Tag Archives: Google Penguin

What’s New for September 10, 2013 – Google Keyword and Disavow Tools, Email Scanning

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Google Keyword Tool is Officially Out to Pasture

An SEO resource has changed, and not everyone is happy about it. The Google Keyword Tool has been replaced with Google’s new Keyword Planner, and the landscape for Keyword Research has changed. Users will be required to log into an AdWords account to use the tool, and will not be able to access match type data for search volume, device targeting data, or global versus local searches.

The bright side of the change is that users are able to retrieve keyword search volume data down to the city level; can upload up to 10,000 keywords to access performance data; and search volumes by ad group, landing page, and many other categories established by the user.

Time and Google slow for no one, and once the grumbling about having to learn a new system is over, users will be able to continue to conduct online advertising business as usual.

Google Keyword Tool

Google Argues For Email Scanning

Google is asking a judge to dismiss a class action lawsuit, filed in May, that says Google “unlawfully opens up, reads, and acquires the content of people’s private email messages” in violation of California’s privacy laws and federal wiretapping statutes. The lawsuit also alleges that Google scans messages sent to active Gmail users from non-Gmail users who never agreed to the company’s terms and conditions.

Google has openly admitted that it targets its advertising based on words that show up in Gmail messages, and defends its actions by stating that no humans read any of the email, and the process is 100% automated. Consumer Groups contend that email has an expectation of privacy that should be preserved.

Another piece in the ongoing saga of privacy versus online advertising efficiency.

Google’s Link Disavow Tool: More Harm Than Good?

Many Webmasters and SEO firms have used Google’s disavow tool that launched almost a year ago to overcome penalties brought on by the Google Penguin. Now Google itself has come out and unequivocally stated that use of this tool may actually harm search rankings.

Google’s Eric Kuan from the search quality team said:

“The disavow backlinks tool should be used with caution since it can potentially harm your site’s performance. However, if you see a considerable number of spammy, artificial, or low-quality links point to your site, and you’re confident that the links are causing issues for your site, you can use the disavow tool to disavow those links. In most cases, Google can assess which links to trust without additional guidance, so most normal or typical sites will not need to use this tool.”

Be judicious in how you employ the link disavow tool. You may inadvertently neutralize links that are helping your site to rank and do more harm than good.

Bottom Line: This has definitely been a Google Update. I applaud the fact that the search giant is making an effort to communicate more and help to access information in an orderly and helpful way. The privacy issues will be a source of controversy for years to come. The courts, The Federal Trade Commission, and even foreign governments have gotten involved. The factor that will cause any gigantic online entity to pay attention is decreased traffic or market share. Until that happens, I truly do not believe that significant change will occur in online privacy policies.

Eric Van Cleave is a Partner in Zenergy Works, a Santa Rosa, California based SEO, Online Marketing and Website Design and Development Firm.

Yahoo Unveils New Search Results Format

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Yahoo has officially announced that the redesign of their search results display that has been in testing mode for the past two weeks has gone live.

The new design boasts a faster load time, search results higher up on the page, a new navigation bar at the top, and a more consistent look with the Yahoo homepage. Yahoo also promises to roll out the top bar you see on the home page and on the search results page throughout more and more Yahoo properties going forward.

Yahoo Search Engine Results

Penguin 2.0 Update Happened around May 15th.

Google Penguin 2.0 occurred around May 15th, and seemed to affect more sites than previous Google Penguin Updates. Feedback from Webmaster Forums supports that more sites have been hit with penalties, although the feedback is that Google is sending notices to webmasters through webmaster tools notifying them of potential penalties.  This is not good news in general, as the consensus of surveys of webmasters show that only about 10% of sites have fully recovered from the first Google Penguin updates, one year later.

Google “Softens” Panda Algorithm

According to Matt Cutts, Google is changing the Google Panda Algorithm to look at some other website factors to determine if a site is a quality and relevant resource.   The exact quote from Cutts is below:

“We are looking at Panda and seeing if we can find some additional signals, and we think we’ve got some to help refine things for sites that are kind of in the border zone, the gray area a little bit, And so if we can soften the affect a little bit, for those sites, that we believe have got some additional signals of quality, that will help sites that were previously affected – to some degree”

This falls well short of a repeal for those whose rankings have been affected by Google Panda.  Content remains King.

Bottom Line:  If it is possible, Local SEO Services is about to become even more complicated.  Link Strategies will be different, and content relevance remains important. Hint: Social Media is a great medium to provide useful information, disseminate valuable information, and ultimately, drive traffic to your site. Social media will not be all about the ROI of Facebook Ads, but more about creating relevance for your website through original and compelling content that will be shared by website users.

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