by Jayson DeMers

Penguin 2.0 has just rolled out. Brace for impact.

For the approximate 2.3% regular US-English queries that it affects, many SEOs have been waiting to see if the traffic to their website will be negatively affected.

While many black-hat practitioners that were affected by Penguin 1.0 can only hope their rankings don't plunge further into the depths of obscurity, the rest of us are crossing our fingers and hoping that we made it through relatively unscathed.

However, if your website was affected by Penguin 2.0, there are a few things you can do to ensure that your website gets back on the straight and narrow. And remember: the majority of positive comebacks after Google algorithm updates are from websites genuinely wanting to provide the best possible website for users instead of those just looking to skirt by until the next Google Zoo animal is released.

If you were affected by Penguin 2.0, read on. I've done my best to guess what Google has changed, based on information from Matt Cutts prior to the launch of Penguin 2.0, as well as what Google aimed to solve with Penguin 1.0. As the SEO community performs tests and learns more information about specifics of Penguin 2.0, the collective knowledge of the update may change. For now, if you've been hit and are looking for likely answers, here's what you need to do to recover your rankings.

1. Learn From Your Mistakes

The previous Google algorithm updates have already told us what Google is looking for-- great content, natural link profiles (both inbound and outbound), and an organic, natural link velocity that steadily increases month by month. If you were penalized by previous Panda or Penguin updates, then it's time to make the changes necessary to get back into Google's good graces.

If Panda and Penguin 1.0 were slaps on the hand, then consider 2.0 the wake-up you need to get your website completely back on track. The next updates will be even more intuitive and stringent, so making those big content-focused changes now can prevent even further lost traffic in the future.

2. Stop Shady Practices

A crucial step toward recovering from Penguin 2.0 is to stop all "shady" practices as determined by Google. This includes unnatural link building, and spammy or keyword-stuffed onsite content.

Besides looking for these types of black hat practices, Google is getting better at recognizing when sites are trying to be deceitful, especially when it comes to focusing on typically-spammy search queries, catching sites that are participating in link swapping schemes, and content that contains keyword stuffing or unnatural links. The easiest step toward recovering from Penguin 2.0 is to stop these sorts of practices all together.

3. Pick up The Pieces

The bridge between destruction and normalcy is the recovery phrase, which may take weeks or months, depending on the website and level of black hat SEO practices that Google believed they were involved in.

If you believe that your website was penalized because of shady link building practices (which is likely if you were hit by Penguin 2.0), you'll need to identify what links could be causing you harm, and then attempt to have them removed. Any links you fail to get removed, be sure to disavow. 

To identify what links could be causing you harm, use a tool like Open Site Explorer or Majestic SEO. Alternatively, have a professional perform a link profile audit to identify harmful links for you. Here's a step-by-step walkthrough I wrote that describes how to audit your own link profile.

You can disavow links through Google Webmaster Tools. This tool should be used with caution and only after personally reaching out to these websites to get the links removed. I recommend disavowing all harmful links (even ones that have been successfully removed); it can't hurt.

Besides attempting to clean up your external link profile, you should also do a comprehensive audit of all pages on your website and make a list of what needs to be done internally. Work on publishing only high-quality content that provides value to the reader and includes only natural anchor text and useful internal linking. Make sure you are correctly set up for Google Authorship, and never use any keyword stuffing or unnatural language that may make Google think you are attempting to make your content appear to be something it's not.

4. Put Best Practices in Place

Once you begin to clean up the damage, it's time to set a plan for moving forward. This can include a recovery plan, depending on how extensive your website is, which may include targeted goals for rewriting all website content or the steady removal of any lingering inbound links acquired via black-hat methods.

After these goals are set, the emphasis should be on strictly implementing best practices for all future websites and content creation. All content and website links should:

• Use natural language
• Use natural anchor text, and only when it provides value
• Focus on providing the highest quality content
• Create value for humans instead of the search engines
• Contain NO black hat SEO practices

The SEO team should work closely with the content developers to flip the focus and message back onto providing quality over quantity, as well as a natural variety across content platforms. For instance, twenty poorly written articles about buying dresses online for an e-commerce clothing website aren't going to fair as well as four well-written, seasonal guide blog posts, an e-book on style or fashion, and a robust social media profile all about fashion and style.

For many SEOs who worked in the era where anything goes, these algorithm updates are an unsettling change that has been difficult to learn. However, when it comes to SEO, websites should take on an "adapt or die" mentality, as search engines are becoming more intuitive as to both what a user is searching for online and the quality of the websites that want to provide it.

penguin photo credit: Ennor via photopin

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by Brian Dean

Be sure and visit our small business news site.

by Chris Warden

Local Search Ranking Factors

Review Sites

This is an area that is often overlooked by small business owners, but its importance can't be understated. One of the main ranking factors for local listings is reviews, and in order to achieve high rankings you not only have to be on these sites, you have to monitor your reputation there.

Bad reviews sink sites. The difference between a "3" star review on Yelp and a "3.5" star review is a 63-percent increase in business. That's just half of a point! Want to increase your business by 60-percent or more with no additional work? Get and maintain high rankings on review sites.

The most popular of the review sites are Yelp, Google Places, Angie's List and Urban Spoon, although there are many others.

Negative Reviews

Negative reviews are a part of business. The sad truth is that most of your customers won't take the time to leave a review if they had a positive experience, but they'll go out of their way to do it if they had a negative one. The key here is reminding people to leave positive reviews. Offer a coupon, add a table topper reminding people to leave a review, put it on the receipt, or mention it at the point of sale. There is plenty of room for creativity here.

Citations

Citations are essentially mentions by other businesses, people or websites. These are links, without actually linking to the site you are mentioning. This is a popular PR term that has found its way on to the web in recent years. Citations are another key ranking factor in local search and properly optimized campaigns get their business name mentioned as often as possible, from as many different sources as they can find.  

Remember, a citation is just a mention of your business. Anywhere you can leave your business information (directories, forums, blog posts, etc.) would contribute to the number of citations for your business.

Review & Discovery Sites

Did you know "checking in" when you're at a place of business does more than just tell your friends what you're doing? This simple act allows Google the opportunity to verify listing information by seeing that people have actually been to the business, thus proving its authenticity.

This isn't a ranking factor by itself, but it helps to build trust that this business is genuine and not a spam listing, which goes a long way toward earning top rankings. It's all about trust with Google, and the more you can do to prove that you're an actual business, the better your search position becomes.

The most popular of the review and discovery sites are:

• Google Places
• Yelp
• Foursquare
• Urban Spoon

Facebook should be included in this list as well. With graph search, they've essentially become a recommendation engine, and they've allowed users the option to "check in" for quite some time. You've already built a business page (or claimed one) on Facebook, so you're already set up to allow people the option to check in when they do business with you.

There are hundreds of these types of sites online, but these are the most popular, so these are the ones that should get the lion's share of your focus.

Review and discovery sites present two opportunities, or challenges for local businesses. In essence, you want people to:

1. Check in
2. Leave positive reviews

But how do you get them to do that?

Foursquare offers you the option to give a user a coupon for checking in at your place of business. If they have their phones out, this might be an opportunity to leave a review. Once you put the thought in a customer's head to grab their phone and complete an activity (checking in, in this case) you'd be well served to ask them to leave a review. If you've provided a great product, service or experience, people will often be more than happy to help you out with a review if you ask.  

Additional steps: There are companies out there, like Sqwid, that offer you the opportunity to reward positive reviews, offer "second chance" opportunities to bad ones, and reward customer loyalty all from a single dashboard. This certainly isn't a bad option to improve your reviews, incentivize new reviews and monitor your online reputation from one place.

Additional steps (part two): Google Places and Yelp offer events for certain types of businesses. You pay a fee, and they organize events for prolific reviewers to try your service or offering. This obviously doesn't work for every business, but if you are in the bar/restaurant/entertainment industry, this could be a huge opportunity.

Be sure and visit our small business news site.

by Jayson DeMers

Volkswagen has embarked on a new bid to capture an even larger piece of the pie in the American auto marketplace, and Internet marketing techniques are playing a big role in that campaign.

Let's face it, if your company was founded by Hitler, you start off with a public relations deficit that to most of us might seem insurmountable. But Volkswagen (German, "people's car") did a spectacular job of erasing that deficit with the Beetle in the 50s and 60s. The company dealt with a threatened slump in the 70s with new models such as the Passat, the Golf, and the Jetta.

Volkswagen's current bid to maintain and even enhance its dominant position follows a different strategy. It is not based on new models, even though they occasionally appear, as do new generations of the tried and true models like Golf, Passat, and Scirocco.

New models do not drive the current marketing strategies of Volkswagen. Instead, the thrust of the campaign is based on using up to date online marketing tools, like search engine optimization, and social networking sites. These are turning out to be a bonanza. They've even used some clever SEO tricks to create special effects on Google Images.

Volkswagen And Proper SEO - A Lovely Marriage

A look at the site "Why VW" (a site that was recently commended by a writer on Forbes) will show how their campaign strategy works. The introductory text uses phrases like "our philosophy," "celebration of ... people," and "everyone deserves a better car" (a concept also dear to the hearts of Henry Ford and Der Führer, whose leadership is a seldom emphasized part of the company's prehistory). The meta-name of this page, embedded in the source code, reads as follows:

"Why VW? Our reasons are built on years of experience making cars. For our drivers, their reasons are as diverse as they are. Start exploring now."

Keywords, Social Tools

Keywords for what follows are listed under "Values," a buzz word designed to give the shopper a sense of high purpose; they include "Performance," "Design," "Quality," "Environment," and "Safety." Of course the first three of those one might find in any pitch aimed at consumers interested in buying an auto. "Environment" shows sensitivity to a more current issue, one that gives the buyer the feeling that he or she is acting in good conscience with a Volkswagen purchase.

And of course "Safety" has assumed tremendous importance for today's auto buying public. The second section of the Why VW page may be the more crucial one, however. It is entitled "Stories," and it really functions as a social networking site for VW owners. The meta name reads as follows: "This is a place for stories about where we've been and where we're headed. Every ride in a Volkswagen is an adventure, and we want to hear your story too."

Addressing the user with an invitation to share is a brilliant sales ploy, as is the use of the word "adventure." Another keyword and heading that shows up is "Enthusiast," which is quite telling, as the whole idea here is to create a group of enthusiasts for this vehicle, much in the same way that ads for the Beetle in the 50s and 60s created enthusiasts for their "bugs."

When discussing the social networking quadrant it would be wise to remember that these sites and their supporting technologies are not ignored either. The site includes links to a Facebook site, Twitter, YouTube, Google+, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Instagram, as well as a local blog.

Volkswagen has definitely entered the SEO era in its marketing strategies, and is sensitively using social networking tools as part of an up to date sales strategy. They've unquestionably "made it cool again," and their marketing campaign will be worth watching.

Be sure and visit our small business news site.

by Chris Warden

Local Search Ranking Factors

Google Places Listing

One of the main ranking factors in local search is an optimized listing using some of Google's own properties, most notably Google Places.

Fill out the standard information first, such as:

• Business name
• Address
• Phone number
• Hours of operation
• Contact email
• Website address

Fill out all the information required. An incomplete profile certainly isn't doing you any favors. Your goal, above all else, is to earn trust from Google so that they rank your site favorably in their local listings.

When selecting your business name, don't use your keywords in the title unless it's a natural part of the business. Google doesn't take kindly to spam in their Places listings.

Once you're done filling out the standard parts of the profile, the optimization begins.

You're going to select a category (or categories) for your business as well as write a description. Choose a category that is as close to your target keyword as possible and feel free to add more than one category (lawn service, landscaping, etc.) but don't go overboard.

Next you'll have the opportunity to select your service area (if you provide in-home support, delivery, etc.) or decline this option entirely (people have to come to you) as well as some other pretty standard information (payment options, etc.) and the option to add photos or video. Studies show that photos of your business (even just the outside of it) entice more people to click than those without photos.

At the bottom of the page, you have the option to add additional information. This is where you can start using some keywords. Remember, don't go overboard by adding too many. Google takes spam on Google Places very seriously, and they might remove your listing.

Your best bet here is to provide a list of your services offered (which typically happen to be your keywords).

Once you're finished, you'll have to verify that you are the owner of the business by accepting a call from Google and entering the PIN they give you.

Social Media

The next point of attack is to claim your Facebook page and to start creating social media accounts. Social indicators are a huge part of local search, and your Facebook listing is amongst the most important of them all. Google uses social accounts to verify the information in the Google Places listing, so it's important that the website, address, phone number and all of that information appear the same across all platforms.

To claim a Facebook page:

• From the page, click the gear icon and select Is this your business?
• Follow the steps that appear on your screen. Add and verify information about your business such as the address and website, click Continue.
• Facebook will then ask you to claim your page to prevent other people from becoming an admin without your permission. Choose to verify your connection to the business by Email or by uploading Documentation. If you choose email, you must have an email address using the site as the domain. A generic provider like Yahoo or Gmail won't be sufficient for claiming a page.
• Click Submit.

Once you're an admin, write your description and ensure that all of the pertinent information is correct (address, phone number, website, etc.).

After claiming your Facebook page, you might want to start thinking about other social accounts you can link your business to. Yelp, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Instagram are popular options, but there are literally hundreds or thousands to choose from.

You don't have to be active on every social site, but it's important to claim the account (or create it) in order to keep others from taking it in the future.

Pick two or three social networks and start posting on them semi-regularly. Popular choices are Twitter, Facebook and Google+, but you can choose anything that fits your business. If you're a photographer, for example, Pinterest, Instagram and Facebook might be better choices. If you are a contractor, Angie's List, Google+ and Twitter might be your best bets. Use your head and try to decide where your content is the best match.

These social media updates aren't indexed by search engines, per se, but they do provide a point of reference for your business and the more updates you put out the more chances Google has to verify that this is indeed a real, and trustworthy business.

Additional steps: Join a small business or social media group on LinkedIn to find out what's working for others.

Be sure and visit our small business news site.