I came across a post today that was actually pretty...

Advertisers:

Text Link Ads - New customers can get $100 in free text links.
BOTW.org - Get a premier listing in the internet's oldest directory.
Ezilon.com Regional Directory - Check to see if your website is listed!
Directory Journal - Get permanent deep links in a search engine friendly directory
Glass Whiteboards - For a professional durable white board with no ghosting, streaking or marker stains, see my Glass Whiteboard Review
Need an SEO Audit for your website, look at my SEO Consulting Services
Link Building- Backlink Build offers 45 PR5+ Backlinks for $295
KnowEm - Protect your brand, product or company name with a continually growing list of social media sites.
Links From PR9 Sites - - Get In Top 3 Google ASAP
Scribe SEO Review find out how to better optimize your wordpress posts.
TigerTech - Great Web Hosting service at a great price.
What Motivates You - what makes you want to get up and be successful

This post originally came from Michael Gray who is an SEO Consultant. Be sure not to miss the Thesis Wordpress Theme review.

Article Marketing in a Post Panda World

miercuri, 25 mai 2011

SEOmoz Daily SEO Blog

SEOmoz Daily SEO Blog

What Changed Our Minds?

1. Are You Newsworthy? Yes You Are

2. Qualify Your Site

3. Get Your Content Indexed

4. Rise to the Top

5. What About the Results?

Announcing Next Generation Fuel Economy Labels

The President and First Lady Meet the Duke and Duchess

Foreign Languages As A Competitive Differentiator Graywolf's SEO Blog

Foreign Languages As A Competitive Differentiator Graywolf's SEO Blog

Related posts:

Advertisers:

Related posts:

Advertisers:

Pagini

Persoane interesate

Arhivă blog

miercuri, 25 mai 2011

SEOmoz Daily SEO Blog

SEOmoz Daily SEO Blog

What Changed Our Minds?

1. Are You Newsworthy? Yes You Are

2. Qualify Your Site

3. Get Your Content Indexed

4. Rise to the Top

5. What About the Results?

Announcing Next Generation Fuel Economy Labels

The President and First Lady Meet the Duke and Duchess

Foreign Languages As A Competitive Differentiator Graywolf's SEO Blog

Foreign Languages As A Competitive Differentiator Graywolf's SEO Blog

Related posts:

Advertisers:

Related posts:

Advertisers:

Pagini

Persoane interesate

Arhivă blog

Subscribe to