In a tacit acknowledgement that (not provided) basically killed keyword-based optimization, Google Analytics over the weekend relocated organic keyword tracking, burying it inside the campaigns menu. Why the change? For years now, fewer and fewer keywords were being picked up by web analytics software. Encrypted search and mobile are the two reasons they’ve vanished from…
I’ll let you in on a little secret. My website hasn’t been doing as well lately. In fact, performance of the site has been downright poor in the last 3 months compared to the past. Are the glory days over? Has my writing substantially declined in quality? I needed to find out what was going…
I was asked recently, “how much does name matter when it comes to setting up a new company? Is it more important to have a distinguishable brand, or more important to be found in generic search?” This is an excellent and more complex question then you might first think. Being known for something is important;…
As marketers, and especially as marketing technologists, correct data, correct metrics, correct information is prized by us (or should be). Incorrect data, faulty data, and misleading data are anathema to our profession and our ability to do our jobs. So it might seem absolutely absurd, even heretical, to make the statement that sometimes, bad data…
SEO tricks continue to get devalued. Google keeps getting better at picking up tricks and rendering them valueless. So how do you know what’s a trick that is a waste of time or at worst will get you penalized? Here’s a simple rule. Anything that can be repeated and scaled can be automated. Anything that…
Want to make sure you’re using the latest markup tags from Google for optimum on-site SEO? Google’s made it easier than ever inside of their free Webmaster Tools software with the Data Highlighter. Just click on the structural elements of your website or blog, categorize the different on-page pieces of data, and let Google do…
Matt Cutts stuck a fork in yet another automated, low-quality, easy-to-outsource SEO tactic recently: guest blogging for SEO. In his words: “So stick a fork in it: guest blogging [for SEO] is done; it’s just gotten too spammy. In general I wouldn’t recommend accepting a guest blog post unless you are willing to vouch for…
So many SEO folks and blogs have said the sky has fallen with the end of keyword data in our SEO analytics. What’s a marketer to do now that we don’t know the exact words someone uses to search for what we want to rank for? The short answer is that Google is very clearly…
Much ado has been made of how quickly Google is evolving its Panda and Penguin SEO algorithms, discrediting once-viable online marketing strategies that were effective in the short term. Companies are wringing their hands at the prospect of being heavily penalized for things their marketing and SEO consultants once said were pure gold. Here’s the…
