It’s perhaps had one of the biggest impacts we’ve seen for a while from a Google update but that was entirely its intention, to begin stamping out the sort of black hat tactics that boost poor quality sites above those who choose a more ethical approach.

Penguin and Panda. What’s the difference?
The Panda update is the newest of the two and it looks specifically at the quality of your links. For the marketers out there who don’t know what this means; links to your website are good and give the impression that other web users like your content enough to point to it via a link on their site/blog/comment etc thus indicating high quality.

BUT there are many unscrupulous folk out there who have been selling links to site owners in the hundreds and thousands for a set fee, these links are not quality as they have no real relevance to your site nor has a conscious decision been made based on the user’s requirements.

Google has always has processes in place to identify these low quality links and discount any boost they may have given to the site’s ranking as well as penalizing the sites of those selling links. With Penguin, Google has taken this a step further and is actually penalizing sites that appear to have engaged in link buying.

Before Penguin, the action was only penalized the seller for selling and not the buyer for buying. Worst case for the buyer, they lose the potential rankings boost and are a few quid out of pocket. Now there is a much stronger deterrent to buying in the first place which is a good thing for all the sites out there who take the time and trouble to create good content that users actually want to find and promote on their own networks. It’s great news for marketers and PROs as it puts a lot more of the weight of attracting traffic onto engaging content and effective marketing to gain high quality links.

I’ve seen a few companies bemoaning the update’s negative impact on their site, apparently the fact they’ve been buying links for years is grounds enough to continue doing so. Just because it’s taken Google a while to work out how to catch them doesn’t mean it was ok in the meantime.

As a compliment, Google also release two tweaks to its Panda update which was launched a year ago and targeted low quality content, laden with keywords and very little else. The update had a huge impact and really cemented the notion that quality was indeed better than quantity and saw the worst hit sites have to work hard to clean up their acts.

The two changes were positioned either side of the Penguin update which I personally feel was a stroke of genius as penalized sites didn’t know which one they had been hit by. (At least, those who had poor quality content AND paid-for links didn’t know which one had found them).

The bottom line is it doesn’t matter, Google’s message is clear; if you’re investing in good content that’s marketed and shared well you won’t be affected.

SEO isn’t about easy fixes and quick wins, it’s about making good content visible to Google so it can promote it to users that want to find it. This takes a bit more time and effort but the rewards are much more substantial and requires both sides to work together. I personally hope Google continues to make these improvements and pushes ownership of web visibility more towards the marketers who know what their customers want.

If you want to find out more about SEO listen to the Digital Marketing Podcast – Out favourite SEO myths and mistakes

Written by Felice Ayling

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Post tags: google, marketing

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While the store is specifically for apps that integrate with Facebook, its aim is not to compete with Apple’s app store or Google Play and in fact once a user selects an app to download they are taken to the relevant store to finalise the transaction.

However there are two reasons why Facebook’s some 900 million users may prefer to select their apps from the new store; firstly the store only stocks apps that work with Facebook’s Connect function which makes interconnectivity a breeze and secondly apps are displayed not only by user rating but also based on the account holder’s interest history which makes the top rated selection much more relevant and personalised. Users can browse apps that are compatible  with their device so they only see the apps they can actually use.

Facebook app store preview

The store also offers greater opportunities for developers around pricing and charging for apps. Up to now, apps have generated income through in-app purchasing in games such as Farmville where users pay real cash for virtual goods. Now Facebook will allow developers to charge one-off prices for users to access the app’s features.

One of the benefits to Facebook is that it acts as a giant sandpit for developers to try and test a whole host of features which can add to the Facebook experience without Facebook itself having to change. And as seen recently with the purchase of Instagram, if an app does particularly well and proves popular with users Facebook can pick it up and fully integrate it.

One area this could really benefit is Facebook’s mobile offering which it has openly admitted is a problem area. In a recent statement to potential investers Facebook stated “If users increasingly access Facebook mobile products as a substitute for access through personal computers, and if we are unable to successfully implement monetisation strategies for our mobile users, or if we incur excessive expenses in this effort, our financial performance and ability to grow revenue would be negatively affected.” This was quite a bold and frank admittance given the company’s current position but the fallout could create some very real opportunities for developers to create new features which could fill this void.

The company is clearly looking for improvements in this area and the app store is the perfect place to showcase and test out new ideas at very little initial cost to the company, only shelling out once an app is tried and tested.

In a recent post on Facebook’s developer blog, Aaron Brady said that the app centre is expected to launch ‘in the coming weeks’ and is calling for anyone interested in submitting an app to do so now via its Facebook Developer App.

It also wants to test the notion of paying a flat fee to access app features and is calling for users to sign up for the beta programme.

It’s a creative approach to solving a significant problem and provides developers with the chance to get their app seen but it’s the users who decide which ones they want to see grow into a fully fledged Facebook feature.

Written by Felice Ayling

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Post tags: apps, facebook, mobile

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Unsurprisingly it hasn’t come from the Information Commissioner’s Office but from the International Chamber of Commerce. However, it by no means offers a comprehensive how to which so many organisations have been hoping for. David Evans from the ICO explained that the “ICC UK guidance provides organisations with a good starting point from which they can work towards full compliance.” Not exactly what we wanted to hear but a starting point is certainly better than previous so called guidance.

The ICC have broken down the guidance into four categories describing how to tackle each set of cookies depending on their relationship to the aspects of your website and how important they are to the user experience.

ICC Cookie Guide

The four categories are:

Category 1: Strictly necessary cookies

Category 2: Performance cookies

Category 3: Functionality cookies

Category 4: Targeting cookies or advertising cookies

Category 1: Strictly necessary cookies

These cookies are essential in order to enable you to move around the website and use its features, such as accessing secure areas of the website. Without these cookies services you have asked for, like shopping baskets or e-billing, cannot be provided.

Category 2: Performance cookies
These cookies collect information about how visitors use a website, for instance which pages visitors go to most often, and if they get error messages from web pages.
These cookies don’t collect information that identifies a visitor. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. It is only used to improve how a website works.

Category 3: Functionality cookies
These cookies allow the website to remember choices you make (such as your user name, language or the region you are in) and provide enhanced, more personal features. These cookies can also be used to remember changes you have made to text size, fonts and other parts of web pages that you can customise.

Category 4: Targeting cookies or advertising cookies
These cookies are used to deliver adverts more relevant to you and your interests They are also used to limit the number of times you see an advertisement as well as help measure the effectiveness of the advertising
campaign.

One of the most useful things the guidance does is help the reader to understand how to identify and categorise the cookies they use, giving examples of when and where they might be stored. It also attempts to give some real life examples of how to gain permission but with a realistic understanding of the impact this may have.

There is even some assistance around how to word consent requests so that users can understand what they are agreeing to.

All in all it’s a great step forward but there is undoubtedly going to be a fair amount of trial and error before we get a grip on the problem.

Dave Evans recently spoke with Econsultancy and gave an interesting insight into his take on how the new law should and could be implemented. His words were reassuring and focused on stroking a balance between providing clear information to the user and minimising the impact on the company.

He makes an interesting point around the notion of ‘implied consent’ and how this would become more reliable as time goes on. With the increase in communication around cookies, what they are and what they are used for  between website owners and their users, there will come a time when an awareness of the use of cookies becomes assumed. This will then begin to lessen the responsibility on website owners and move towards a balanced relationship.

The particularly good news is that the ICO isn’t planning to come down hard on those who fail to comply with the guidance as long as some effort has been or is being made. Instead the ICO will aim to advise companies around compliance as well as placing some responsibility on the user to educate themselves about the power they have to control data being stored about them.

Dave makes some interesting points and also talks about some examples of compliance already in place. It’s certainly worth a read and sits nicely alongside the ICCs Cookie Guide.

When there are penalties for non compliance, most of us prefer a set of rules we can follow so we know we’re covered and Dave’s statement is far from straightforward. But the clear message seems to be that the progression of the new directive needs to be a collaborative one and as long as your trying you won’t face penalties.

As the deadline gets closer we will no doubt see a lot of discussion and mixed opinions about how this will impact on our businesses, but the main message seems to be don’t panic, communication is the key.

Written by Felice Ayling

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Post tags: best practice, cookies, privacy

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Episode 64, Ciaran speaks to Matthew Yeomans from Social Media influence, and the man behind a brilliant new Ebook #Fail The 50 Greatest Social Media Screw-Ups and how to avoid being the next one which Matthew Co authored with fellow Social Media Inflluence co-founder Bernhard Warner.

Matthew walks us through some of the most famous social media fails, and we ask him what common factors these digital PR disasters have in common and the a look at the checks and systems we should all be putting in place to avoid stepping on the same PR landmines.

Get your copy by searching Amazon or visit:-

http://socialmediainfluence.com

Cover of Book graphic

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Daniel’s Bio/a>

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Editor: I still love Dropbox and won’t be switching. See my comments at the bottom of the page for some reasons why…

It’s not that Google Drive does anything particularly spectacular that Dropbox doesn’t, it’s that it does it all for a much lower price and with a higher memory allocation on the free version.

For starters Google Drive offers 5GB of memory free, compared to 2GB on Dropbox, and once the paid for version kicks in you have two options – 25GB for $2.49 and then $4.99 for a whopping 100GB! Dropbox kicks in at $9.99 for a measly 50GB so no contest on that front.

But as with all recent Google updates, the service works seamlessly with your Google experience, interacting with G+ and Gmail to make sharing documents effortless.

There’s also a handy feature that can convert scanned documents into text so it can be searched along with other documents. You can even take a picture of a document and convert it to a text file and make changes.

Plus you don’t need to worry about having the right software for each file, you can open up to 30 different document types in your browser without having the programme installed.

There is also a live sharing feature which allows you to collaborate with your contacts in real time, showing updates as they happen which could see an end to endless versions and tracking changes which circulating documents back and forth.

And at the risk of sounding like a sycophant, the added feature of saving previous versions just in case you find you’ve changed something you shouldn’t is something I’ll be making use of as soon as it’s available.

As always, Google have created a handy little film showing off the main benefits.

Google Drive is not available to everyone yet and there’s no real idea of when it will be. You can register though to receive a notification when your drive is available. The bad news for iphone users though is that it’s not available on iOS yet but Google is promising it soon will be.

Editor: Check out this comparison of different online storage services privacy policies. Google Drive suddenly not so attractive….http://p.twimg.com/ArVvfLICIAAMuVM.png

Written by Felice Ayling

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Post tags: cloud computing, google

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Episode 63, We are back again with another round up of our favorite Digital marketing tools and juicy orange-y nuggets that we have uncovered on our travels. We hope to have something for everyone in this latest round up of digital marketing tools covering everything from Advanced Analytics, to Social media management, mobile website and email marketing. we also take a look at some great productivity and organizational tools and have thrown in a lucky orange for good measure… Blimey… it could almost be Christmas…. Give them all a go…

Lucky Orange- See hour your visitors actually use your website
http://www.luckyorange.com/

Wire Node – build a mobile version of your website.
http://www.wirenode.com/

Live Fyre- Blog commenting and social network sharing tool
http://www.livefyre.com/

Conversocial- Deliver great customer service on Facebook and Twitter
http://www.conversocial.com/

SG Plus- Put all your social networks in one place one
http://sgplus.me/

Google Inside Search- Get information on Google’s newest search features and learn tips from basic to advanced.
http://www.google.com/insidesearch/

Email on acid- Preview your email in 48 variations of the most popular email clients and mobile devices
http://www.emailonacid.com/

Clearly ( Evernote) Web extension-Clearly makes blog posts, articles and webpages clean and easy to read. Save them to Evernote to read them anywhere.
http://www.evernote.com/clearly/

Astrid- Astrid To-do: Personal Organization + Group Collaboration
http://astrid.com/

Things- Simple task management for the web
http://culturedcode.com/things/

Xmind – which they describe as “ The world’s coolest brainstorming and mind mapping software and the best way to share ideas.” check it out and make up your own mind.
http://www.xmind.net/

Ibook Author- create stunning iBooks textbooks, cookbooks, history books, picture books, and more for iPad.
http://www.apple.com/uk/ibooks-author/gallery.html
http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/ibooks-author/id490152466?ls=1&mt=12

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How to get in Touch:

daniel@targetinternet.com

http://www.twitter.com/danielrowles

http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Digital-Marketing-Podcast-2785308

http://www.facebook.com/digitalmarketingpodcast

http://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-digital-marketing-podcast/id373596600

Daniel’s Bio/a>

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Using additional HTML tags to highlight key pieces of content in SERPs isn’t a new thing, there have been a variety of different ways to use structured data markup for a while. But now the main search engines, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo, have come together to produce a consistent language that can be read and interpreted by all search engines, meaning your rich snippets will display across all searches and not just one particular search engine.

For anyone not familiar with microdata, it’s the extra useful bit of info that appears alongside a search result. It could be a product review, details on the author of a post or event details such as time and place. Having this information display in the results means users can more quickly identify relevant results and improve CTR for webmasters. It also allows Google to identify the content on your site that is most relevant to the search query.

Google has a great video introduction to rich snippets along with more specific insight into the different types.

The example below shows how this data can make a search result more useful. The top result is from the BBC and is a perfectly acceptable result for a recipe for shepherds pie but the second and third results include rich snippets from the page itself which include an image, reviews and the third result includes a link to the author.

While BBC food appears higher in the results, the 2nd and 3rd most likely are seeing higher CTRs as they contain more information and grab the user’s attention.

It’s still relatively early days especially for the newly agreed collaborative approach but from some of the initial reports coming out, many companies have reported a 20-30% increase in CTRs since using rich snippets which makes it something to consider for your site.

Adding this kind of data to a result is now even easier using the standard collection of html tags known as schemas. Schemas provide a shared markup vocabulary that can be used by all webmasters an understood by the main search engines. The current types include:

• Events
• Organisations
• People
• Place, local business, location
• Product, offer
• Reviews and rating

There are many others and these can all be found at schema.org where you can explore the various types and help to yourself to the appropriate code. If you need a little extra help you can also use schema creator which will generate the code for you.

Google have a lot of useful resources in their webmaster tools around rich snippets, microformats and microdata and they have provided a rich snippets tools to allow you to test how your site will display in the search results once you’ve included the code.

This comes with a firm warning from Google though to anyone attempting to apply microformats inappropriately, with more weight being added to this in Google’s algorithm, so the penalty for trying to con the search engines gets higher. If your content type isn’t covered, do nothing, it soon will be and in the meantime your competitors won’t be using it either.

Written by Felice Ayling

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Post tags: google, usability, web site optimizer

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Episode 62, Continuing our exploration of analytics, Daniel and Ciaran discuss Attribution Modelling, the science behind understanding and solving the universal cry of “Which marketing spends and activities results in our sales?” We explore what Attribution modelling is? How it helps? How can you implement it effectively? and briefly discuss researching the fabulous fandango tools that are there to help you achieve this marketing sales utopian nirvana:-)

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daniel@targetinternet.com

http://www.twitter.com/danielrowles

http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Digital-Marketing-Podcast-2785308

http://www.facebook.com/digitalmarketingpodcast

http://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-digital-marketing-podcast/id373596600

Daniel’s Bio

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