Is SEO BUG-FREE and Happy in 2017?

It has been several years since my last post here. Google killed guest blogging and knocked down traffic to some of my favorite pest control blog sites in the process. So I abandoned my writings that were destined to fall to the back pages of the index where no human eyes would find them. Is there value for writing just for the bots? Is there hope for human connection when rankings will not be had? Alas… is SEO dead?

SEO in 2017

Oddly, I found myself explaining SEO to developer yesterday. And it was refreshing to realize how alive and well the need for SEO still is. Sure the tactics and practices have adjusted but the SEO foundation and work remain largely the same. Perhaps this is even more so the reason for me leaving this site destitute for so long. The excitement and newness was gone. It had become very mundane. Plus with the lack of readers, believers, and other practitioners to cheer me on, the blogging ceased. But I will tell you this, there is still much you may learn from this blog and the posts of the SEO past. Knowing where we came from will help you understand where we are today.

The 6 Keys to SEO that will remain

1 – Content – As the saying goes “Content is King”. While this may still be arguable, it is still relevant. The words, the images, the videos, are the content that makes your website worthy of human eyes. Not to say that all content worthy of being seeing will be seen. I do say, that once seen the content will carry it forward to be seen more or fizzle and die out to be rarely seen again. Content is what people come to consume. If not worthy of consumption, if not easily digestible then content should rot.

2 – Mark-up –  Most markup is hidden from humans. Markup is the code that speaks to bots so they can process, define, format, and present. I include in this meta tags, headers, titles, and most of all Schema (or the next iteration of structured data). In fact, Schema.org markup may already be on its way out. I’d suggest looking into JSON mark up. The internet of things is only made possible by a structured universal language to identify those things, that language is primarily for computer eyes only and is called markup.

3 – User Experience – Humans still need to connect with humans. When it comes to webpages the experience for users most be pleasant so that users will return and bring more users. This includes users of all device sizes, browser types, and sensory shapes. As human expectations change so will user experience. Search bots now make snap judgements based on site speeds, layout of rendered pages, and placement of useful elements on the page. Does your website protect users with its terms of service? Are users secure and computer connecting safe from viruses? Your site will be judged and ranked accordingly.

4 – Keywords – Keywords are the bases for intent. Connecting complimentary intents means pairing a music buyer with a music seller. If the immediate intent is to hire a pest control service then a user won’t likely order a pizza if sent to Papa John’s instead of Bulwark Exterminating. Therefore, understanding and expressing what your website page intends to do (provide pest control in Austin) will help a search engine provide the right results for its users who live in Austin that want to “get rid of scorpions”. Bridging that gap is understand what searches want when they enter a keyword phrase in relation to the keywords targeted by a web page.

5 – Links – Well you can’t just trust any old website on the internet these days. Links are like votes. And popular votes count on the internet. Hence, links will always be a factor in which site to trust and which to not trust. Links today are more loosely defined as mere mentions will cause connections. A phone number can easily be an identifiable link to a specific company. The content surrounding those links builds relevance. If you search for Thomas Ballantyne you will find Bulwark Exterminating in the results and few hyperlinks to Bulwark actually carry the anchor text of “Thomas Ballantyne”. So links and anchor text still matter and will always matter.

6 – Search Engines – Needless to say, that search engine optimization is wholly reliant on search engines existing and being used. But search engines will never go away. Search Engines have grounded their roots in human psyche as follows; to find and learn, to ask and be entertained, to express needs with desires of being filled, to hunt and gather information, and to conquer life. The search engine provides. The Search Engine engages and drives human activity.  Forever more will there be a bot that will search, find, and organize the information world for human consumption. And with that bot, there will be those that seek to provide content for consumption.

3 of My Latest Tips and Secrets of 2017 SEO

1 – History – One of the biggest secrets I have is that history counts. The longer you stay online, the more history you gain. The longer you carry a keyword ranking the better chance you have to keep that ranking going forward. If you have a bad history, it will hurt you. So be consistent with who you say you are and who you really are. Your History makes your Reputation. Reputation is trust. Trust is currency. It is your currency to buy visitors and to gain customers.

2 – Build it right from the start– Let’s say you have a niche that hasn’t broken into the online world yet. (Still happens, as I found out when building a house. Try finding a Phoenix Framer). Being first to break out online gets you results and fast, just for being first. But you are the only runner, so being first in a race of one doesn’t mean you ran a good race. However, if you start racing now and really work at being a top racer, when others join you will have the history and experience to compete. Plus, it can be a distance race. Bulwark in Austin has over 400 online reviews in Google alone, that puts some distance between us and someone starting now. Build your website right from the start and you get distance and not just first place in a one man race.

3 – Visible Reputation Trumps Ranking – 5 little gold stars can take more traffic than the top ranked on the page. A bad reputation on the first page can lose your site traffic when people search for your company by name. And when it comes down to it, people won’t buy if they can’t trust you. Visible reputation can go into how your site simply looks even if you did rank #1 for SEO.

 

Well it feels good to blog again. SEO is alive and well. Your views, shares, and comments are appreciated and help drive more posts and more conversations.

Links, Links, and more Links…

When will this link thing in SEO end? Will it ever end? One thing is for sure, there are a lot of guys still trying to get links. So today I give you a copy of an email sent to me by an SEO company offering their services.

 

__________________________________________________________________

Dear Webmaster,

 

I manage several high reputation affiliate websites and would like to offer you a contextual link exchange deal, which can be done in several ways:

1) Content in exchange for links:

As a company which provides accurate content to our partners, we are now offering to provide you with FREE, relevant and original content articles at any requested field (we have dedicated content writers for this purpose). In exchange we only require 2 text links from each published article for as long the article is published and at the minimum of 2 years. Each article will have a unique content, will be only used only once and will never be given to any of our other partners.

2) Exchange of contextual links:

A simple exchange of links from within relevant text on various pages of our websites. The key words will be pre-selected. We can negotiate the number and quality of pages in which the links will be created.

3) “Partner Page” links:

A very basic level of link exchange, this way we can still establish long-term relevant links, but with lower SEO exposure.

 

Thanks & Regards,

************

Marketing Manager

Providing services since 1996 

__________________________________________________________________

HELLO! He is a spammer. Do you expect anything more than spammy links?

As tempting as it may seem, guys that spam your inbox probably aren’t the most diligent hard working individuals. They want the quick hit and runs. They want the easy way out. They look at mass numbers. You may get a lot of links, but link volume isn’t everything. The days of massive link volumes are gone. You want quality links not quantity of links.

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BBB Gives SEO Advice… Tainted with Black Hat Magic

SEO is becoming mainstream to the business owner. 6 to 7 years ago I would be shocked to find a business owner that new what SEO was. Today I am shocked to find one that doesn’t. The majority of business owners now know they need and want SEO. The problem now becomes understanding what SEO really is, and does a business owner ultimate get his website ranked in Google. Hence the BBB is trying to fill a need for its loyal members by providing a quick and easy guide to getting websites ranked.

Here is the BBB’s article: 5 Steps To Get Your Business On Google’s First Page

Reckless. Very reckless. If only SEO was as quick and easy as a 5 step.

Black Hat Magic

What  irritated me the in this article was the following statement:

“Accredited Businesses who use BBB’s dynamic seal on their website will greatly benefit from bbb.org’s high domain status, thus increasing their own domain authority and search engine ranking.”

What BBB did here is shrewdly ask for a link. Asking for a reciprocal link to be more clear. Further, implicating that by adding a link to the BBB the businesses owner will get better ranks. They even linked to Moz.com within this misguided statement. Was this contrived or is the writer just naive? While this tactic of reciprocal linking isn’t entirely black hat, the fact that the article doesn’t give full disclosure that they are asking for a link makes me cringe.

 

Most Effective SEO Strategies

Despite the BBB’s attempt to gain links from their naive and trusting followers, the BBB did publish a survey with some good percentages for effective SEO strategies. The survey put “Link Building” as the 3rd from the bottom. The respondents felt that “Quality Content Creation” is your best bet for SEO success. Bravo. Take the survey’s advice and work on your content strategy and keyword research. Give users the information they are searching for and your business should reap some SEM benefits. But please understand, SEO is not a quick 5 step project. It’s a competitive world out there, and everyone wants the first page of google.

 

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SEO Karaoke

Yes you’ve got SEO Skillz… Don’t let it go to your head.

Hey it’s Friday!… Just keeping it real.

First Day at Ranked Hard, SEO Comic (Photo credit: ByronShell)

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Tips To Building Online Social Communities

A fellow Bulwark employee and I recently attended AZIMA‘s August dinner event: How To Build Social Communities For Your Brand. The night’s speakers was Kevin Spidel, a self described “recovering political hack” who has extensive experience building and growing online communities in the political realm before doing so for more mainstream clientele.

Though the entire presentation was excellent and worth reviewing if you can find a copy, here were the few takeaways that really stood out to me. (Not all the ensuing content was covered or discussed during the presentation, but has simply served as a foundation for the following thoughts.)

Online communities are not audiences. Like the minions, they need direction and support.

“Communities are not audiences”. This is an important starting point to remember. Communities simply don’t happen. They don’t just appear all of a sudden and coincidentally happen to be comprised of people with strikingly similar preferences, passions or habits. Communities form for a reason. If you’re wondering where a given community is in the consumer funnel, forget it! You’re thinking of a different funnel. So don’t think like that. For that reason, communities do not need to be spoken to. They do not need marketing in the raw sense. They are beyond that point. What it needs is direction and purpose.

“Once you have a brand ambassador, forget a digital strategy. You need a volunteer strategy.” As vendors, or as markers, we easily get wrapped up in numbers. “What’s the ROI from last month?” “How was last month compared to like-month from last year?” “This customer just bought our product. How can up-sale him on additional products or services?” These are all statements that stem from the line of thinking that dwells on numbers and upper-right trending charts. It’s too easy to only view a consumer as a potential repeat consumer. Measureable performance is one thing, but when it comes to an organic community in an online setting, that is simply not the case.

Singer Michael Buble let a fan accompany him on stage for an unstaged duet.

Once you have a self-appointed brand ambassador on your hands, the possibilities are limitless. So, stop figuring out a way to keep selling stuff to that individual and come up with with a plan to empower them as vocalists. Provide a way for them to vocalize and share their experience or opinion. Build them a soapbox that they can stand on and say it in their own words. Better yet, let them borrow your soapbox.

If you think about it, brand ambassadors will continuously and willingly purchase your brand, so don’t worry about that. Your strategy for those consumers should be to help them educate and proselytize within their circles – circles that you most likely don’t even know exist and to which you will certainly not have access.

And, the gem of the night: “Loyalty is lack of a better option”. HALLELUJAH!!!

We as marketers have a propensity to pat ourselves on the back at the thought of how loyal our customers have become. We often credit our elaborate campaigns and strategies as the reason our consumers like our product and service so much that they are unwilling to defect to a competitor, even at the temptation of a lower price or additional perks.

WRONG!

Maybe, just maybe, it’s because they don’t have a better option. Or, said different, consumer’s don’t know they have other options. Every company thinks they provide the best products within their industry. Every pizza parlor thinks and advertises theirs is the best in town. Every bike manufacturer sells the “best bikes in the world”. On top of that, each one of those companies’ marketing campaigns suggest they have successfully conveyed that idea and that is the reason they have as many customers as they do.

Now, let me tell you a different story. A friend of mine has been with his insurance agent for close to 15 years. All his insurance is through the same agent. Minus any catastrophic claims, they’ve been through thick and thin with each other. Their business relationship has even survived the possibility of changing to a competitor based on price….until recently. My friend was recently solicited regarding his policy and this unnamed competitor offered the same coverage, plus additional products at a noticeably lower price. Not just a few dollars, but a considerable sum. My friend even consulted with his long-time agent first, to see if he was able to compete with the new competitor. His agent still could not get within the same ballpark. Given that my friend was actively looking for ways to cut living costs, he has now agreed to terms with a brand new face and a brand new provider. Just like that!

An Ohio native, Lebron James was destined to play for Cleveland his entire career. Until Miami came along with a better offer. Even loyalty has as price.

At the end of the day, doing business with consumers or other businesses comes down to three things: price, results and tolerance. Are consumers comfortable paying the determined price to receive the expected return? Are the results in line with the consumer’s expectation, and within reason relative to the vendor’s price? Does the consumer harbor enough tolerance, mentally and financially, to accept the results (or lack thereof) relative to the price and expectation. When it’s said and done the consumer will ask themselves one thing: “Am I getting what I pay for?” Consumers will be loyal to those that get the job done. End. Of. Story.

Building and nurturing communities within your brand has an intrinsic way of bypassing all of that. Healthy communities are comprised of believers, and even their faith in the brand will be tested. That’s normal. As you continue to educate and monitor your fold, the likelihood grows that their trust and belief in your brand will stand the test of time.

Encrypted_Search_Terms, How am I being found for this?

If you check out the search terms that are being used to find your WordPress blog you may come across this phrase “encrypted_search_terms”. Why? Has your site been hacked? Or are you a sneaky SEO that has been hiding something and you’ve been caught by Google. If you are worried about this term showing up in your wordpress dashboard read on.

WordPress (Photo credit: Adriano Gasparri)

Encrypted_Search_Terms is now my all time biggest traffic term!

It is nice to know what people are finding your site for, so I keep track using wordpresses traffic tools. “Christmas Lights Ditto” has been one of my best search terms ever, but it and others were just passed by “encrypted_search_terms”. But it’s not that I rank for “encrypted_search_terms”, it’s because the search terms the googler searched are actually being encrypted. If you use Google Analytics you will find these terms labeled, “Not Provided”. Per Google it is only going to effect about 10% of your traffic. That was the stat they gave when they first launched this encryption, “to protect the user.” But there are many that report this impact is far greater than 10% and that it is only expected to grow.

Should I be worried about “encrypted_search_terms” showing up on my dashboard?

The term showing up does not indicate anything about your site. You are most likely not being found for that term. This term is now showing up for everyone using WordPress’s site tracking. If you care about knowing how you are being found, then yes you should be a little more than worried about this. Google is taking away search data. If you have been trying to watch your search terms trends then this will be a problem. Your data from year to year will now be flawed, especially if the percentages continue to change.

Here are a few more sources for you to really dive into this discussion:

• Google Introduces New Encryption Process for Organic Search Queries: Results May Vary
• What Google’s encrypted search means for Raven
• Google Introduces New Encryption Process for Organic Search Queries: Results May Vary
• The noticeable (not provided) impact on the Internet marketing industry
• [Keyword Not Provided]: A Deeper Look

Can I get this data back?

No. Sorry, but there is no real solution for you to get the data back. You can run analysis on which pages are being seen most frequently and make inferences as to what terms brought them to those pages. You can pay for pay-per-clicks to find terms that may become hidden. You can ask users to share the data. But there will be no going back to the days that Google shared openly with the webmaster this information.

–

Yelp Penalty – Pest Control to Jewelers

You will find the following “Consumer Alert” on yelp:

We caught someone red-handed trying to buy reviews for this business. We weren’t fooled, but wanted you to know because buying reviews not only hurts consumers, but also honest businesses who play by the rules. Check out the evidence here. ( http://s3-media3.ak.yelpcdn.com/saphoto/RU7bd3h2f6pBlf8BfAyxGQ/o.jpg )

Clicking the link provided will take you to an image caption of the correspondence between the yelp sting operative and the company. This jeweler was offering $200 for a review, per the craigslist post they had created. And apparently they are not the only ones using this technique… per google search for “Craigslist.org Yelp review”:

Does this Yelp Penalty Affect Ranking?

Levi Jewelers still ranks #1 in the yelp search “Jeweler” from a desktop, as of today. It still shows the 5 stars and 91 reviews. ( Interesting to note that they do have 366 filtered reviews. )

When you travel to their page the consumer alert is below the fold:

The mobile version does not currently show the consumer alert whatsoever. And the yelp deal with Levi, one that pays yelp, is still active.

What is the verdict?

Honestly, I think yelp could show some more teeth here. But for the sake of making a public example of this company, I believe they are opting to keep them up. This is also a recent update and I am sure that the future versions of Yelp penalties will be modified. The email correspondence occurred beginning Oct. 11th through Oct. 13th. It appears that it was leaked to the press very quickly and thus the public relations team is getting their message out.

However, from a previous yelp broken filter blunder in which Yelp quickly reacted to remove the reviews, I feel yelp still fails to make a solid stance. Their previous blunder only called for a quick cover up, it did not remove the members who violated the guidelines. Will yelp protect the other members that the Jeweler paid off to get good reviews? Will there be a point when businesses get an advocate to combat yelpers gone wild?

Pest Control Guy Penalized on Yelp for Reviews

Rumor has it that there is a pest control guy that was caught red handed buying reviews on yelp as well. I have not been able to find this bugger. I am shocked however that a Phoenix pest control competitor of mine openly offers a credit for a yelp review on his website. It seems that this should certainly be a red flag for yelp.

“Love Us? YELP! Post a positive comment on YELP and receive $5.00 off any service. Let us know through our Contact Us page”

Apparently a yelp review is only worth $5 for pest control companies. That is a bit shy of the $200 the jeweler is offering and the $100 a restaurant in Sedona is offering.

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Hashtags Trending on Google Plus

3 of 5 Trending Topics on Google Plus Have Hashtags.

Pretty funny considering hashtags are a twitter thing. Perhaps google+ should just copy that as well, oh wait they already did about 4 months ago. Now just wondering when they will add a Red Google+ Bird.

Just goes to show that the Google+ crowd is the same twitter crowd. Are they just copying and pasting their tweets? I wonder who would get dinged for duplicate content in this scenario.

 

English: Google plus one (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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Pest Control Guest Post Opportunites

General rule of thumb,
if they mention you and/or your company,
then you deserve a link.

My boss was interviewed by a big magazine that published both off and online. He gave some great info and insight into running an exterminator business. What he forgot to do was ask for a link. While this should happen naturally from writers/editors, it doesn’t. Perhaps I live in a dream world that would deem that linking to your source as ethical. Maybe I am alone in thinking that writers should know to link out. Perhaps someday, but for now on my boss has been advised to proceed as follows.

ASK FOR THE LINK BEFORE THE INTERVIEW

It’s really very simple boss, when they quote you they need to do the following:

“Adam Seever, CEO of Bulwark Exterminating, says…”

If it’s an exclusive interview of you then they should conclude with an about section or begin with an introduction were they can build up more of your expertise. You can get a few more links in if it’s an exclusive interview.

“Today we are interviewing Adam Seever, CEO of Bulwark Exterminating, who has used database technology to create www.ScorpionReport.org”

In the past I would have pushed for an anchor text link for targeted keywords like pest control , and if I author a guest post for someone then I typically do drop in such a link, but today Google wants to see more of your branded keyword linking to you over heavy anchor text links. You can still accomplish this in an interview if you reference something you have written elsewhere online… “In my recent article on ant control I showed how statistical evaluation of treatments..”

You can also have them drop in easy links under a bio that lead to Find Bulwark on twitter, Follow Bulwark on Facebook: http://facebook.com/bulwarkpestcontrol Read Bulwark’s Blog …

These are just a few thoughts on how to get valid links through interviewing or blogging. But don’t over do your linking. If you submit an article to me as a guest blog post with as many self promoting links as what are in this article then I’d reject your article submission. I think 1-2 selfish links per article is permissible. More links are acceptable if they are not self serving. So if you want to load up a few more links then link to your friends.

Image via Wikipedia

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Want to guest post? Then contact me: @Thos003

Facebook Ads Change with Timeline Layout

Samples of facebook ads and the change that the new facebook timeline layout has on the facebook ad space.

Old Facebook Layout with Traditional Ad Space

Old Facebook Profile

New Facebook Layout with Slimmer Ad Space

New Facebook Layout

Side by Side Mitt Romney Ads

Bulwark Pest Control Ad

110 x 80

Image size in facebook ads are 110 x 80.

Full post on Dream Systems Media : http://www.dreamsystemsmedia.com/blog/index.php/facebooks-new-layout-changes-ad-space/

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