The Google search results that you see are frequently not the same other people see, especially if you’ve previously searched on the keyword phrase. Google currently provides “personalized search” results; they base the your search results on your previous searches and clicks. This occurs whether or not you’re signed-on to Google.

Here are two examples:

1. You are running a Google pay-per-click ad and you want to see the position of your ad. You check it frequently, but of course you do not click on it because you don’t want to incur the click costs. In this situation, Google will likely move your ad down. Since you’ve searched frequently and never clicked on your ad, Google will conclude that your ad is not what you are looking for and show you other ad at a higher position than yours.

2. You have an organic result and periodically check the position. You probably click on this occasionally to show Google that this is a popular result. Google will likely improve the results position, since this result is popular with you. I have seen results make their way to the top of the first page, when in fact the same result is on the second page for everyone else.

If you want to avoid Google’s personalization bias, here is a great plug-in provided by Yoast. It works with both Internet Explorer and FireFox. Once you install this plugin, you will have an additional search option, Google.com Unpersonalized. You can either set this as your default search engine or just select it when you want to see unbiased results. Either way, it’s a great tool for seeing where you really rank in the search engines.

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When working with local customers on plans to increase their search engine presence, being listed in local results, Google Maps (Places), Yahoo Local, and Bing Local, is extremely important. Local results are typically either mixed in, or placed ahead of organic search results. And since businesses not located in the area can’t get into the local results, these listings can be a real boost to a local business.

If you ask your customers to provide reviews, it’s important that this look natural. The last thing you want to for a search engine to think that these reviews are not real. Here a couple of situations to avoid.

First, if you’ve had very few reviews over time, and all of sudden you obtain a large number of reviews within a short period of time, then you are just waiving a flag at the search engines stating that you have solicited or even faked the reviews. The number of review should be steady over a period of time.

Second, the scoring of reviews should vary, in other words don’t get all five star reviews. Variation in the number of stars is what’s important, not the written comments. A three star review with somewhat favorable comments works well.

And finally, the #1 fear and reason for resistance to local listings are bad reviews, either from legitimate clients or from competitors. Some bad reviews are natural and make your reviews look authentic. People expect some bad reviews and trust the reviews more if some unfavorable reviews exist. Just be sure to respond promptly to bad reviews; it shows that you are on top of the situation and want to satisfy your customers.

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Matt Cutts has confirmed that Google is cracking down on blog scrapers in an effort to improve its search results.

Content scraping has been a problem both for Google and for bloggers for some time. Of particular concern is pages with scraped content that rank higher than the pages the content was originally posted on.

Last Friday Cutts turned to Twitter to enlist the help of Google users in combating the practice. Users who have identified scrapper sites can now report abuses using a Google doc. form.

The form allows users to provide:

• Search query that delivered the scraped site
• URL of the original content source
• URL of the scraped content
• and additional details

It also states that Google “may use data you submit to test and improve our algorithms.”

Google appears to be making a definite distinction between content scraping and other “spammy” practices that violate the company’s guidelines. The form is not intended to be used to perform a “spam report or notice of copyright infringement.” Links to those forms are also included on the scraper report form.

Matt Cutts uses Twitter to direct users to Google's Report Scraping form

Earlier this year, Google argued that the quality of its search results had not suffered from the proliferation of scrapper sites but announced that it was implementing “new efforts” to reduce the amount of spam.

Shortly thereafter, Cutts blogged that Google had updated its search algorithm in an attempt to remove scraped content from its search results. Following the update, Cutts said, “slightly over 2% of queries change in some way” after the update. He added that “searchers are more likely to see the sites that wrote the original content rather than a site that scraped or copied the original site’s content.”

In February, Google rolled out its initial Panda update which was intended to further reduce the amount of spam but, according to many webmaster, the problem actually got worse.  A number of innocent sites also saw their rankings drop temporarily. Most of these “innocent bystanders”, however, have seen their rankings rebound in recent months.

Google responded a few months later with a second Panda update and may well be planning yet another update, incorporating data it gathers from actual users who report scraper sites.

Is content creation part of your SEO strategy? Have you been a victim of content scraping? Do you think Google is on the right track in its efforts to reduce or eliminate the problem? We’d love to hear your thoughts. Please leave a comment below.

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Be sure to visit gmail.com/motion and click on the “Try Gmail Motion” button.

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Want to get to the top of Google results?  I mean do you really want to get to the top of Google?  If you are desperate, then you might fall prey to bad SEO companies that promise the world but deliver very little.  We offer managed search engine marketing services, because they work for our clients.  But here are some tactics to watch out for because they don’t work:

1. “We are a Google Certified Partner”. These companies claim (or at least imply) that they have a special relationship with Google that provides them preferential treatment for search engine rankings.  In reality the Google Certified Partner programs have to do with becoming trained and certified on Google apps like AdWords and Google Analytics.

2. “We guarantee a #1 position in Google.” This won’t happen for a competitive keyword.  There are only two ways someone can  guarantee achieving a #1 position.  One, you can buy the first position in Google’s AdWords program, probably for a keyword that will not deliver traffic.  Two, they can optimize for a noncompetitive keyword that no one searches on.  In either case, you will receive very few additional visitors, if any.

3. They have stated prices for SEO packages.  This is kind of like your mechanic telling you how much it will cost to fix your car before you’ve told him the problem.  Every SEO situation is different.  If you buy an SEO package before they have analyzed your site and competitors sites for your keyword themes, it’s like a shot in the dark.  It might work, but it’s highly unlikely.

4. “We also do SEO“.  Small web development companies sometimes also offer SEO services.  Unless they have people dedicated to SEO, their knowledge level is probably shallow.  It’s very difficult for anyone to keep us with everything that is changing in the SEO world, even when you do it full-time.  If SEO is a secondary expertise, their skill levels are suspect.

I’ll add additional SEO disqualifications as I run across them.  If you know of any good additional examples, please send them to me.

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For any business still wondering whether or not they need to become involved in social media, the answer is becoming increasingly clear, and the answer is “yes”.

Social media has always been a great way for businesses to connect with customers and prospects and increase their online footprint.  Those connections have also helped build backlinks and drive visitor traffic, which can help your Web site rank higher in search engine results.

Google’s search engine results pages (SERPS) are increasingly populated with social media results. YouTube videos, Flickr images and blog posts regularly appear in Bing, Yahoo! and Google SERPS. You can narrow your Google searches to blogs, and selecting “Realtime” from the search options will display results from Twitter.

A few years ago, Google attempted to usurp the social networking world from Facebook by launching Google Buzz.

Last fall, Google began beta testing a change to its algorithm to include more social information in its SERPS.

If you’re logged into your Google account and someone in your social network has commented or made a recommendation related to your search query, it will appear in your search results.

On February 16, Google posted this YouTube video which describes its “Social Search Update”.

According to Google, “Our new improvements enable you to get even more information from people you are connected to, whether they’re publishing on Twitter, Flickr, Blogger or other publicly available sites. When you sign in to your Google Account, you can get ideas and recommendations from people you trust, right in your search results.”

So, what’s the bottom line for online marketers?  Google Search remains the 800 pound gorilla of online marketing and SEO should still be the cornerstone of any online campaign. Google’s Social Search Update simply provides marketers with another tool to use in their quest for Page 1 dominance.

We’d love to know your thoughts on Google’s new Social Search Update.  Please leave a comment.

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Considering creating a new Web site or redesigning your existing one?  Unfortunately, many businesses jump into building or redesigning their sites without the necessary research and planning needed to ensure that it achieves their goals.

Lack of proper planning almost always results in wasted time and money.

Here are four key questions to ask during the planning stage:

1. Who do I want my Web site to attract?
2. How will my Web site attract them?
3. What do I want my Web site to provide them?
4. What do I want from visitors?

1.  Who do I want my Web site to attract?

Your Web site can be your most powerful sales and marketing asset. In order to make it perform to its full potential, you need to understand who your prospects are and how they look for you online.

Realize that your customer and prospect bases consist of many subsets with different wants, needs and levels of knowledge of your products or services.  In almost every case, taking a one-size-fits-all approach won’t work.

Don’t assume that you know how people search for your business online.  Keyword research is essential to attracting the right types of visitors to your site.

2.  How will my Web site attract them?

What good is building an amazing Website if no one can find it? There are a variety of ways to promote your site including SEO, paid search advertising and social media marketing. Although there has been a lot of speculation about where the industry is going in the future, the truth of the matter is that search engines are where the majority of people search for information and Google is the 800 pound gorilla of internet marketing.

Search engine marketing consists of two distinctly different methods — search engine optimization, or SEO, and paid search advertising, often referred to as pay per click advertising, or PPC.

When designing or redesigning your Web site, make sure to optimize it so that it will be found and displayed by search engines.

3.  What do I want my Web site to provide?

You only get one chance to make a first impression. Once a prospect finds your Website, you need to engage them by providing the valuable information they’re looking for in a concise, appealing manner.  The average amount of time people spend on Web pages is typically less than two minutes so don’t waste their time with unnecessary fluff. If they want to hear the story of how your great grandfather started the business they’ll click on the “About Us” link. At this point in the sales process, however, they’re not really interested in reading about it.

Remember, your competition is just a few mouse clicks away, so don’t make your prospects dig for answers to their questions.

If your site design requires visitors to scroll on your Home page, make sure you provide clearly visible calls to action and links to interior pages and important areas of the Home page “above the fold”.

4.  What do I want from your site visitors?

Obviously, you want visitors to your site to purchase a product or service from your business. In most cases, this isn’t going to happen on the first visit, so you need to give them a reason to return at some future date. Be sure to provide visitors with other valuable resources and easy ways to bookmark and share your site.

Depending on your business, you might give visitors the option to:

• Download a whitepaper
• Print a discount coupon
• Subscribe to your newsletter or blog
• Connect with you through social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter
• Share your site using a social bookmarking site like Stumbleupon.com

People are increasingly concerned about their privacy and fearful of being spammed. When asking visitors to complete forms in order to receive offers or information, don’t ask them to provide more personal information than you need. In most cases, the prospect’s name and one contact method (phone number or email address) is sufficient. You should also assure them that you will not sell or share their information with third-parties.

Ensuring that your Web site is both user-friendly and search engine-friendly “out of the box” will save you time and money in the long run.

Image Credit: Salvatore Vuono

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So you have your own WordPress blog and wish to market it and make it a successful blog. Just how do you bring this about? How can you start getting your blog out in the open to be seen and known by others? How can you draw readers and have them wanting more?

There are a number of ways to get your WordPress blog out in the open and read by others. This can be challenging for some and just quite easy for others. If you have ever had a successful blog before then you know what it takes. You’re not likely to get anywhere by just creating a blog and hoping that searchers will see it and read it. You are not likely to gain any links, nor a better search engine ranking by just developing a blog. This is certainly all part of blog marketing. Anyone is capable of it, even you.

Successful WordPress Blog Marketing Tip Number 1:

When you first create a blog, as expected it’s unheard of. No one knows anything about the blog until you give them the link and show it to them. However, for any new blog that has never been seen, there are many ways to get it out there and known. You simply need to know how. The first thing that you can try is to allow RSS feeds be taken from your blog. Allow other websites and blogs to publish your same exact blog. When you do this, they are simply giving you a hyperlink back to your blog, and also telling their readers all about your blog. You may get more visitors than ever with this particular tool. RSS feeds are wonderful for promoting and getting your blog into cyberspace.

Successful WordPress Blog Marketing Tip Number Two:

Update your WordPress blog frequently. We can not emphasis this tip enough. If you tell your readers that you are going to post to your blog daily, then do it. In the event you have told them that you will be posting to your blog weekly, don’t let them down. Your readers are what makes your blog successful. You might not realize this to start with, and you will have few readers in the beginning as well, but you will eventually develop a readership base and also have people reading your blog regularly. Maybe you don’t plan on telling your readers how frequently you may post to blog. That is prefectly ok too. However, look at this, if you had been reading a blog even on a weekly basis, and you expected to see the blog that you like to read updated perhaps once a week, you’d be very disappointed to find out that it was not. Sure, things happen that might prevent you from updating, and that’s expected, and excused, but week after week can hurt you and lead you to lose readers.

Successful WordPress Blog Marketing Tip Number Three:

As long as you’re working on your readership base, and trying to increase readers, you are going to realize that commenting on blogs that are relevant to yours will surely help. Locate a blog which is on the same topic to yours, or close to it and leave comments. It’s also possible to do a track back with your blog postings to comment on your own blog. Doing so will more than likely give another person the impulse to track back to your blog. Which will be good for it at the same time. Commenting on blogs that get many comments will help yours be seen by those attracted to that market. You’ll gain traffic and readers that way, and it’s easy not to mention free.

Successful WordPress Blog Marketing Tip Number 4:

Learn to apply SEO to all your blogs. SEO is search engine optimization. You are going to find that if you’d like your blog to succeed, you absolutely need SEO, and you’ll want to know how to work with it to benefit your blog. Just like a website, a blog is without a doubt best if it is optimized. There is a WordPress plugin called ScribeSEO that simplifies this process.

Monetizing Your Blog

Now that you have introduced your blog to the blogosphere and developed a following, you will most likely want to monetize your blog. One of the best ways to do this is by using plugins that are designed to help you earn money from your WordPress blog. There are thousands of plugins available for WordPress blogs, and many of them are made especially for earning money. These include plugins that display ads on your blog, datafeed importers, shopping cart plugins, membership plugins, landing page and squeeze page plugins, and more. Explore the possibilities!

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Businesses spend a lot of time and money promoting their brand so that it is perceived favorably. But many of them don’t monitor what’s being said about them online, and online negative comments could easily damage their brand. The interactive nature of the web today makes it easy to post comments about a business or its products. The can be done through numerous complaint sites, blogs, local search sites such as Google and Yahoo Local, and social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. While we can’t keep people from posting negative comments about a business or its products, we can minimize the impact.

The first step is active monitoring. This will allow you to deal with the problem quickly. If you find a disgruntled customer six months after an online comment is posted, there’s little you can do. Reacting quickly gives you the highest probability of resolving the problem and minimizing negative exposure. Here are a few sites that can tell you quickly if a comment has been posted online about your company or product:

Google Alerts – google.com/alerts
Yahoo Alerts – alerts.yahoo.com
TweetBeep – tweetbeep.com

Once a negative commend is found, first evaluate the comment or post. If it’s accurate, this might point to an internal problem that you need to correct. You might be able to satisfy the customer if you act quickly, and get them to remove the comment. If not, you can at least respond online, so that readers will understand your side of the story, or that you tried to satisfy the customer.

If the comment appears in the search results for your company or product name and you really want it removed, you can hire someone experienced in search engine optimization to push the result off the first page. Basically, this is done by obtaining 10 or more search results for your company or product that rank ahead of the negative comment. This work is complex and can be expensive, which is why we list it as a last option.

Remember though, some negative postings are natural. Nobody makes everyone happy, and people seeing a negative comment among many positive ones probably won’t think twice about it.

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