Our Marketing Blog

Our industry is ever-changing. Get insights and perspective from our experts as we share our knowledge and experience on how to successfully navigate the marketing landscape.

Greg Faucher

Recent Posts:

An Easy Guide to Discovering Content Ideas

Two of my favorite things, outside of my wife and daughter (of course), are 1) beer and 2) creating content from high volume keywords. I can hear you saying, “Really, Greg?” and I would say, “Yes, really.” So, what a better blog topic that combines these two and gives some tips for creating content that people actually want to read? You might have guessed, but I’m a beer snob. I used to be ashamed to admit that because I hate being trendy, but I can’t hide the fact that 2017 is the height of craft beer mania. Check out how the term “craft beer” has trended since 2004 according to Google Trends. Craft beer may as well be Taylor Swift, pointy fake nails, Herschel bags, or one of those undercut haircuts with a tiny ponytail on top.* *For the record, I’m currently drinking a Lamplighter Stardust IPA brewed with Simcoe, Summit, and Amarillo hops. I love Lamplighter Brewing Company in Cambridge, Massachusetts (Lamplighter employees: Hit me up to coordinate my free cases). Cool chart, huh? It's free courtesy of the Googs' Trend tool. You can get a graph on anything you want there. Let’s imagine I came up with the really unoriginal idea to start a beer blog. For the sake of this blog, let’s assume I want to be a source of education for beer newbies. So, where do I start? I can hear you saying, “Greg, it must be really overwhelming to figure out what to write about, right?” And I would say, “Wrong.” With the right (mostly free tools) and a little bit of SEO know-how, you can figure out exactly what you should be writing about and how to drive traffic to your site over time. The best part is - it’s all based on real data and what people really want. I bet a lot of beer newbies see a porter and a stout as being similar. Looking at Google Keyword Planner, we can see that “porter vs stout” gets 5400 searches per month. BAM! I’ve written my first article entitled “What is the Difference Between and Porter and a Stout?” For those of you who aren’t aware, Google Keyword Planner is linked to an existing Adwords account. If an Adwords account doesn’t exist, there’s a great free keyword research tool through “The Hoth.” When should I write this article? In the chart below, it looks like search interest around the term “stout” peaks in the cool/cold weather months - not surprising since a stout is a hearty beer. It’s also not a surprise that searches peak around St. Patrick’s Day. Guinness is a stout and it’s one of the most famous Irish beers. With this knowledge, I’ll likely publish my article in the fall, and then maybe I’ll do another feature on stouts around St. Patrick’s Day. BAM! Who am I? Emeril Lagasse? Punch me… Ok, so now my mind is working. What about summer beers? I see a lot of people drinking shandy-style beers in the summer. Since I actually have no idea what a shandy is, I’m going to Google “shandy” now. Based on Google’s “Auto Complete,” many other people have the same curiosity as I do:   Based on this tip, I confirm that many people are curious to know what a shandy is. After doing some keyword research, I see that 1600 people per month type in the exact query “what is a shandy?” Sweet.  Check out the shandy search trends below. There’s no surprise that queries around “shandy” peak in the summer since it is a light, fruity, and refreshing beer. Search data is great and all, but what is actually resonating with the public? What have people been sharing over the past year? Using BuzzSumo (which just got acquired by Brandwatch), we can see the most shared content pieces pertaining to a given topic over a preselected period of time. I love using this tool to understand the types of content that actually resonates with the public. Check out the results below for the query “craft beer.” An article entitled “IPAs Are Giving You Man Boobs” was shared over 93K times. This list has some great inspirations for fun and lifestyle content that I can add to my blog. Most importantly, I’m currently rubbing my chest and thinking that I might need to go to the gym. TLDR: Use keyword data to discover and create awesome content. Google Trends to see popular searches Google Keyword Planner to see the volume of searches for particular keywords BuzzSumo to see what’s being shared in social

Content Marketing: Being Honest and Keeping Your Friends

I just read a Content Marketing article which discussed whether Content Marketing needs to be rebranded now that it’s been a buzz term in the industry for a handful of years. For those of you that know me, I absolutely loathe forced marketing lingo. I’d like to think that many people see right through it, but maybe I’m overestimating the “BS” meter than people are born with. With that said, imagine ourselves in a professional situation. Let’s assume we're colleagues and we’ve come across one another at various events and we have a cordial professional relationship. At an industry event, I turn to you and say,“What are your thoughts on leveraging a synergistic approach to acquiring palliative hydration?” Translation: “Do you want to go grab a beer with me?” Of course, you wouldn’t want to get a beer with me, because I’ve just outed myself as a giant arse. For some reason, I feel that marketers are constantly trying to reinvent the wheel. I get it. Our job is trying to sell things, but whether we’re trying to sell something to fellow marketers or the general public, a certain level of honesty needs to be involved. This notion is especially true in the case of content marketing. Content marketing is pretty simple. Employ a value based entity with the desired outcome of positive absorption (Non- jargon translation: Write stuff that people want to read that provides them with value). Google has figured this out. Organic rankings are no longer filled with fluff results from SEO’s overstuffing keywords and manipulating the latest algorithms. Sure, there is still an art to SEO, but organic rankings are now based on Google’s machine-based algorithms, aka robots, who ignore all the cheesy jargon. And while we are on the topic of cheese, let’s talk about a real life example. If you’re a brand that wants to sell more cheese, try positioning yourself as the ultimate authority on cheese. Answer all of the questions people have about cheese in a useful and valuable manner. Google will see you as being a purveyor of valuable content. People will start thinking of you as an authority on cheese and they’ll trust your brand more than the brand that just tells you that their cheese is the best, and then talks about how great their founders are. If you don’t tell them which kind of cheese pairs best with Pinot Noir, somebody else will. What it comes down to, is that agency folks need to be honest with brands. Content about mission statements or awards is not what converts. People are generally not interested in anything aside from what they’re typing into a search engine at that specific moment. Be their buddy and give them an answer they’ll feel good about. Do your research to figure out what people are looking for. You just might be rewarded with free organic traffic for years to come.

Google Helpouts: Thoughts from AMP SEO & Social Experts

How do you make YouTube better? Personalization and authenticity in real time. It's no surprise that Google seems to have mastered the art with the launch of their latest offering, Google Helpouts, personalized Q&A sessions from certified industry experts. So, what makes Google Helpouts different than YouTube? With over 600,000 how to videos on YouTube, it would seem an answer for everything already exists, but what Helpouts revolutionizes is real help from real people in real time through video. As Greg and I were talking about the endless possibilities of Google Helpouts and its core differentiators, he shared this touching anecdotal example. I'm 32 years old and I still type 'How to Tie a Tie'? into YouTube's search box once a year, and even then I can't follow the directions. Imagine if I could pay some style guru named Marcel in France to give me a personalized tutorial on all the funky knots I know I'll never use? In his awesome French accent he'll say, 'No, you're doing it all wrong. You were supposed to make a loop with your left hand first. Watch me!'? With the advent of Helpouts, I look forward to Greg's perfected Windsor knot. More importantly, what do Helpouts mean for brands? By now, most of us understand content truly is king.  Content Marketing has taken both social and SEO to an elevated level over the past few years ' operating under a simple premise - write about stuff people search for and promote it where people can find it. Now, our brains really started working, if content is king, what is personalized real-time content? Preliminary hypothesis led Greg to the following: 'Personalized Content is the King on Steroids.'? But, really, at its core, personalized content is personal. This means, Helpouts allow brands to create personal connections with existing and potential consumers. Now you're not just a long tail keyword that pops up in search results, you are a video adding value in the moment a consumer is looking for it. And over time you have the ability to become their resource, someone they trust. These Helpouts provide added visibility for your brand and branded content and if it is actually helpful, these videos will drive some serious social chatter, establishing you as a thought leader in your space. How Can You Start Using Helpouts now? One way brands can get attention on Helpouts is by sponsoring content creators who align with their offerings, and offer these sessions for free. This allows for some creative freedom, but also provides brands an opportunity for increased impressions. Another way a brand can take advantage of Helpouts is by applying a YouTube-like approach. Brands can own the Helpout and provide critical information about the goods and services it owns and show consumers the value of their products and services as well as how they maximize their efficiency. Additionally, similar to YouTube, Helpout videos can be embedded into websites, which further increases SEO value by having valuable content pieces available on the company domain, rather than on the main Helpouts platform. Final Thoughts from the SEO & Social Corners  Greg's thought: As digital marketers rooted in SEO, Google Helpouts speaks to the most important element in the evolution of SEO over the past few years, giving users what they want. Give users what they want and the social chatter, meaningful blog posts, authoritative inbound links, and earned organic traffic will follow. It's simple marketing really. Rachel's thought: And simple marketing is about integration, which is why as a digital marketer rooted in social, Google Helpouts compliment everything that makes social exciting - connecting to consumers in an authentic in way in real-time. It now longer provides brands the opportunity to hide behind a tweet or a YouTube tutorial. It's real two-way communication, which we both think is pretty exciting. I wonder if there's a Helpout on how to make AMP agency your marketing agency? No need, just click here.  

PR is Your Most Valuable Link Building Tool

A large component of effective SEO is to acquire links from authoritative sources that are relevant to your brand. Getting a link from a respected source validates your domain in the eyes of search engines, thus increasing your chances of achieving greater visibility for your website and ultimately driving an influx of qualified traffic to your site. Respected sources can be traditional news outlets, blogs, and even the social media pages of relevant industry thought leaders. As an SEO professional, a question I get asked quite often is, 'Greg, our competitors are outranking us because they have more links and/or better links. How do we acquire more links?'? custom written paper What people should start realizing is that link building is essentially public relations. Most companies already employ a PR team, which essentially serves the same function as link building. For the past couple years, search engines have been devaluing irrelevant links, and recently there has been a crackdown on sponsored links and advertorials. Valuable links come from relevant content and relationship building that maximizes connections with authoritative sources. PR is essentially relationship building. Link building comes from relationship building. Just to hammer the point home, I'm going to put this in layman's terms by outlining other things that are essentially the same. Cheez It/Cheese Nips While essentially the same thing, I don't know one person that likes Cheese Nips more than Cheez-Its. In fact, as a child I was always a little saddened when my mom would cheap out and bring home Cheese Nips from the market. With that said, I would always eat them'?¦because cheesy crackers are delicious. Any Fast Food Burger Sure there are slight differences in taste, but at the end of the day, they are all delicious and they are great ways to get diabetes. AJ McLean of Backstreet Boys/Chris Kirkpatrick of NSync I would challenge you to remember these two members of their respective 90's boy bands. Therefore, they are the same person. Ok'?¦you get the point. Link Building and PR are 'two peas in a pod'? You might already be employing people to build relationships and broaden the trajectory of your company's message, so why not educate them on basic SEO practices and reap the rewards of their efforts? They already did the hard part, so now all they have to do is ensure that their outreach efforts include a link back to a relevant part of your website (preferably with well optimized anchor text). As an SEO professional, there is no greater frustration than seeing that a client got covered on a well respected website, only to find that there is no link back to their own site. Guest blogging can also be a great way to acquire links as well. Neil Patel wrote a pretty great post on guest blogging best practices, so be sure to check it out. In short, here's how it works. Your company creates compelling content that can help a blog owner add value to their own site. In return, the well-respected blog owner posts the content on their blog and links back to your company. Now, instead of having your social invalid of an SEO person establish that relationship, you should leave it to your seasoned PR professional. That PR professional can also help to get authoritative people to talk about your company on their social networks as well. You COULD trust this person: But you'd probably rather have this person do it:    

Your Blog is Boring

With a title like that I realize I'm opening myself to be ridiculed by some instigator who will tell me how boring MY blog post is. I also realize that for the general public, the topic of SEO is enough to make folding laundry sound fun, so if you are one of those people, this post is not for you. However, if you like exposing new people to your brand and driving traffic to your website, this blog post IS for you. While there are numerous types of shareable content including articles, videos, and photos, for the sake of this discussion, I'll be focusing on blog posts. Blogs are often the worst offenders of boring and self serving content. With the right approach, a blog can be an easy way to generate fresh relevant content that is indexable by search engines. (I realize 'indexable'? isn't really a word, but it is in my world, so for a brief moment my vocabulary is more substantial than that of spell check.) It seems like 'Content is King'? has been the main SEO 'buzz'? phrase for an eternity already, even if in actuality it's only been a couple years. Unfortunately, the meaning of that statement can be interpreted in a variety of different ways. I'd like to amend the phrase to say 'Interesting, Useful, and Shareable Content is King.'? Now that Google Panda updates will be part of a real time algorithm, creating content that people find useful will continue to be a major attribute for achieving visibility for key terms. On the flip side, search engines are becoming increasingly savvier in regards to devaluing content that was only created to benefit keyword rankings. Developments such as Google Authorship can help brands maximize the effectiveness of their content more than ever before. It's far too easy for brands to say, 'I heard we need a blog. We'll create a post per month and talk about all of the company happenings.'? Creating blog content should never be seen as a reactionary measure. Rather brands should stop looking at their product as a commodity and start thinking how people could have an emotional connection to their offerings. Establishing an emotional connection causes the reader to actually feel something, which will surely entice them to share content and click through to a core part of the site. Before new blog content is created, the content curator needs to be honest and ask themselves the following: If I didn't work for this company, would I find this interesting? Would anyone I know be interested in sharing this? I know it's probably tough to swallow, but most brands aren't nearly as exciting as they think they are. While some content can have a direct correlation to a brand's offerings, a large amount of content should expose a whole new audience to the brand. For example, a blog for a women's fashion shoe company would be incredibly boring and self serving if it only talked about their newest styles. Instead the blog would be far more effective if it talked about things that are more relatable to the general public, such as fashion tips and celebrity style. The company could take it a step further and talk about broader topics that appeal to women including healthy eating, dating tips, and other topics women might find interesting (what do I know? I'm clearly a dude). By casting a wider net and connecting to the people who might potentially buy the shoes, a whole new audience will land on the site and be exposed to the products. Someone who lands on the site might not have even been looking for shoes previously, but they enjoyed the content so much that they clicked through to see what the brand was all about. As long as blog posts strategically link back to the core site in a strategic and non-pitchy way, the blog post is doing its job. While it should be common knowledge by now, brands should always share their content with their social media followers (in moderation of course'?¦more than once a day might be overkill). These are the people that like the brand enough to have already followed them, so they are most likely to share this content with other people as well. These social signals will only help content rank higher in search engines. Since we're talking about social media, it's really important that brands START USING GOOGLE PLUS. Trust me, just because it doesn't have as many users as Facebook and Twitter, doesn't mean it should be ignored. Google Plus is already having a major impact on Google search results. In closing, no matter what your company sells, the blog is an opportunity to have a little fun and write content that might expose the brand to a whole new audience. Think outside the box a bit, and think about the stuff you like to read when you aren't working. Your strategy should start to make more sense from there.

Local Search Just Got More Social with Google+ Local

On May 30th, Google officially rolled out 'Google+ Local' to replace Google Places. With the change, Google is providing a more interactive and informative way to search for local restaurants, businesses, and venues- all while taking steps to make their own social network, Google+, more relevant and powerful. This could be a smart move for Google to drive up the user base of Google+, which still trails Facebook by roughly 800 million users. By integrating local capabilities into Google+ and feeding that information into popular Google Applications (i.e. Maps, Local Search Results, etc.), Google can expose and introduce users to Google+ as they search for local information. In addition, a new user-friendly layout has been implemented, along with the ability for users to see what local establishments their friends visited, liked, and reviewed. One of the more interesting enhancements to the platform stems from the newly formed partnership between Google and Zagat, a well respected restaurant and entertainment review service. With the addition of Zagat, Google adds more credibility to their local listings while offering users an informative alternative to sites like Yelp, which only offers user reviews based on a 'star'? rating system. Below is an example of how these changes are unfolding within Google. In this example, we did a search for 'Cheers,'? a Boston bar and tourist landmark. Once a user clicks on reviews, they are taken to a Google+ Local Page. Since users and businesses are now being forced to use the Google+ interface, it is critical for businesses to embrace Google+. For those businesses who have already contributed information to Google Places, Google will be transferring these accounts over to new Google+ Local pages. Over 80 million 'Places' pages have already been converted to 'Plus Local' pages, and eventually all existing Google Places accounts will be converted. As of now, businesses can still manage their listings through Google Places for Business. If a business does not currently have an existing Google Places account, then they should establish a Google+ account and update their listings as soon as possible. Once the account has been created, businesses can enhance their listings with a wide variety of assets that will be critical to engaging their audience. Specifically, businesses should consider taking these steps: Make sure the phone number and address associated with the business are accurate Identify a business category that best fits the company's objectives Upload a profile image that has a strong connection to the brand Customize the Google+ 'About' tab to include: A keyword rich introduction, which can include a hyperlink back to the company website Hours of operation Website URL Contact information Related links (if applicable) On the 'Photo' and 'Video' tabs, photos and videos should be uploaded to showcase the brand. Promote the new Google+ page on other established social profiles such as Facebook and Twitter. This will help to build brand followers. Google+ allows businesses to group these followers into 'circles'? if they wish to segment this list. Be sure to add Google+ sharing buttons on the business website in addition to Facebook and Twitter sharing buttons. Be sure that these buttons are featured on all articles, blog posts, and press releases, as well as on the homepage. Share content on Google+ in a similar fashion as sharing content on Facebook and/or Twitter. In conclusion, while Google's intentions with this enhancement are largely driven by the need to increase the user base of Google+, there are many opportunities for smart business owners to leverage the new features, expand their presence, and drive increased engagement with their target audience.  

Pinterest for SEO

What is Pinterest? Pinterest is a photo sharing social network that allows users to create and manage various categorized image collections in a 'bulletin board'? style fashion. Users can 'pin'? photos into categories they create based off their own personal interests. Pinterest helps people all over the world connect through their own like-minded interests, such as travel, culture, fashion, cuisine, and photography. Who uses Pinterest? The average Pinterest user is female between the ages of 24-54 Over 90% of Pinterest users are female* 33% of users are between the ages of 35-54* 50% of Pinterest users are parents Pinterest users are extremely active: 12 million unique monthly visitors* 2.2 million of those users post daily* How are consumers using Pinterest?** Expressing themselves Reminding themselves Learning and exploring topics Searching for and discovering new things Why is Pinterest beneficial for SEO? It is no secret that search engines are using social media interaction as a measure of search authority within their algorithms. Since users can share 'pins'? on both Facebook and Twitter, there is an obvious benefit from an SEO point of view. Listed below are additional SEO benefits from Pinterest: Picture captions are completely optimizable, and 'pins'? can be indexed in search engine page results.  See the example below of Google generating a Pinterest link to a photo of Alaska when a user input the keyword 'Alaska.'? Each image can contain links to send traffic to appropriate parts of the website. Following and supporting popular bloggers and websites across the web can increase your visibility and search authority- ultimately increasing the chances of high profile web sources featuring your brand on their websites. Things brands should be aware of:  Blatant self promotion is frowned upon, and ultimately will not be the most effective utilization of the site.  The most successful Pinterest profiles are those that interact with the community and 'pin'? items from other community members as well. As mentioned earlier, brands can support the target community by following influential people in the category, and 'pinning' photos from people have interests that align well with your brand. The Travel Channel does a fantastic job of connecting to people's emotional ties to travel, such as the culture, food, and activities in addition to highlighting its traditional offering'suggesting destinations. The key lesson here is do not solely feature your company's latest product and service'ensure there are additional boards that feature secondary categories associated with your brand, thereby creating more of a connection with the consumer. It is important to supply engaging imagery to maximize results. If your brand decides to use Pinterest, Pinterest sharing buttons should be added to all applicable content. Providing that your brand actively participates in the Pinterest community, the site can be a great way to build social presence, gain search authority, and increase overall visibility for the brand. Sources: *comScore, Mashable February 2012              **Maxymiser, March 2012     Rich Text Area Toolbar Bold (Ctrl / Alt + Shift + B) Italic (Ctrl / Alt + Shift + I) Strikethrough (Alt + Shift + D) Unordered list (Alt + Shift + U) Ordered list (Alt + Shift + O) Blockquote (Alt + Shift + Q) Align Left (Alt + Shift + L) Align Center (Alt + Shift + C) Align Right (Alt + Shift + R) Insert/edit link (Alt + Shift + A) Unlink (Alt + Shift + S) Insert More Tag (Alt + Shift + T) Toggle spellchecker (Alt + Shift + N) ? Toggle fullscreen mode (Alt + Shift + G) Show/Hide Kitchen Sink (Alt + Shift + Z) Format Paragraph ? Underline Align Full (Alt + Shift + J) Select text color ? Paste as Plain Text Paste from Word Remove formatting Insert custom character Outdent Indent Undo (Ctrl + Z) Redo (Ctrl + Y) Help (Alt + Shift + H) What is Pinterest? Pinterest is a photo sharing social network that allows users to create and manage various categorized image collections in a 'bulletin board'? style fashion. Users can 'pin'? photos into categories they create based off their own personal interests. Pinterest helps people all over the world connect through their own like-minded interests, such as travel, culture, fashion, cuisine, and photography. Who uses Pinterest? The average Pinterest user is female between the ages of 24-54 Over 90% of Pinterest users are female * 33% of users are between the ages of 35-54 * 50% of Pinterest users are parents Pinterest users are extremely active: 12 million unique monthly visitors * 2.2 million of those users post daily * How are consumers using Pinterest? ** Expressing themselves Reminding themselves Learning and exploring topics Searching for and discovering new things Why is Pinterest beneficial for SEO? It is no secret that search engines are using social media interaction as a measure of search authority within their algorithms. Since users can share 'pins'? on both Facebook and Twitter , there is an obvious benefit from an SEO point of view. Listed below are additional SEO benefits from Pinterest: Picture captions are completely optimizable, and 'pins'? can be indexed in search engine page results.  See the example below of Google generating a Pinterest link to a photo of Alaska when a user input the keyword 'Alaska.'? Each image can contain links to send traffic to appropriate parts of the website. Following and supporting popular bloggers and websites across the web can increase your visibility and search authority- ultimately increasing the chances of high profile web sources featuring your brand on their websites. Things brands should be aware of:  Blatant self promotion is frowned upon, and ultimately will not be the most effective utilization of the site.  The most successful Pinterest profiles are those that interact with the community and 'pin'? items from other community members as well. As mentioned earlier, brands can support the target community by following influential people in the category, and 'pinning' photos from people have interests that align well with your brand. The Travel Channel does a fantastic job of connecting to people's emotional ties to travel, such as the culture, food, and activities in addition to highlighting its traditional offering'suggesting destinations. The key lesson here is do not solely feature your company's latest product and service'ensure there are additional boards that feature secondary categories associated with your brand, thereby creating more of a connection with the consumer. It is important to supply engaging imagery to maximize results. If your brand decides to use Pinterest, Pinterest sharing buttons should be added to all applicable content. Providing that your brand actively participates in the Pinterest community, the site can be a great way to build social presence, gain search authority, and increase overall visibility for the brand. Sources: * comScore , Mashable February 2012              ** Maxymiser , March 2012     Path : p  » strong

SEO Buzzwords Explained through Real Life Scenarios

BUZZ WORD #1 ' LINK JUICE Lil' Wayne's juice gets him 'crunk,'? which means that after Lil' Wayne drinks his juice, he is able to perform to the masses at an optimal level. Lil' Wayne has been at the top of his game for the past 5 years, and maintaining the quality of his juice will be an integral element for future success. SEO Translation- Get your Website Performing at an Optimal Level: Paid links from 'spammy'? link directories are a thing of the past. Websites now rely on authoritative and highly relevant links from various respected sources. High quality, shareable website content, combined with active engagement and promotion is a key element in obtaining these natural links. The power of these links, which is known as 'link juice,'? is a key element in getting your website stronger visibility across the web. BUZZ WORD #2 ' PANDA UPDATE In 1983, the food court staple known as Panda Express changed the way Americans looked at 'Chinese Food'? forever. Their inexpensive and mostly unhealthy meals have helped contribute to high obesity levels in the United States. SEO Translation - Google doesn't want you eating Panda Express everyday: In 2011, Google rolled out their 'panda'? updates, which consisted of algorithm changes designed to penalize websites that offer low quality content. These updates specifically target content that provides little or no value to a user. In the past, Google users were force fed irrelevant search results from websites that pushed out low quality content in order to achieve higher search visibility. The game has changed. Just as we are seeing healthier food options in food courts across America, we are also seeing higher quality, relevant search results for our everyday queries. BUZZ WORD #3 ' SOCIAL SHARING We all have generous friends and cheap friends. This behavior becomes evident when you gather at a bar for drinks. There is always one guy that is never around when it's time to buy more drinks. Nobody likes this guy, and he is often ridiculed incessantly as the crew gets drunker. SEO Translation - Invest in good content and share it with the masses With search engines increasingly incorporating social media excerpts into search results, it's becoming more important to develop frequently updated, high quality content that people actually want to share through a variety of social channels such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Google Plus. This search engine optimized content can be in the form of articles, videos, photos, infographics, and even social feeds. Web users will appreciate your site as a valuable source of information, while search engines will reward you for your high quality content sharing efforts. Search engines don't reward websites that fail to offer valuable content, just like non-giving people aren't rewarded with valuable friendships. BUZZ WORD #4 ' SPIDER ACCESSIBILITY The girl pictured above saved all her hard earned cash to buy her ideal Smartphone. Unfortunately that same day, her significant other made her go on a camping trip in the woods of Maine, where cell phone service is not only non-existent, but also frowned upon! Her brand new phone was completely useless to her at that moment. SEO Translation - Your expensive website might not be functional for search These days, many companies wish to have an attention grabbing website full of images, Flash, and animation components. While the website might look cool to a user, search engines aren't able to interpret any of the content that lives within these elements. It is important to make sure that websites are built with abundant textual components in order for search engines to be able to spider and index the site effectively. Much like the girl who couldn't use her Smartphone, there's no point in having a 'cool'? website if it isn't visible in search engines. BUZZ WORD #5 ' CANONICAL TAGS Remember when you could say that Matt LeBlanc was famous? I know it's hard to remember, but there was actually a time when he was on a level playing field with Jennifer Aniston. Since starring in Friends, Matt LeBlanc's 'illustrious'? credits include Ed, Lost in Space, and Joey- a Friends spinoff that spun off the air immediately. SEO Translation - Matt needs people to focus on his only role that ever mattered Canonical Tags are used with sites that house the same or similar content. In order to avoid a duplicate content penalty from Google, a canonical tag can be put in place to tell Google what the preferred version of the site should be. These tags are especially useful for commerce websites that feature similar product descriptions on multiple pages. They can also be used for websites that have different domains for multiple regions. For example, a business might have 3 separate domains for the United States, England, and Australia. All of the content on these 3 websites is in English, and it is very similar, with only slight regional variations. In order for Google to not penalize this business for duplicate content, the business might place a canonical tag on the United States domain, as they feel the domain in their home country is the most important. If Matt LeBlanc decided to start multiple 'Friends'? fan sites across the world, he would surely place a canonical tag on whichever site featured the largest picture of him with Jennifer Aniston. With this tag, he would be essentially telling Google, 'Since my acting career has been mostly disastrous, I want you to focus on a time when Jennifer Aniston acknowledged my existence.'?

Forget Google, Bing & Yahoo - It's Hammertime!

In a move as confusing as his 1994 foray into gangsta' rap, Hammer (formerly MC Hammer) is launching his own search engine called WireDoo. After all, nothing is more 'gangsta'? than droppin' fresh new algorithms across the current search engine landscape. All weirdness aside, Hammer claims that WireDoo will spotlight 'deep search,'? and topics closely related to search queries. For instance, if somebody searches for 'Hammer's mansion,'? they might also get results for debt consolidation and insanity medication. When Hammer spoke at the Web 2.0 summit in San Francisco, he helped explain relationship inspired search by comparing it to gathering home buying information. If someone were to search for 'homes in Cambridge, MA,'? they might also receive information regarding area schools, neighborhoods, and other city related information. Whether WireDoo is successful or not, Hammer has successfully come up with an idea that is unique to its competitors. If the celebrity of Hammer is enough to get people using WireDoo, the premise is interesting enough that in a best case scenario, WireDoo could end up merging with an established engine. Granted, it will be important to actually wait until the engine is launched, but the fact that it will enter the market with a lot of hype could give it a fighting chance initially. Think about it, for as important as search is in our daily lives, it has had little celebrity influence'?¦.until now. *Disclaimer- The rest of this article contains no truth whatsoever: One odd thing I noticed about WireDoo was that every #1 ranking featured anchor text stating the words 'U Can't Touch This.'? The anchor text linked to the song on iTunes. I soon became concerned that Hammer might only have his own interests in levitra online sales mind with his new business endeavor. For instance, when somebody searches for 'Reebok Pumps,'? the 1st search result is a link to his song 'Pumps and a Bump'? on iTunes. I became even more suspicious when I did a search for 'kidnapping,'? and all that came up was a link to buy his song 'Have You Seen Her?'? Come on Hammer'?¦that's just inappropriate! When I typed in 'financial disaster,'? it was evident that one of his developers played a joke on him, because all that came up was the following image: Hammer will also be launching his own analytics platform to coincide with the launch of WireDoo. WireDoo's analytics platform differs from the likes of Google and Bing in the way that it provides an easy to understand grading system that lets webmasters see exactly how their site is performing. Hammer's grading system is as follows: 2 Legit 2 Quit = Outstanding It's All Good = Good Work This = Needs Improvement Pray = This Site Sucks You guessed it - each grade (song title) contains a link to buy the song on iTunes. In conclusion, if your search and analytics results have been void of all things Hammer, 'Here Comes the Hammer'? to the rescue.

Forget Google, Bing & Yahoo - It's Hammertime!

In a move as confusing as his 1994 foray into gangsta' rap, Hammer (formerly MC Hammer) is launching his own search engine called WireDoo. After all, nothing is more 'gangsta'? than droppin' fresh new algorithms across the current search engine landscape. All weirdness aside, Hammer claims that WireDoo will spotlight 'deep search,'? and topics closely related to search queries. For instance, if somebody searches for 'Hammer's mansion,'? they might also get results for debt consolidation and insanity medication. When Hammer spoke at the Web 2.0 summit in San Francisco, he helped explain relationship inspired search by comparing it to gathering home buying information. If someone were to search for 'homes in Cambridge, MA,'? they might also receive information regarding area schools, neighborhoods, and other city related information. Whether WireDoo is successful or not, Hammer has successfully come up with an idea that is unique to its competitors. If the celebrity of Hammer is enough to get people using WireDoo, the premise is interesting enough that in a best case scenario, WireDoo could end up merging with an established engine. Granted, it will be important to actually wait until the engine is launched, but the fact that it will enter the market with a lot of hype could give it a fighting chance initially. Think about it, for as important as search is in our daily lives, it has had little celebrity influence'?¦.until now. *Disclaimer- The rest of this article contains no truth whatsoever: One odd thing I noticed about WireDoo was that every #1 ranking featured anchor text stating the words 'U Can't Touch This.'? The anchor text linked to the song on iTunes. I soon became concerned that Hammer might only have his own interests in levitra online sales mind with his new business endeavor. For instance, when somebody searches for 'Reebok Pumps,'? the 1st search result is a link to his song 'Pumps and a Bump'? on iTunes. I became even more suspicious when I did a search for 'kidnapping,'? and all that came up was a link to buy his song 'Have You Seen Her?'? Come on Hammer'?¦that's just inappropriate! When I typed in 'financial disaster,'? it was evident that one of his developers played a joke on him, because all that came up was the following image: Hammer will also be launching his own analytics platform to coincide with the launch of WireDoo. WireDoo's analytics platform differs from the likes of Google and Bing in the way that it provides an easy to understand grading system that lets webmasters see exactly how their site is performing. Hammer's grading system is as follows: 2 Legit 2 Quit = Outstanding It's All Good = Good Work This = Needs Improvement Pray = This Site Sucks You guessed it - each grade (song title) contains a link to buy the song on iTunes. In conclusion, if your search and analytics results have been void of all things Hammer, 'Here Comes the Hammer'? to the rescue.

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