In the spotlight this week:
- Matt Cutts’ first: spills the beans at SMX Advanced;
- last chance CommentLuv Premium sale;
- win $1000 in a blogging contest;
- Traffic Generation Café has been hit by Penguin (yep!);
- how to find out about Google updates and how they affect your site;
- and much more.
It’s been a very busy week on the personal front for me (end of school year, house projects - life, you know), so I held off publishing any new posts at Traffic Generation Café.
However, there are a couple of things I’d like to point out before moving on to the marketing news of the week. The first one will hopefully make me some money (THANK YOU for that!) and they second one will hopefully make you some money.
Last Chance CommentLuv Premium Sale
LAST CHANCE SALE for CommentLuv Premium; no more lifetime updates after this.
CommentLuv Premium has always been one of my favorite plugins.
I’ve been using it at Traffic Generation Café since the day I started the blog and still do.
I use CommentLuv Premium to encourage comments, community and social shares.
I use it to keep Traffic Generation Café virtually spam-free (with my CommentLuv Premium settings, I get about 10 spam comments per day tops).
I use it for link building and driving traffic from other blogs.
I use it to send reply emails to my commentators (if you comment at Traffic Generation Café and wonder what I use to send those sleek responses to your comments, it’s CommentLuv Premium!).
Andy Bailey is about to change the payment plan on the plugin, it’ll have recurring payments for updates
**Before he does that**, he’s having one final 5 day sale where you can get it at half price AND on the lifetime updates license (I believe it ends this weekend).
Go and get your lifetime updates license here
And… Andy’s working on some new functions that can even defeat human spam from dedicated spam teams.
You can get all of the new functions and features for FREE for LIFE, but only if you act now.
Go and get your lifetime updates license before it’s too late and let other blogs deal with spam and hunt for readers.
I know this question is coming - why don’t you see CommentLuv links at Traffic Generation Café any longer?
It’s not because I turned Commentluv off; I am just too lazy to clean up broken links, but it’s on my to-do list.
Despite that, Commentluv is still running on my blog, protecting me from spam, engaging with commentators, and many other functions.
Marketing Contest from Viral Content Buzz – Join!
This month Viral Content Buzz launched their first sharing contest: add your high-quality article, have it shared, and win $1000 in cash!
Requirements:
- Make sure your article is top-notch quality (the higher quality the article, the more shares it will generate as our users are all real and they only want to share great content that will add value to their social media streams)
- You need to have a valid PayPal account (that’s how we’ll send you the prize)
There’s no need to enter the contest in any specific way: if you start using Viral Content Buzz, you are already in.
The contest ends on July, 12.
Learn more about the prizes and how exactly to win them in this post.
SEO
Matt Cutts Talks at SMX Advanced
This week at SMX Advanced, Matt Cutts was on stage to answer questions about Google search and webmaster topics with Danny Sullivan.
Of all my years watching Matt Cutts talk, I believe it has been over ten years now, I have never seen Matt reveal so much new information and announce so many new things in a single hour at a conference.
As you can imagine, it’s hard to sum it up in a skinny, but here are the highlights, with links to those individual stories at Search Engine Land:
- Google Payday Loan Algorithm: Google Search Algorithm Update To Target Spammy Queries – Google launched a new algorithm that is currently rolling out to target more spammy industries and some of the “illegal” SEO and linking tactics they use.
- Google’s Panda Dance: Matt Cutts Confirms Panda Rolls Out Monthly Over 10 Of 30 Days– Similar to the Google Dance, which was how Google pushed out new indexes in the early 2000s, Panda updates are typically pushed out monthly and run over a 10 day period.
- Google Webmaster Notifications Now To Show Example URLs – Matt promises that most, if not all, manual penalty notification emails from Webmaster Tools will include a few examples of the problem so webmasters can better understand what to look for to fix their issues.
- Google: Site Speed Penalty Coming To Mobile Web Sites – In addition to the mobile SEO demotions Google announced yesterday morning, Google will also add a ranking factor to mobile search results based on the site speed time of your mobile web pages. I have to assume that speed is a larger factor on mobile than desktop, but that speed time was not disclosed.
- Google Structured Data Dashboard Beta – Want to test out a new dashboard in Google Webmaster Tools to see errors and reporting on your webpage’s structured data? You can sign up for the beta over here.
Just in case you have an hour and prefer to watch, here’s the video:
Stay Updated on Algorithm Updates
Traffic plummeted? Wondering if there was a Google algorithm update that smacked you on the head?
Algoroo is a tool that tracks Google algorithm changes by observing turbulence in rankings of thousands of keywords. When the bar is high, it’s likely that Google has made a tweak to their algorithm.
Hat tip to Francisco Perez.
Another free tool to use to find out if your particular site was hit by a Google penalty is Fruition.net.
You’ll need to connect your Google Analytics account to use the tool, and once it’s done, Fruition will analyze any sudden dips in your traffic, thus helping you to understand what might be going on with search engine traffic.
Speaking of which, it does look like Traffic Generation Café was hit by the latest Penguin 2.0.
So much for NOT doing any intentional link building, which is exactly what I’ve been doing for the past year of so. Oh well…
With Google throwing a fit again, YOU are my only shot at being heard.
I mean it.
If you like what you read at Traffic Generation Café, please help me spread the word.
- mention Traffic Generation Café in your blog posts;
- join my Triberr tribe and share my posts with your followers automatically;
- add me to your circles on Google+;
- like me on Facebook;
- and give my posts Traffic Generation Café on all those social networks!
THANK YOU.
Search Result Changes for Smartphones
Google plans to roll out several ranking changes in the near future that address sites that are misconfigured for smartphone users.
This is not exactly something I can give you a skinny on - you have to go get it yourself here.
George Bush is a Miserable Failure Again
It seems unfair that so many of us struggle to rank on Google, yet George Bush has no problem at all showing up for “miserable failure” search; this time in Google’s Knowledge Graph:
If you don’t know the background on this Google bomb, take a look at this Search Engine Land post.
Social Media
Google+ Business Dashboard
Google+ Dashboard is the new feature for business pages that allows businesses to unite and simplify information overview across all Google services.
After signing in to your Google+ page, you’ll now have access to the following Dashboard features:
1) The ability to update your info (like website URLs, store hours and phone numbers) across Maps, Search and Google+ - all from the Overview tab.
2) One place to monitor your Google+ notifications, assign page managers, share photos and videos - even start a Hangout with followers.
Local businesses will also enjoy:
3) At-a-glance access to their AdWords Express and Offers campaigns.
4) Insights that include top searches for their business, top locations requesting driving directions, and performance data for their Google+ posts.
To start using Google+ Dashboard, simply sign in to Google+ as your page, then click the “Dashboard” icon in the navigation menu.
Meet Facebook Hashtags
Facebook posted today about the new hashtag support with an overview, saying:
Starting today, hashtags will be clickable on Facebook. Similar to other services like Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, or Pinterest, hashtags on Facebook allow you to add context to a post or indicate that it is part of a larger discussion. When you click on a hashtag in Facebook, you’ll see a feed of what other people and Pages are saying about that event or topic.
Now you can:
- Search for a specific hashtag from your search bar. For example, #NBAFinals.
- Click on hashtags that originate on other services, such as Instagram.
- Compose posts directly from the hashtag feed and search results.
Hillary on Twitter
That’s what Hillary Clinton tweeted from her long-locked and dormant Twitter account.
Clinton’s tweet referred to Adam Smith and Stacy Lambe — the pair who created the popular “Texts from Hillary” Tumblr meme that went viral in April 2012. The meme enjoyed widespread media coverage, and the creators even met with Clinton personally, where they both agreed to close down their popular blog.
Hillary’s first tweet launched a new hashtag #tweetsfromhillary — suggesting that the Clinton team believes that the Tumblr meme can still catch fire on Twitter. (story source)
As you can imagine, reactions to her one tweet abound, including her adoring (?) loyal (?) husband:
One thing for sure: she does have a great bio… Now added to my wickedly awesome list of funny Twitter bios!
Myspace Alive and Kicking
Myspace announced that it is bringing its recently redesigned service out of beta, as well as launching a new mobile app for iOS.
Wowsers… Any takers?
Marketing This and That
“PRISM” Program Declassified
In last week’s Marketing Skinny, I reported on a news story of U.S. Government “spying” on its citizens by using the server data of the nine largest internet companies.
This week, the United States government has declassified details of its “PRISM” program, saying it is not a wide-spread data mining system and doesn’t “unilaterally” pull information off tech company servers.
“PRISM” fact sheet was released accompanied by the following statement from the US Director of National Intelligence James Clapper:
Over the last week we have seen reckless disclosures of intelligence community measures used to keep Americans safe. In a rush to publish, media outlets have not given the full context–including the extent to which these programs are overseen by all three branches of government–to these effective tools.
Furthermore, NSA whistleblower, Edward Snowden, a former technical assistant for the CIA, revealed himself as the leak for the original stories.
I am curious: what’s your take on the story?
Google Buys Waze
According to Waze website,
Waze is the world’s fastest-growing community-based traffic and navigation app. Join other drivers in your area who share real-time traffic and road info, saving everyone time and gas money on their daily commute.
And it’s now a part of Google Maps.
Yahoo! Will Reset Inactive Email Addresses
Yahoo announced that it is freeing up Yahoo IDs (and email addresses) that have been inactive for at least a year, and resetting them.
What this means is that users will be able to get simple addresses like albert@yahoo.com instead of albert9330399@yahoo.com.
Not sure EXACTLY how this works, but here’s what Yahoo! official post says:
In mid July, anyone can have a shot at scoring the Yahoo! ID they want. In mid August, users who staked a claim on certain IDs can come to Yahoo! to discover which one they got.
What if you haven’t logged into Yahoo! for over a year, but want to keep your Yahoo! ID? It’s easy. All you have to do is log on to any Yahoo! product before July 15th.
Thank You
To all of you who mentioned Traffic Generation Café in any share or form in the past week, my whole-hearted THANK YOU.
Traffic Generation Café would NOT be what it is today without you.
Here are just some of the mentions I came across in the past week:
Pivots, pirouettes and backflips – Informly May monthly report - Dan Norris at inform.ly
10 Essential Leadership Qualities of Successful Webmasters - Carole at the-best-websites.co.uk
MYF Approved weekly June 11: Google plus tips, guest blogging, and Google author rank - Iain Robson at marketingyourfarm.com
Traffic Generation Strategies with Ti Roberts “The SEO Rebel” - Ryan Eisenhower at manifestincome.com
Your Guest Blogging Strategy Sucks: 5 Ways To Tweak Yourself Out Of This Rut - Lanre Solarin at tweakyourbiz.com
Weekly Roundup Vlog – Wow, Did I Really Do All That? - Victoria at mydailycuppa.com
Thesis vs. Genesis – It’s All About the Cup Holders - Brian Fourman at luke1428.com
Also, a huge THANK YOU to my Triberr “Other People’s Influence” Automatic tribe for sharing my newly published posts with your Twitter followers.
These awesome folks automatically share Traffic Generation Café blog posts via Triberr, helping me reach more people than I could ever reach on my own while providing their Twitter followers with quality content and, by doing that, commanding respect in their respective niches AND getting even more followers as a result.
Win-win, I’d say.
If you’d like to join my tribe, we’d love to have you. Just click on the banner to go to Triberr.
Want to learn about Triberr? Read this post:
Triberr: Your Step by Step Guide to Being Heard
Have I missed your mention? Let me know in the comments!
Want to see your name here? Mention Traffic Generation Café in your next blog post!
To an even better next week,
Weekly Marketing Skinny • September 7, 2013
Weekly Marketing Skinny • August 31, 2013
Weekly Marketing Skinny • August 24, 2013
Weekly Marketing Skinny: August 17, 2013
Why Google doing this all. My blog’s traffic down from many days. Your post is useful for me. Thanks for sharing this..!!!
They just want to be better at what they do - like we all do.
I was on viral content buzz but was not getting enough from my efforts. Nice week cap. I see some surge in traffic on my little blog from you anna and I appreciate. Thanks
It definitely takes time and effort and might not work for all niches.
I’ve been using Commentluv to my blogs too, it’s been very helpful to me. And I must say that this is really a comprehensive post. Online people were very clueless of what would be Google’s next actions. Thanks for sharing this info.
I had not heard of viral content buzz so I signed up to it a couple of days ago and have already received visits to my post from referred traffic.
Thanks for bringing it to my attention!
Glad to hear it, Kay!
So much good information. Mind hurt, then grows.
What an amazing, value packed post. Thanks a lot for mentioning Fruition and Algoroo - that’s really great.
I’m also surprised that your site was hit by the latest Google update. This usually only happens to sites with duplicate and auto-generated content, to link spammers… but it shouldn’t happen to quality sites like TGC.
The only thing that I can imagine here is that this is a temporary glitch - Google’s algorythms are not perfect.
I actually know of plenty of authority sites that get hit by Google updates, including this Penguin. Obviously, there’s a glitch in their algorithm that fails to separate the wheat from chaff; hopefully, they’ll fix it.
Ana, such a torrent of information!! great work. It really must be a job to keep up with all the updates on the web!
Interesting to see you are also enjoying Triberr. I am also fine-tuning mine as I am quite new to it, and also recently posted on this to help other newbies get going as many complain they don’t get it. Maybe see you on Triberr!
Thanks, Ashley, and yes, it does take a while to read through a lot of news to compile these posts, but so far, I’ve enjoyed staying on top of things.
Triberr can definitely be powerful if you give it proper attention.
Ana, this Penguin/Google stuff is getting so yesterday! I’ve given up paying attention to it. My little blog posts are like seeds scattering in the wind. Let them fall where they may, flourish or not…
Feels pretty today to me, Dave, considering my traffic plummeted…
Thanks for the link to Fruition. I’m at -100 on the Penguin 2.0 penalty. *flinch, twitch, wince*
-Kim
Social media, here we come.
Thanks for the mention Ana.
I’ve noticed something interesting. It seems like as you use Google+ comments the number of traditional comments have gone down a bit. It seems like more people are opting to use Google+ comments. Maybe it’s just me.
The viral content buzz seems interesting. I haven’t really dug into it yet, but I may have to have a look.
I’m really curious what Google is going to do with Waze because it’s a freaking awesome app. It’s better than the standard Google navigation.
Only time will tell I guess
I definitely noticed the same thing, Iain - it seems like many readers opt for G+ comments, which is surprising in a way, but I am glad to see. Hopefully, more and more bloggers “get” how important G+ is.
Waze does sound like an awesome app; hope Google runs with it.
Thanks for this informative post, and mention of Fruition.net - which says my main site Talent Development Resources has a -99.5% negative impact from Penguin 2.0.
One message via my Webmaster Tools says “Site violates Google’s quality guidelines” - and one issue I wonder about is “scraped content” since I often post on my main site [above] short excerpts from my posts on my other sites, which are subdomains: Would Google “see” these excerpts as “scraped” - especially when I don’t change the text or add intro text?
Logically, Google would spank your other sites instead; however, if your other sites are the only ones that link to your main site, then I can see it being a problem.
On the other hand, “quality guidelines” message sounds like Panda, not Penguin. I’d do some research on the message to see what others are saying.
Thanks for your response, although it doesn’t make sense that Google would ‘slap’ one of my sites [subdomains] when I create a post on it, then create a short excerpt on my main site with a link to that post. The main site is over 13 years old and gets multiple links from many other sites, not just my subdomain sites. “Quality Guidelines” is part of the Google Webmaster Guidelines page [updated 06/10/2013].
Now I am getting confused: I thought you said that you create a post on your main site, then an excerpt on your other sites (not subdomains) linking back to your main site.
Of course, I know what “Quality Guidelines” are and where to find them. You can’t violate all of them at once; there had to be something in particular that your site didn’t quite live up to.
Hi Ana
Thank you for the update. I just signed up for the Fruition service and get what my score was. My blog was Extremely Negative Impact by the Penguin 2.0 updates with the score of -100%..!
It is kind of the feeling I have been having since the update, but now it has been confirmed. I hope I will soon be able to strike back.
I remember you said that, Thomas - welcome to the club!
Rule No. 1: Never declare you’ve been hit by Google algorithm based on a non-Google web tool. You should be 100% sure you’re hit only in the case when Google contacts you to correct an issue. Other than that, you’re just speculating. The aforementioned tool above doesn’t put into calculations the fact that turbulence in rankings and traffic can last for weeks and are normal parts of the process. Sometimes those dips in traffic numbers can be just a medium before traffic spikes even more before the turbulence happened. Seen it happen…. and will always keep seeing it. In my own opinion, traffic generation cafe has too way authority to be hit. But what do I know? I’m just a fan
I’d definitely give me more credit than that
; my Google Analytics agree. Plus, this is far not the first time Google did a little dance with Traffic Generation Café after an algorithm update.
I shared the Triberr post on Twitter and in one of my LinkedIn groups. The feedback I got from those who read it said they found it useful, as did I , that’s why I shared it to begin with!
I so appreciate it, Lorraine!
The Google changes have dropped by best Adsense site off the map. It was white-hat so now I just wonder what to do. Looks like SEO no more. Oh well..
Dear Mr Cutts I have in my possession one good used..if you would like..for a small fee. lol.
lol, Darryl; your offer falls on deaf ears.
What a lot of news you have this week. Quite a lot to digest. I never got to grips with MySpace. I thought it was for kids!
I did wonder what happened to your CommentLuv Premium for the comments as I thought I remembered you saying you were not going to uninstall it as some other bloggers had because of the broken link problem, but that explains it.
The broken link checker plugin is a god-send. Put it at the top of your to list!
Sandy
The broken link checker doesn’t actually check CL links, but Andy Bailey did come up with another plugin to take care of it. I simply haven’t had the time to take care of it yet.
It was Andy’s CoomentLuv Link Cleaner that I meant!
Got you!
Hey Ana, CommentLuv is one of the best WP plugin I’ve ever used. Thanks to Andi for creating such a great plugin.
And thanks for sharing the Penalty checker tools. One of my ultimate article that I’ve been struggling from long time to get rank for has been hit by the latest Penguin 2.0
Any idea on how to recover that back?
I’d sit tight and wait, Ehsan; chances are the rankings will come back.
You mean, shouldn’t I struggle to get the rid of the backlinks I built for that article?
Personally, I wouldn’t. The only thing worth checking is the anchor text for those links. Is it very keyword-heavy? If it is and you have access to those links, I’d change the anchor text for something more generic or the title of the post.
Rankings will fluctuate no matter what. No post is meant to sit at the top of Google forever and this just might be the case of someone else outperforming you vs Penguin update.
Thanks for the interesting info on google’s latest update. I’ll be bookmarking algoroo to confirm dips in traffic from now on!
As for the Snowdon/NSA situation, something doesn’t seem right here. Typically controversial and conspiracy-ish news is low on most mainstream media’s radars. The fact that it is getting such widespread coverage seems a bit odd, especially since this isn’t the first time this sort of news broke out. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/16/us/16nsa.html?_r=0
Weird.
I suppose there’s nothing else for the press to hunt down - no other scandals, no elections…