Era Webtech Solutions Pvt. Ltd.

04/06/2014

03/06/2014

Windows 8 overtakes Windows 8 in desktop OS arena

Windows 8.1 is now more dominant than its predecessor, at least based on all desktop OS traffic seen by Net Applications.
For the month of May, Windows 8.1's share inched up to 6.35 percent from 5.88 percent in April. That gave it just enough of a nudge to steal third place from Windows 8, which earned a 6.3 percent share, down from 6.36 percent the prior month.

Windows 8.1's gradual ascension over its predecessor in the desktop market should hardly come as a surprise. Launched last October as a free update, Windows 8.1 added several features

02/06/2014

Fetch as Google Adds Page Rendering

Google has announced an addition to the Fetch as Google tool in Webmaster Tools, allowing webmasters to render their webpage as Googlebot sees it and address any issues.

When selecting the Fetch and Render option, you have the option to have Googlebot fetch as Desktop, Mobile: Smartphone, Mobile: XHTML/WML or Mobile: cHTML. This option will help webmasters determine if there are any issues with the mobile version versus the desktop version of the site, as well as identify rendering issues.

The new Fetch and Render option takes longer than the usual Fetch option, which checks the crawlability of your site and then lets you submit pages to Google's index.

02/06/2014

Google May Be Pushing Out A New Update: Possibly Penguin?

I am seeing very early signs of another possible Google update both based on chatter at the Webmaster World and in other forums and social media spaces. I am also getting private data shared with me by those who are tracking this closely.

Update: Google tells me this is not Penguin or any spam quality control change.

The feeling is that Google is testing a new Penguin refresh and that it may be rolling out slowly. Or that it might be something else. So you know, we had a Panda 4.0 update last week, and then last weekend (before Panda 4) we had a Spam algorithm update. Prior to that we reported on tons of ranking shifts which Google denied despite all the signs of an update.

And now, we are seeing something rolling out yesterday, that had big impacts on some sites.
Here are two graphs of sites impacted by a few things, including Penguin and notice the spikes in both over the past couple days:

29/05/2014

The Indirect SEO Benefits Of Guest Posting

If you follow the world of search engine optimization (SEO) at all, you know about Matt Cutts’ January 20, 2014 post, The Decay and Fall of Guest Blogging for SEO. For many people, this was a shock; but frankly, it was inevitable. Then, on March 19th, Google Penalized MyBlogGuest.

This shocked people even more, largely because MyBlogGuest was in no way designed with spammy goals in mind. However, it appears that people were using the platform to do some spammy things; so, regardless of the design intent of the site, Google decided to take it out. For the record, I expect that some guest posting practices and sites will take more hits during the course of this year.

One of the biggest problems with the practice of guest posting for SEO was the way people were approaching it. Many people were following the goal of pursuing the maximum number of different domains. This inevitably led to problems.

29/05/2014

Google’s Matt Cutts: One Page With Two Links To Same Page; We Counted The First Link

Google’s head of search spam Matt Cutts posted a video today answering how does Google handle one page that has two links pointing to the same page. Does it pass PageRank the same way? How does Google handle the anchor text, if the anchor text differs.

In short, Mat Cutts said:

(1) PageRank flows to each link individually as it would any other link on the page, at least according to the original PageRank document.

(2) Anchor text may vary depending on time. Matt said, last time he looked, which was in 2009, they only counted the anchor text from the first link. But he said that may change that over time; in fact, he said it may not work that way now. This means, if you have two links to the same page from a specific page, but the anchor text in the first is different than the last, Google in 2009 would have used the first link’s anchor text.

27/05/2014

SEO vs. SEM Timelines: A Medical Analogy

Marketing directors and search engine optimization (SEO) consultants are often questioned by their bosses and clients about the progress of their SEO campaigns. Most business owners don't understand how SEO works and, quite frankly, could care less.

Nonetheless, they know it's important and just want to see results. Unless you're ingrained into an industry or market, it's tough to comprehend how effective certain strategies are and when those results can realistically be expected.

SEO = Antibiotics

SEO is a long-term tactic that requires a solid foundation and consistency over time. When you get sick or have an infection, antibiotics aren't going to provide instant relief. As you begin to take the antibiotics, it may seem as if nothing is happening, but you must believe in what the doctor suggests and take the medication as prescribed.

SEM = Pain Meds

Happy PillsSearch engine marketing (SEM), or paid search advertising, can satisfy the demand for instant gratification.

Let's say you are in the doctor's office for an ear infection. The pain is unbearable and you need relief.

27/05/2014

The Link Graph Conundrum: Why Citations Remain Critical to SEO Survival

It's a popularly held belief that the link graph is broken. This post will explore the roots of the problem, and why it is such a tough problem for Google and Bing to resolve.
It all starts with the original Larry Page - Sergey Brin thesis. At the time they were developing this concept, the leading search engines of the time were almost solely dependent on keyword analysis of the content on your page to determine rankings. Spammers had so thoroughly assaulted this model that change had become an imperative, lest the concept of a search engine go the way of the dinosaurs.

Here are a couple of key sentences at the beginning of the thesis:

The citation (link) graph of the web is an important resource that has largely gone unused in existing web search engines. We have created maps containing as many as 518 million of these hyperlinks, a significant sample of the total. These maps allow rapid calculation of a web page's "PageRank", an objective measure of its citation importance that corresponds well with people's subjective idea of importance. Because of this correspondence, PageRank is an excellent way to prioritize the results of web keyword searches.

26/05/2014

Easy Landing Page Testing Using Double Click Search

As advertisers, we have a lot of questions.

What type of messaging motivates users to act?
Is my CTR higher this week than it was last week? Why is that?
Yes, I know Bob, we've got a good landing page, but how can it be better?
The string of questions is never-ending, but it is all part of how we evolve to become better advertisers – who can pivot quicker, work more efficiently, and provide deeper insight at a moment's notice.

26/05/2014

YOUR PRESS RELEASE AND GOOGLE: THE BRAVE NEW WORLD OF SEO

For years the press release has served us well as an effective way to share content, inform stakeholders, drive traffic to websites and improve search engine visibility. Nothing has changed here.

What has changed is Google’s updated Webmaster Guidelines about optimized anchor text in articles or press releases distributed on other sites such as a newswire. In its Link Schemes document, Google says that unnatural “low-value” links – those that are strictly intended to drive traffic to a website or get PageRank from a paid medium such as a press release– are self-serving advertising and will not pass PageRank. A “nofollow” link (rel=”nofollow”) is recommended in all optimized anchor text links in press releases.

22/05/2014

Mobile, Content & Advanced SEO. How To Prepare

What does it mean to be “mobile ready”? You might say having a mobile responsive site — and that’s certainly part of it. But there’s much more that goes into ultimately creating an excellent website experience for your ever-expanding and ever-discerning mobile user base.

It’s a fact that people are starting to use smartphones as the go-to device. According to Google’s 2013 Mobile Search Moments study, 77% of mobile searches occur at home or work, even when a PC is likely nearby.

We know that smartphones are often used as a multitasking accessory to other devices as well, with 82% using them alongside other forms of media, according to Google’s Our Mobile Planet report.

22/05/2014

Google Updates “Panda” Filter, Impacts 7.5% Of Search Results

Yesterday, Google has made a significant change to their Panda filter, named Panda 4.0. This is the biggest update to the Panda algorithm in ages and may be the cause of some ranking changes you may be noticing in Google today and throughout the week.

Google’s head of search spam, Matt Cutts announced on Twitter that the update Panda filter began rolling out yesterday. Here is Matt’s tweet: