Google launched an update for its search algorithm, that has impact on numerous websites, each seeing a drop in its search results ranking. The updates are primarily meant to thwart the attempts to rank high on search engine result pages by keyword stuffing and link spamming. As a search engine indexes pages and displays them as per a particular keyword’s density on the page and the number of inbound links to the page, SEO professionals have been using certain methodologies to make pages rank better in SERPs without these having the requisite quality to rank higher.

For a search engine, it is important to give the best possible results to the visitors. The latest updates to hit such sites are the Penguin update for Google. The truth in all this hue and cry is that those who adhere to standards of quality need not worry. Here is how you can keep your rank in search pages and use SEO despite all the updates that Google comes up with.

1. Maintain content quality

Google Penguin update is directed towards web spammers. This means that keyword stuffing will make websites suffer when it comes to search page rank but good quality content still reigns supreme. Focus on usefulness of the content to readers to enable its sharing. Keep the keyword density low.

2. Update content regularly

This has been emphasized upon for long and continues to be relevant. A blog on the website is a very good and affordable tool to keep content fresh.  Engage with potential clients on the blog. Ask people for their feedback. Answer comments and take cues for content from what the people seek to know.

3. Avoid link exchanges with sites irrelevant to your niche

Google Penguin update works against websites that aim at accumulating inbound links with little regard for the quality of those links. Just as links from articles on article bases were hit by Google Panda update, Google Penguin works against the rampant link exchange.

4. Use social media to build good quality inbound links

Social media has become even more relevant now. As link exchange gets the boot, the focus for inbound links now shifts to social media. It is important for organizations to promote their products among their target audience on social networking portals. This in turn helps their SEO initiatives as well.

5. Pay attention to the user experience

Do not just give importance to links. Make sure the landing pages are good too. Minimize bounce rate by giving relevant information and ensuring ease of navigation. The sharing of links to your web pages will give your site an edge in search engine result pages.

Search engine optimization is here to stay, because organizations cannot depend on Google to place their site on the first page of search results against relevant keywords until effort is made in that direction. The difference here is being that the emphasis should be on quality more than quantity. Originality of content is crucial. Organizations that conduct business over the web, or those that use the online platform for promotion, don’t need to change their SEO strategy if it emphasizes on quality.

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Is Google Update Penguin the End of SEO?

In the next few days, we’re launching an important algorithm change targeted at webspam. The change will decrease rankings for sites that we believe are violating Google’s existing quality guidelines. We’ve always targeted webspam in our rankings, and this algorithm represents another improvement in our efforts to reduce webspam and promote high quality content. While we can’t divulge specific signals because we don’t want to give people a way to game our search results and worsen the experience for users, our advice for webmasters is to focus on creating high quality sites that create a good user experience and employ white hat SEO methods instead of engaging in aggressive webspam tactics.

To help webmasters create better sites, Google is constantly offering optimization tips on its official webmaster blog. And yet, very few people understand the true meaning of optimization For them, Lee Odden’s Optimize may be the ultimate guide – it covers timeless SEO techniques that no search engine will ever penalize.

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More Algorithm Changes Against SEO Spam

The interface is now less cluttered, crystal clear, with beautiful icons that make the UI one of the most aesthetic outthere – if aesthetics are something you care for.

So far, no news from Google+’s main competitor, Facebook, but everyone expects the social networks to emulate each other’s best features.

The best features are navigational:

• You can drag apps up or down to create the order you want
• You can hover over certain apps to reveal a set of quick actions
• You can show or hide apps by moving them in and out of “More”

Other upgrades affect the stream and hangouts, with special attention for a dedicated Hangouts page that creates even more opportunities to connect in person, including:

• An always-updated list of invitations from the people in your circles
• Quick access to every public and On Air hangout, for those times when you want to meet someone new, or watch a live broadcast
• A rotating billboard of popular hangouts, pro tips and other items you don’t want to miss

Today, Google+ is used by more than 170 million people, according to a recent announcement highlighting the UI changes. Google announced even more changes and improvements rolling out in the next few days.

As time goes by, Google+ becomes more advanced, more complex – a platform that can be used for virtually any purpose you can think of, from business to personal and beyond. What happens next with Facebook and the like? Are they able to keep up, or will Google, eventually, triumph on social media as it once did in search?

Years ago, Google didn’t believe in a social future of search. Today… the search giant integrates social media and fresh content in the SERPs killing more established content to show “the latest” in a certain industry.

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Changes at Google+ – Who’s Next?

Tips on blogging (Image © Tommi - Fotolia.com)

Guests posts are articles in blogs and websites that are written by other writers other than the owner. Usually the guests are allowed to have links to their websites. For example this website allows guest posting. However before starting to write articles and just sending them to different websites have a look at the below tep steps for successful guest blogging.

1. Find Blogs

The first step is to find the appropriate blog for your guest post and read their guest posting guidelines. Usually this will save you lots of time because if you just follow these guidelines you will most probably have your post published. An easy way to find appropriate blogs is to use the following queries in Google:

• “Submit guest post”
• “Submit post”
• “Submit blog post”
• “Add blog post”
• “Submit article”
• “Suggest  guest post”
• “Send guest post”
• “Write for us”
• “Become author”
• “Guest bloggers wanted”
• “Contribute site”
• “Become contributor”
• “Become guest writer”
• “guest column”

Don’t forget to add your topic after each query. For example to search for blogs that accept guest posts and have topics about SEO you could try the following query “guest posts” seo

2. Study the Blog

Then you have to study the contents of the blog and the target audience. See what they are writting about, who are their audience and also the tone used. For example if you use a friendly tone in a business blog you will probably be rejected.

3. Read previous posts

By reading previous posts you will definetely understand the blog better but also save some time if a similar idea like yours has already be written.

4. Decide on your post

Your post should be unique, interesting and easy to read. Furthermore it should be useful for the audience of the blog you chose.

5. Decide on the title

Title is the most important part of your post. It should contain your keywords but on the same time should look appealing and clickable.

6. Link on previous posts

Internal linking is something that seo beginners often forget.

7. Bio

Add your own short bio to the bottom of the post with one or more links. Besides using your blog’s url you can also ask for people to follow you in Twitter or even connect with you in Google+.

8. Submit your post

Use the submit form (if the blog has one) or send an email to the blog owner.

9. Promote your post

Your job shouldn’t finish after submiting your post. You should try to promote it. A good way is through social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Google+.

10. Answer to comments

Usually your guest post will receive a number of comments. Don’t forget that you might no be the owner of the blog but you are the owner of the post. So you should answer to these comments.

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Ten Tips for Successful Guest Posting

The gist of the message is summarized below:

What about the people optimizing really hard and doing a lot of SEO. We don’t normally pre-announce changes but there is something we are working in the last few months and hope to release it in the next months or few weeks. We are trying to level the playing field a bit. All those people doing, for lack of a better word, over optimization or overly SEO – versus those making great content and great site. We are trying to make GoogleBot smarter, make our relevance better, and we are also looking for those who abuse it, like too many keywords on a page, or exchange way too many links or go well beyond what you normally expect. We have several engineers on my team working on this right now.

There is no release date announced just yet, but good things will come to those who focused on people rather than bots. The things that will be severely penalized include unethical link building, and keyword stuffing.

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Over-optimized Sites Will Soon Be Penalized

There are a few days left till St. Patrick’s Day, that special celebration that turns the water green, and sees the streets of so many premier US destination covered in clovers. It is one of the most popular Spring celebrations in the US after Mardi Gras – and it is pretty similar in terms of public involvement and organization. Most cities close their main street to traffic, to witness a typical Irish parade, with people wearing green, signing Irish tunes, dancing like Michael Flatley.

As any other popular event, St. Patrick’s is an occasion for marketers to target audiences. Many of them offer gifts and lure signups with freebies, giveaways and sweeps. For the consumer, this is an occasion to save money on various St. Patrick’s Day items, to spend more on entertainment and drinks.

Here are a few of the most popular St.Patrick’s Day campaigns on Facebook:

• Bromberg offers a $250 gift certificate that can be used to purchase any jewelry or giftware in its stores.
• Brook Taverner is offering you a chance to win 1 of 12 pure silk lime ties to stay classy on this traditional holiday.
• Magnuson Hotels offers not one, but four free rooms, each in a different city. Winners get free two-nights stay for St. Patrick’s Day weekend, in South Bend (IN), Marion (OH), Warren (OH) or North Richland Hills (TX). North Richland Hills particularly is of great interest – as it is a short driving distance to Dallas, where you can see one of the top St.Patrick’s Day parades in the US.
• Solvang Bakery offers two dozen delicious handmade shamrock cookies and will ship them to any address in the United States to ensure that you celebrate St. Patrick’s day in style.
• The Pint opens St. Patrick’s Day in Gastown and offers you the chance to be the first customer through the doors. Score a $100 bar tab, 9am entrance for you and 3 friends and enjoy the first drink ever poured at The Pint.
• Taylor Morrison West Florida invites you to enter their St. Pat’s sweeps and you could take home one of two $100 American Express® Gift Cards.
• You can also win 1 of 3 pairs of St Patrick’s Day Parade Grandstand tickets and Luas All Zone Adult Day Passes valid for March 17th. Competition open from Monday March 12th to Wednesday March 14th 2012.
• Red Lion Hotels have an ongoing St. Patrick’s Day photo contest, offering the winner  10,000 Red Lion R&R Club Points. That is enough for a free night stay at any participating Red Lion Hotel.

What about you? Do you know of any other sweeps and giveaways that could be of interest to our readers?

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Save Money St. Patrick’s Day with Facebook Sweepstakes

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Google Panda Update Infographic

If you are thinking of including written content on your website, it is very important that you properly know how to optimize your page in order to get the best results. One of the most important techniques of search engine optimization is that of keyword analysis. A proper analysis of keywords can give you a much greater response to a simply written article as compared to an article that has not been keyword oriented. However, using random keywords without a proper analysis is also completely pointless, so if you really want to get the best out of your optimization campaign, it is extremely important that you know how to analyze keywords before including them in your articles. Keyword optimization is fairly simple and can be done easily if you know how to carefully choose the keywords for the field that you are writing in.

Firstly, you should know what keyword analysis really is before you actually start integrating it in to your search engine optimization. There are several ways by which you can analyze keywords before including them on to your website. For instance, one of the first ways by which you can analyze keywords for your website is with the help of a program. There are several different softwares and programs that you can use in order to optimize your website properly, as these programs include a detailed analysis of any keyword that you are thinking of using in your page. All you have to do is input the keyword in to the software program, and it will allow you to estimate the density of the keywords.

With the help of powerful software, you can easily analyze which keywords are the most effective in a certain niche. For example, if you are writing about software programs and want to look for keywords that are related to that niche, there are several keywords and phrases that you can use. For example, you can use keywords such as ‘software’, the name of the software itself as well as the features that are related to the software. This is just a simple example of how you can easily analyze the keywords on your page.

However, some of the most advanced software programs that are available today will help you in getting the best keywords on your own. For example, all you have to do is put in the topic of the article that you are planning to write, and the software will automatically search the internet in order to locate the most appropriate keywords that are used by searchers on the internet. If you do not wish to analyze keywords on your own, there are other ways as well. For instance, you can easily hire a SEO firm for their keyword analysis services, but the rates might vary considerably. You should know that different companies charge different amounts of money for their keyword analysis services, so you need to be careful while making your choice. However, this is one SEO technique that you can do on your own.

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Initiating Keyword Analysis for SEO [Guest Post]

WordPress SEO is the most complete WordPress SEO plugin that exists today for WordPress.org users.

For those still confused about wordpress.org and wordpress.com, the difference is rather simple.

• wordpress.org allows users to download the latest stable release of the WordPress content management system (CMS) and upload it on third party servers;
• wordpress.com is a blogging platform managed by the developers of the WordPress CMS;

Both WordPress versions are free, but each has its own purpose.

With the downloadable CMS you get more control over content, themes, plugins, widgets, and ads but require some programming knowledge. Blogs hosted on wordpress.com don’t require any programming skills, but the content is hosted entirely by wordpress.com, which pretty much has power to display any ads on your free site. Premium features like custom designs and custom domains are also available.

WordPress.org blogs, such as eWritings, can be optimized with a number of plugins. Before Yoast’s WordPress SEO a personal favorite was All in One SEO Pack. Both plugins are excellent, offering a lot of valuable tools, however WordPress SEO by Yoast (Joost de Valk) is more complete, with a wealth of features that help improve SEO, and it’s as easy to use as a WYSIWYG editor.

One of my favorite features, the Focus keyword meta box, shows you where your main keyword is found, and even helps you find related keywords, for a more in-depth optimization.

One of the most difficult things to do for many site owners is setting up a correct robots.txt file. WordPress SEO makes the task a walk in the park. Other interesting features include canonical link elements for categories and tags; permalink clean up; XML Sitemaps; RSS enhancements; and a feature that helps you clean up the bloat in your section.

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WordPress SEO Essentials: WordPress SEO Plugin by Yoast

Managing the cost of your educational supplies as a mature age student is crucial. Considering you are investing your time, and probably losing some work to advance your career, choosing the right personal computer will make up the bulk of your expenditure outside of your course fees. Google’s Chromebooks have been selling much better than was expected and many personal computing professionals have been surprised. The Chromebooks are heavily targeted at students and professionals alike. This is a look at the pros and cons of Chromebooks for mature age students.

Pros:

• Low-cost investment. If you are considering a Chromebook, you probably haven’t bought a personal computer in a while. The Chromebooks are relatively low cost compared with buying a traditional personal computer. If you qualify for the student deal, the Chromebook will only cost you around 20 dollars a month over 3 years. Considering that is about the lifetime of a traditional laptop, your total costs will be drastically reduced.
• Low or zero software costs. The Chromebook runs on the Cloud. The operating system is essentially an extended internet browser. Google has an ever-increasing number of applications that are compatible with much of the software you already know. The real advantage is Google hosts the operating system and all applications. They constantly update each time you use your device, so, it will stay up-to-date. You don’t have to worry about paying for software and updating your machine all the time. This does not mean all your software is for free. Take a look at Google Apps to get a better idea of what is available, what is free, and what you can buy.
• Your data is very safe. All your data will be stored on Google servers. If you have been using browser-based email, you will know how sturdy this kind of storage can be. Furthermore, Google has developed some very ingenious technology to protect your device and your data while you are online – which is all the time when using a Chromebook. They are extremely good at defending themselves against viral and malware threats.

Cons:

• They don’t use traditional software. If you are not used to using the applications provided by Google, the Chromebook will take a little getting used you. If your course requires specific software, the Chromebook will not work for you. Although Google has also targeted business with their purchase plans, uptake has been relatively slow. This does not mean they will not be popular in the future as more software goes online, and if you are a student of business courses, you can be confident, Google has you in mind.
• You need a great data access plan. You might be saving on the cost of your machine, but remember you will need a great data access plan to make the machine viable. Without an Internet connection Chromebooks are relatively useless. While they come with a limited monthly plan, you will probably need a lot more to function effectively.
• Are you in the right country? While Google is doing its best to be a global player, Chromebooks are not available in all countries… yet. You might not even be able to get your hands on one depending on where you live. The country list is getting larger so check with Google’s Chromebook website before you get fixed on your purchase.

For the regular user, Chromebooks make a very compelling argument. As long as you know what you will be using your device for, and know that there is a Google App you are comfortable with, you might well save over the cost of a traditional machine. You will save a lot of time worrying about keeping your machine up-to-date and managing your software – this is a very big plus for many mature age students.

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Chromebooks: The Pros and Cons for Mature Aged Students