Central Perk

joi, 31 iulie 2014

BBQ, Iced Tea, and the Economy

Featured

President Obama just got back from Kansas City, Missouri, where he grabbed BBQ with some letter writers, picked up an iced tea at Parkville Coffee, and chatted with employees at Peddlers Wagon, a quilt and gift shop.

In the middle of meeting with everyday folks and chowing down on BBQ, the President spoke to a fired-up crowd about the progress our economy has made since he took office and how Republican obstructionism in Congress is hurting hard-working Americans.

He focused especially on how Republicans in Congress continue to do nothing to move this country forward -- like creating jobs or renewing the Highway Trust Fund -- and instead focus on political stunts, like suing the President for doing his job.

Watch what the President had to say, and see how he's continuing to make progress, even without the help of Congress.

President Barack Obama greets audience members after he delivered remarks on the economy at Uptown Theater in Kansas City, Mo., July 30, 2014. (Official White House Photo by Amanda Lucidon)

The Month Google Shook the SERPs

Posted: 30 Jul 2014 05:18 PM PDT

Posted by Dr-Pete

As a group, we SEOs still tend to focus most of our attention on just one place – traditional, organic results. In the past two years, I've spent a lot of time studying these results and how they change over time. The more I experience the reality of SERPs in the wild, though, the more I've become interested in situations like this one (a search for "diabetes symptoms")...

See the single blue link and half-snippet on the bottom-left? That's the only thing about this above-the-fold page that most SEOs in 2014 would call "organic". Of course, it's easy to find fringe cases, but the deeper I dig into the feature landscape that surrounds and fundamentally alters SERPs, the more I find that the exceptions are inching gradually closer to the rule.

Monday, July 28th was my 44th birthday, and I think Google must have decided to celebrate by giving me extra work (hooray for job security?). In the month between June 28th and July 28th, there were four major shake-ups to the SERPs, all of them happening beyond traditional, organic results. This post is a recap of our data on each of those shake-ups.

Authorship photos disappear (June 28)

On June 25th, Google's John Mueller made a surprise announcement via Google+:

We had seen authorship shake-ups in the past, but the largest recent drop had measured around 15%. It was clear that Google was rethinking the prevalence of author photos and their impact on perceived quality, but most of us assumed this would be a process of small tweaks. Given Google's push toward Google+ and its inherent tie-in with authorship, not a single SEO I know had predicted a complete loss of authorship photos.

Yet, over the next few days, culminating on the morning of June 28th, a total loss of authorship photos is exactly what happened:

While some authorship photos still appeared in personalized results, the profile photos completely disappeared from general results, after previously being present on about 21% of the SERPs that MozCast tracks. It's important to note that the concept of authorship remains, and author bylines are still being shown (we track that at about 24%, as of this writing), but the overall visual impact was dramatic for many SERPs.

In-depth gets deeper (July 2nd)

Most SEOs still don't pay much attention to Google's "In-depth Articles," but they've been slowly gain SERP share. When we first started tracking them, they popped up on about 3.5% of the searches MozCast covers. This data seems to only get updated periodically, and the number had grown to roughly 6.0% by the end of June 2014. On the morning of July 2nd, I (and, seemingly, everyone else), missed a major change:

Overnight, the presence of in-depth articles jumped from 6.0% to 12.7%, more than doubling (a +112% increase, to be precise). Some examples of queries that gained in-depth articles include:

xbox 360
hotels
raspberry pi
samsung galaxy tab
job search
pilates
payday loans
apartments
car sales
web design

Here's an example set of in-depth for a term SEOs know all too well, "payday loans":

The motivation for this change is unclear, and it comes even as Google continues to test designs with pared down in-depth results (almost all of their tests seem to take up less space than the current design). Doubling this feature hardly indicates a lack of confidence, though, and many competitive terms are now showing in-depth results.

Video looks more like radio (July 16th)

Just a couple of weeks after the authorship drop, we saw a smaller but still significant shake-up in video results, with about 28% of results MozCast tracks losing video thumbnails:

As you can see, the presence of thumbnails does vary day-to-day, but the two plateaus, before and after June 16th, are clear here. At this point, the new number seems to be holding.

Since our data doesn't connect the video thumbnails to specific results, it's tough to say if this change indicates a removal of thumbnails or a drop in rankings for video results overall. Considering how smaller drops in authorship signaled a much larger change down the road, I think this shift deserves more attention. It could be that Google is generally questioning the value and prevalence of rich snippets, especially when quality concerns come into play.

I originally hypothesized that this might not be a true loss, but could be a sign that some video snippets were switching to the new "mega-video" format (or video answer box, if you prefer). This does not appear to be the case, as the larger video format is still fairly uncommon, and the numbers don't match up.

For reference, here's a mega-video format (for the query "bartender"):

Mega-videos are appearing on such seemingly generic queries as "partition", "headlights", and "california king bed". If you have the budget and really want to dominate the SERPs, try writing a pop song.

Pigeons attack local results (July 24th)

By now, many of you have heard of Google's "Pigeon" update. The Pigeon update hit local SERPs hard and seems to have dramatically changed how Google determines and uses a searcher's location. Local search is more than an algorithmic layer, though – it's also a feature set. When Pigeon hit, we saw a sharp decline in local "pack" results (the groups of 2-7 pinned local results):

We initially reported that pack results dropped more than 60% after the Pigeon update. We now are convinced that this was a mistake (indicated by the "?" zone) – essentially, Pigeon changed localization so much that it broke the method we were using. We've found a new method that seems to match manually setting your location, and the numbers for July 29-30 are, to the best of my knowledge, accurate.

According to these new numbers, local pack results have fallen 23.4% (in our data set) after the Pigeon update. This is the exact same number Darren Shaw of WhiteSpark found, using a completely different data set and methodology. The perfect match between those two numbers is probably a bit of luck, but they suggest that we're at least on the right track. While I over-reported the initial drop, and I apologize for any confusion that may have caused, the corrected reality still shows a substantial change in pack results.

It's important to note that this 23.4% drop is a net change – among queries, there were both losers and winners. Here are 10 searches that lost pack results (and have been manually verified):

jobs
cars for sale
apartments
cruises
train tickets
sofa
wheels
liposuction
social security card
motorcycle helmets

A couple of important notes – first, some searches that lost packs only lost packs in certain regions. Second, Pigeon is a very recent update and may still be rolling out or being tweaked. This is only the state of the data as we know it today.

Here are 10 searches that gained pack results (in our data set):

skechers
mortgage
apartments for rent
web designer
long john silvers
lamps
mystic
make a wish foundation
va hospital
internet service

The search for "mystic" is an interesting example – no matter what your location (if you're in the US), Google is showing a pack result for Mystic, CT. This pattern seems to be popping up across the Pigeon update. For example, a search for "California Pizza Kitchen" automatically targets California, regardless of your location (h/t Tony Verre), and a search for "Buffalo Wild Wings" sends you to Buffalo, NY (h/t Andrew Mitschke).

Of course, local search is complex, and it seems like Google is trying to do a lot in one update. The simple fact that a search for "apartments" lost pack results in our data, while "apartments for rent" gained them, shows that the Pigeon update isn't based on a few simplistic rules.

Some local SEOs have commented that Pigeon seemed to increase the number of smaller packs (2-3 results). Looking at the data for pack size before and after Pigeon, this is what we're seeing:

Both before and after Pigeon, there are no 1-packs, and 4-, 5-, and 6-packs are relatively rare. After Pigeon, the distribution of 2-packs is similar, but there is a notable jump in 3-packs and a corresponding decrease in 7-packs. The total number of 3-packs actually increased after the Pigeon update. While our data set (once we restrict it to just searches with pack results) is fairly small, this data does seem to match the observations of local SEOs.

Sleep with one eye open

Ok, maybe that's a bit melodramatic. All of the changes do go to show, though, that, if you're laser-focused on ranking alone, you may be missing a lot. We as SEOs not only need to look beyond our own tunnel vision, we need to start paying more attention to post-ranking data, like CTR and search traffic. SERPs are getting richer and more dynamic, and Google can change the rules overnight.

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!

LinkedIn: How to spark more engagement with your followers

LinkedIn: How to spark more engagement with your followers

Posted: 29 Jul 2014 01:14 AM PDT

Do you want to create more engagement with your LinkedIn followers?

As we found out in April of this year, LinkedIn company pages underwent a major change. The products and services section was removed, much to people's disappointment as this was a logical place for companies to showcase their products and services. But don't let the fact they’ve disappeared throw you into disarray, LinkedIn still offers plenty of benefits for your company.

Why use a LinkedIn Company page?

LinkedIn is now responsible for a whopping 64% of all visits from social media channels to corporate websites. In contrast, Facebook accounts for around 17% of such visits, while Twitter is a mere 14%.
There are 148 million different industries represented on company pages
There are now over 3 million LinkedIn company pages

So how can we use LinkedIn to engage with our followers?

#1 – Post More

Ever wondered why no one likes or comments on your company updates? A lot of us are guilty of posting LinkedIn updates only once or twice a week, but that is probably why we often see little to no engagement.

LinkedIn has found that 20 posts per month can help you reach 60% of your unique audience. In contrast, when you only post occasionally, your single post only reaches 20% of your audience. Why only 20%? The less frequent you post, the less you’ll show up on your audiences home feed. The more you post, the more chance your updates have of being seen. Don’t post too frequently though as this can be annoying!

If you’re not sure on what to post, I found this infographic that can help you understand the elements of a LinkedIn update.

Key takeaway - A frequent posting schedule will help you reach more people, more often.

#2 – Be More Visual

"A picture is worth a thousand words". It might be a major cliché but this holds truth on LinkedIn. Images make your company page much more attractive to your current and potential followers and as a result, they are more likely to engage with your content.

Don’t forget to use a relevant and compelling image in your banner as well as your updates to boost your visibility to your audience.

Key takeaway: Use a compelling image in your LinkedIn company page banner as well as in your updates.

#3 – Show & Tell

toms video

Online video is growing at a significant rate. Gone are the days when companies could use chunks of text. Users want more creative ways to engage!

1. In 2013, over 52 billion videos were viewed online
2. 52% of customers say that watching videos of products makes them more confident in online purchasing decisions.

There are a variety of ways to take your LinkedIn videos to the next level.

Short Videos

Typically less than 15 seconds, these can be used to focus your message. You can use them to showcase a book, demonstrate how a product works. Vine and Instagram videos work well to create these videos.

Event videos

Think of these as testimonials as opposed to ads. These contain the best parts of your company, your products and your customers. They aren't an outright advertisement.

Interview videos

Q&A videos let you highlight your relationship with industry experts whether you are interviewing a person outside of your company or an employee.

Key takeaway: your followers are looking for something more creative than just paragraphs of text. Mix your page up with videos!

#4 – Showcase Pages

Showcase pages are relatively new and are definitely an exciting addition to this social platform. These pages let you customise your messages and engage different audience segments based on their product interest. For example, Hp have a range of products and they use showcase pages to target their different segments of audience.

Key takeaway: Create showcases to make sure your customers can easily learn about the product or services that interests them the most.

#5 – Engagement

Many of your followers have followed you as a way to interact with you. Ask people questions and reply to their answers. It's a good way to test how people perceive your products or services and can give you inspiration for new products.

Hootsuite posted an update that asked its followers to share the social media story that was most memorable to them in 2013. This is a great way to spark conversations between you as industry experts and your audience.

Key takeaway – LinkedIn may be a professional networking space, but don't forget that it is also a social network. Make that effort to communicate with your followers through updates and responses.

#6 – Add the follow button

LinkedIn's developers page makes it easy to create and add a 'follow us' button to your company website. You simply type your name in the appropriate field, choose your button style and copy the code to your website.

Key takeaway - Take advantage of this resource and let your audience know where they can find and engage with you!

Do you have any tips to add? Have you used any of these tactics on your company page? Let me know in the comments or by tweeting me @KLBennett_

Image Credit

The post LinkedIn: How to spark more engagement with your followers appeared first on White.net.

Seth's Blog : Trading favors

Trading favors

Those people who owe you—because you mowed their lawn, drove carpool, promoted their site, gave them advice, listened to you in the middle of the night—they will probably let you down.

Favors aren't for trading, they wear out, they fade away, they are valued differently by the giver and the receiver.

No, the best favors are worth doing for the doing, not because we'll ever get paid back appropriately.