Over the weekend, I’ve been getting lots of questions from webmasters if I noticed a Google update starting late Friday into Saturday and Sunday. Truth is, yea, there is higher than normal webmaster chatter around changes in the desktop search results, unrelated to mobile results.
The chatter is supported by the various tracking tools including MozCast, Algoroo, SERP Metrics, SERPs and others as well
https://www.seroundtable.com/google-weekend-update-20212.html
Google announced it is making two significant changes to its search algorithm for ranking the mobile search results.
Google will be using mobile-friendly factors in its mobile search results starting on April 21, 2015, and it will rank mobile apps participating in App Indexing for signed-in users better in the mobile search results starting today.
This might be a “Duh!” point to be making, but lots of beginners tend to create personal profiles for their brand instead of a Facebook Page. This is an old habit and an important one to break. If you’re one of those website owners to manage a personal profile instead of a Facebook Page, consider switching and starting off fresh in 2015. There are lots of benefits to managing a Page (aside from the fact that using a profile for business is against Facebook’s terms of use) that can actually help you grow your business.
I made this #2 instead of #1 because I really want nothing to get in the way of having you create a Facebook presence. Unless you know for a fact that Facebook isn’t a good investment of your time (which you may not know till you give it a try and check your AddThis analytics), it’s good to start creating a community in one of the world’s top social networks.
Just because you built it, doesn’t mean they’ll come without some spreading of the word. Add follow buttons to your site and newsletter, and even ask your audience to Like your Page. Word of mouth is also your friend, so encourage your audience to spread the word, especially when you’re starting, and don’t be afraid to reward them if you can. This is an easy ask, and one that many people would be willing to help you with. And if you have some money, you can try paid promotions to get your Page out there.
Building a community takes a lot of trial and error to get it right, so it’s ok for there to be little engagement with your community in the beginning. Now’s the time for you to test, regroup, and test again. Watch out for active and passive feedback from your community. You can ask them for feedback specifically, but also watch to see which posts get the most engagement. Likes are a good signal, but comments and shares are even stronger. You can even see how much they liked (or disliked) your content by how many shares that page received. Your AddThis analytics will tell you.
Learning from your audience is a never-ending game—it shouldn’t be. Your audience can change as your business changes, so once you find a sweet spot with your crowd, don’t box yourself into a normal routine. Always try new things, change it up, and see if your audience reacts favorably. People love seeing new things from brands, so see this as an opportunity to build a closer relationship with your brand advocates.
How To Generate Content Ideas That Result In Links, Leads & Shares
You’re an expert about a lot more topics than you probably think — topics you could cover in engaging and interesting online content.
Does this idea surprise you? Well, have you had spectacular successes in business? Embarrassing failures? Have you learned lessons along the way?
There are probably more ways for you to create useful, actionable content based on your own experiences than you realize.
In fact, sharing your personal knowledge about a topic — the specific things you do well, the processes you’ve used that have worked well, and the things you’ve tried that didn’t succeed, etc. — is a great way to attract the attention of thought leaders and prospects. And that attention will likely result in links that build your authority and improve your rankings in the SERPs.
Some of the most successful content creators use this technique consistently. Check out my full column on Marketing Land where I’ll share the questions you can ask of yourself (or your business) to come up with great content ideas based on what you already know.
There is a short but informative post by Google’s John Mueller in the Google Webmaster Help forum on the topic of blocking Google from seeing content on a specific page.
John explains there are many ways to block Google from indexing your page but the technique would be different based on the time period you want something blocked from indexing. Often I see that webmasters are confused about how to handle this, so here is John Mueller’s advice:
https://www.seroundtable.com/google-blocking-spiders-temporarily-permanently-20091.html
Google Panda is the April Fools’ joke you wish was a real product
It’s already April Fools’ Day in Japan and Google isn’t wasting any time.
In a video posted to Google Japan’s YouTube page, the company introduced Google Panda, its new adorable take on voice-enabled search.
“Google Panda is engineered with state of the art emotional and conversational intelligence,” promises vice president of engineering, Chris Yerga, in the video. “All you have to do is speak your mind.”
Later, a Google engineer takes the stage to walk through the design inspiration (a real-life panda, of course) and the various features of Panda, which include its extra cute, mobile and shock-absorbing abilities. In keeping with Google’s tendency to make devices in multiple sizes, Panda is available in the “compact” Google Panda 5 and Google Panda 6.
http://mashable.com/2015/03/31/google-panda/
Acme Graphix 