1. January 2011 – JcPenney and Overstock dramatically fall from page one of the search engine rankings when Google punished them for getting links to product pages from irrelevant sites. Up to 75% of a site’s ranking is based on quality inbound links (that is links from quality websites). However, Google deemed many of the inbound links to JcPenney and Overstock were not quality.

Marketing Tip: Owners need to spend time developing quality content, distributing across a solid distribution network that includes social media, and attracting quality inbound links.

2. February 2011 – Google targeted sites that were full of ads and no real content. This update affected 12% of searches – Wow.

Marketing Tip: Make sure your website and blog are fill with content that is writing for people not just cramming in keywords. Know your marketing message and what type of information your customers are looking for.

3. March 2011 – Google launches Google+1 and incorporates social sharing into the ranking algorithm

Marketing Tip: If you have not yet jumped into social media, but want decent search engine results, then understand the importance of an integrated marketing strategy. Your website, blog, social media, Email marketing should all work together to help increase the relevancy and authority of your web content.

4. August 2011: Google displays expanded site links.

Marketing Tip: Make sure you understand your unique value proposition and how to personalize unique title and description tags for every page of your site. Write in benefit language, not feature language so customers can see the value right off the bat through compelling descriptions on each page.

5. October 2011: Google stops passing search referral data to the destination site (even through Google analytics) if the user is logged into Google. Simply it means that site owners can’t tell what keywords someone searched to get to their website if the viewer was logged into their own Google account.

Marketing Tip: This tip hasn’t really helped marketers other than explaining why the data may have changed recently.

6. November 2011: Most recently, Google’s algorithm has been updated to reward fresh and timely content impacting 35% of all searches.

Marketing Tip: Now then ever it is important to have a website that incorporates a blog and/or fresh content. Business owners need to allocate either time or money to have their website refreshed on a regular basis. Many of MTECH clients have moved from static, HTML sites to custom WordPress CMS sites which allow owners to blog and change photos and content regularly.

Small business owners who think they understand search engine optimization and how to do it should realize and stay tuned into the ever-changing landscape. MTECH is here to assist owners through these techniques, so feel free to contact us for a free consultation/estimate at 970-731-6325.

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In addition, Google Analytics is also releasing a new set of search engine optimization tools that you can view through your Google analytics account. They are now merging Google Webmaster Tools through Google Analytics. The reports are found in the new interface, under the “Traffic Sources” section. Setup requires a Google Webmaster account. After you connect your accounts, the data sharing is almost instant.

A lot of MTECH clients already have a Google webmaster Tools account since it is part of the search engine optimization service built into every new web project. However, having it in one central place makes it handy.

The webmaster tools allow you to view query reports which list the top 1000 queries along with number of impressions, clicks, average position and click-through rate (CTR). In addition, the tools also provide a landing pages report which details how many times your top landing pages were shown in search results, again along with average position and CTR.

Finally, the new tools also show geographical summary which outlines the CTR per country as well as the CTR per device (mobile, web, video, etc…).

MTECH provides web development, search engine optimization, marketing consulting and monthly web reports which highlight trends and summarize the status of your website and social media tools. Our services are geared toward helping the small business owner profit from new digital marketing tools and empower them on how to use them for increasing business success.  In short, MTECH Internet helps business owners traverse the digital divide. Contact us at 970-731-6325 for a free consultation.

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According to the following video, Google made more than 500 modifications to their search algorithm in 2010 alone. Check out the video from Google:

So, what does this mean for small business owners? It is important to have a search engine strategy and evaluate it on a regular basis. MTECH has both empowered business owners as well as set up monthly tracking reports to help small business owners keep track of their ranking. Contact us today to find out how we can help.

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First of all, the +1 feature is being rolled out as an experiment initially. Those who want to use the tool need to create a Google profile or upgrade their current one. Once a user is logged in and clicks on the +1 button next to a search engine result, Google we keep track of that +1 and highlight that search result if it appears for any of that user’s friends for that or a similar search.

In the future, Google could allow companies to add the +1 button to their websites, just like many have the “like” button for Facebook on their sites now. Adding the +1 button on Web sites could draw more site visitors because friends will see personalized recommendations on search results and ads.  AdWords advertisers will automatically see the symbol appear in search ads on google.com. No changes to campaigns are required to add the button. Advertisers will see the button appear in the coming weeks.

So how does all of this impact your business?

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Here is an article published on MediaPost Magazine by Laurie Sullivan:

When the Colorado ski resort Keystone opens for the season in November, it will offer a new experience that ties in social media with radio frequency identification (RFID) technology and location-based services through Facebook and Twitter.

The online and mobile technology platform, EpicMix, connects friends and family on and off the mountain in Vail, Colo. The ski season pass or lift ticket, enabled with RFID technology, puts the skier in the social experience. Ski resorts have relied on RFID to provide access to lifts for years, but when the Keystone Resort opens in less than 38 days, the application will tie into software that connects a community through a portal dashboard online and mobile applications.

RFID readers on the mountains record speeds, run times, performance, and location through software and a semiconductor chip in the lift ticket. To see a map of the runs, skiers simply access the information online or through a mobile phone. The software collects all the information and knows the skier’s endurance level and frequency of visits, providing lead generation for marketers and advertisers.

Skiers can keep track of friends on the mountain and runs on the go either through Android or iPhone applications and location-based services. The mobile app gives tools to message friends and provides weather and traffic updates. Achievements are rewarded through EpicMix pins that skiers can share with friends through Twitter or other social networks, and display online in Facebook. The pins have been created for hundreds of milestones. As accomplishments are achieved, the skier unlocks a new pin that is added to the collection. A trigger allows the skier to share that pin with friends automatically.

The potential to send automated Twitter posts and have them indexed in Google or Bing real-time search engine feeds provides another outlet for marketers to promote the resort. If powder is dumped on the mountains and skiers earn badges, those tweets are picked up by search engines that tell others who monitor the slopes about the beautiful ski conditions.

Technology visionaries in the advertising and marketing space have been talking about this integration for years. Similar to the infamous BMW Mini Cooper ad that identified motorists on billboards driving by, the resort’s application will have an option to experience an intimate relationship with the skier.

Engineers at Odin Technologies designed the back-end software and RFID infrastructure. The data collected through the ultra high-frequency (UHF) RFID tag embedded in the ski lift ticket is filtered through the software’s operating system. Patrick Sweeney, Odin CEO and author of RFID for Dummies, says the technology collects and transfers the data, pulling it into the user interface for skiers to see.

It’s an opportunity for resort marketers and potential advertising partners like Rossignol to communicate with skiers one on one, offering personalized promotions and deals. Skiers opt-in to features depending on their preference. “Within the next five years, every mobile phone will have an RFID reader built in,” Sweeney says. “Apple has two RFID patents, but from what I understand they plan to use near field communication technology, which limits the read range to about an inch.”

After a conversation with his good friend and former Apple CEO John Sculley earlier this year, Sweeney believes Apple could make a major mistake and lose a huge market opportunity with the G5 iPhone by embedding NFC rather than UHF RFID technology.

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Not only should you take this time to check up on your SEO, but you may also wish to consult with an Internet marketer who spends time keeping up with the changes in the SEO market. Contact us for a preliminary review.

Here is another article with some helpful tips:

Yahoo switching to Bing’s technology in the US and Canada is probably the leading search news story of the whole month.

Yes, Yahoo has fully switched to serving Bing results to the U.S. and Canadian searchers. While the average user may not care too much as to who’s providing the results (as long as they’re good of course), this is huge news for search marketers.

We’ll look at how this change affects the search landscape and how you can leverage this for your site a bit later, but first things first.

Today we’re disabling Yahoo! API key in Rank Tracker (which was on by default to let you query Yahoo safely and shield you from ranking dances caused by Yahoo-Bing tests). As soon as you get the new version (restart the tool to auto-update as usual) and run a check you’ll see your Yahoo! rankings change dramatically and become exactly as on Bing (or with some slight alterations).

Whether your positions in Yahoo! rise or fall it’s all because of the switch to Bing technology (this is something you might want to explain to your clients).

If you haven’t been watching your Yahoo rankings and want to learn how this change affected your site, take a peek into the trick that we share at the end of this post. It shows you how to check your old Yahoo rankings. And now let’s see how you can leverage Yahoo’s switch to Bing for your business.

Turn the Yahoo-Bing Merger to Your Advantage

Combined Bing and Yahoo account for about 5.2 billion monthly searches. This is a pretty large traffic pond to tap into (not as large as the ‘Google Sea’, but still). So let’s see how you can leverage the ‘Binghoo’ search traffic.

Since Bing is already serving organic results on Yahoo U.S. and Canada and will be powering all of Yahoo search soon, you only need to concern yourself with optimizing for Bing. Grab top rankings there and you’ll be crowning Yahoo results as well. One shot – two rabbits dead, so to speak. So let’s cut to the chase.

1. Keyword Research

No matter what search engine you’re optimizing for your first step is keyword research. You sure already have a list of keywords that you pursue on Google, but search habits of Yahoo and Bing users are not necessarily the same. That’s why it’s a good idea to use specific keyword research tools for those search engines just to make sure you’re on the right track and check if there are additional keyword opportunities.

Here are collections of Yahoo keyword research tools and Bing keyword research tools (in 2 parts) to help you out.

In case you wonder why you should care about Yahoo keyword tools since it’s Bing that determines the rankings, the thing is Yahoo users will retain their search habits (at least for a while), so Yahoo keyword tools may still be useful.

Depending on the niche there may not be a huge difference in the keywords people use on Google, Yahoo or Bing but it’s still worth investigating.
2. Rankings Check

As soon as you have your list of keywords you need to check where you currently stand in terms of rankings. This way you’ll see how much work is needed to get a decent ranking for each keyword and you’ll learn what webpage ranks best for each term, so you know what page to optimize. So that’s another two-rabbit shot here.

You don’t really need to check your site’s positions on Yahoo as they mirror your Bing rankings.
Checking your Bing rankings is enough. You can quickly do this with the help of Rank Tracker (get a free version if you don’t have one) or with any other ranking tool you use.

Once you know your Bing rankings, compare them against those on Google. If your Google and Bing rankings come close or are the same, you don’t really need to do anything specific for Bing. Just carry on with the SEO work you’re already doing.

If your Bing rankings are considerably lower than your Google positions you’ll need to put in some extra Bing-focused SEO effort.

3. Optimize your site for Bing

If you compare the search results on Google and Bing you’ll see that the two engines rank sites differently. The difference in results suggests that there’s also a difference in ranking factors and the value attached to them.

Among other things Bing tends to put more weight on domain age, topical relevancy and outbound linking. Let’s see what SEO factors play a role in your Bing rankings and how you can optimize your site to drive your website up.

• On-page SEO

There’s no magic bullet for Bing as far as the content optimization goes. Cover the basics and you’re good to go: put out unique content, optimize your page titles, H tags and meta-descriptions, strategically employ your keywords in the body, optimize images and so on. Try to focus on one topic per page as theme relevancy is really important on Bing.

• Relevant Inbound Links

Link relevancy is another key to high rankings on the decision engine. Bing tends to favor links coming from pages with the same or similar topic. Try to acquire links from pages with your targeted keywords in the title, URL, H tags and in the body. Links with your target keywords in the anchor texts are even more effective on Bing than on Google, so be sure to take care of that as well.

• Linking Out

It’s not just who links to you that’s important. Outgoing links are also a factor on Bing. By linking out to authority sites in your niche (where appropriate of course) you increase the authority of your own site and as a result get a ranking boost.

• Blogs vs News Sites

We’ve all heard about Google’s love for blogs because of their fresh content. There are a lot of results from blogs in Google News as well as in the news block in the general SERPs. Bing on the other hand tends to give preference to major news sites. Blogs don’t often make their way into the news sections on Bing, but so if you’re a news blog it may take more effort to get a high ranking on Bing.

• Domain Age

Bing tends to favor old domains even more than Google. The older the site, the more chances it has to rank well on Bing. This tip has not much of a take-away to it, apart from something like: Go, age your domain. Domains are not jeans and the artificial aging trick doesn’t work here, so just sit back and let your domain grow old.

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Well, Facebook just made that decision a bit easier by now Emailing a weekly report of the visitors, fans and posts to your Facebook page.

By comparing this to other website landing pages driven by marketing advertisements, you can start to see how Facebook compares to the amount of traffic it potentially drives to your site as well as how well it connects to your key audience.

If you don’t have a Facebook Page (not profile) yet, you might be surprised how many of your customers are using this vehicle. So, I encourage you to take a little bit of time, set one up and start playing with it.

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View the Report Here

This extensive report shows all the things you need to consider when doing SEO on a website.

Recently, I just got a new client who has been paying thousands every year on SEO from a “large firm”. What amazed me was that this large firm didn’t even do the small basics, such as having unique title tags and description tags on every page nor did they have any “alt” image tags, yet they were charging them every year.

If your web site firm or SEO firm is not spending time explaining what they are doing and equipping you along the way, then you may need to take a second look. Also, make sure your web firm and/or Internet marketing firm gives you a Google analytics login so that you can check results yourself. So many times firms keep charging you without providing continual value.

I have clients that I have equipped along the way so they no longer need my monthly services. It doesn’t bother me since I can proudly say that their web sites continue to give them business long after I am done. They feel great about the “value” I provided and in turn, recommend me to other clients.They also use me still upon occasion when they truly need my expertise.

If marketing firms want to continue to survive over the next decade, they need to learn the importance of empowerment. Otherwise, their reputations will suffer and they will go by the wayside. Marketing firms need to explain how all of these new social media and Internet tools will help companies bottom line as well as listen to the needs of the company or business. If a firm has an owner or staff member who can tweet, blog and post, it is better for them to do it in-house.

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Case in point…many people profess to know about Search Engine Optimization based on articles they read 2-3 years ago. However, if they haven’t been optimizing web sites themselves over the past year, they would not be aware of the profound changes in the industry due to social media outlets.

So, the next time a “friend” or colleague gives you marketing or financial advice, evaluate their lifestyle and business success. Do they truly know and live what they are telling you or is it just a theory based on their own opinion?

MTECH has followed new marketing trends, but holds back on giving a lot of advice until we successfully implement the new marketing strategies and see in real world examples how they fit into the overall picture. For example, you may recognize you need a blog, but if you do not understand how fresh content and engaging with other social media channels affects your blog success, then you will not get the same results that others are experiencing.

Here is a great article from Colorado Biz magazine that speaks to the same issue:

http://www.cobizmag.com/articles/how-to-think-like-a-billionaire/

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These “friendly” strategies include but are not limited to:
1. Well-written title tags and description tags that are not too long or too short.
2. Make sure all of your website images have “alt tags” that contain your keywords.
3. Work on getting quality “inbound” links from web sites. Those are links from other websites that link to yours. However, understand that not all links are weighed the same. A website with a higher Google Page Rank will be worth 5-10 links of smaller web sites that have little Page Rank. For example, a link from your Town’s website or Chamber of Commerce will be worth more than a link from a small plumbing company web site that has barely any traffic.
4. A blog that has new articles on a regular basis. Make sure you have links from your blog back to your website and there is a link in many of the articles as well.
5. Updating new content on your website on a regular basis.

SEO is an moving target. Strategies that worked just 6 months ago may not be working as well today, especially those by “SEO firms” that try to “trick” the system. If you produce quality content and spend time and effort of increasing quality in-bound links, your results will pay off!

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