Google Testing A New Label For Slow Websites In Search Results

Site load speed was all the rage a few years ago, and was considered as a plus point. In fact, it became an important search ranking factor in 2010. But what about all the SEO developments over the years? The paradigm must have shifted? Well, it sure has, onto content quality and usability. So should you still focus on a fast load speed, or will an average speed do the job?

Over the years, Google has released and perfected many pagespeed tools to help analyze and improve your page load speed. Fast loading websites lead to higher visitor engagement, retention and conversions. The first 3 seconds are extremely important for a website to retain a visitor.  The more visitors leave your blog, the higher your bounce rate grows and the lesser your ad impressions.

Now, it has become more important than ever to have a decent loading time. Google is currently testing out a new red-colored label within search results for slow-loading websites. This red label will indicate when a particular webpage is slow to load, thereby warning the users before they click over to that site.

Check out an image of search results below.

Note that this update is currently limited to the mobile version of search. If that remains the case, then mobile optimization could play a part here. Even if a website is loading fast on desktop, it may not necessarily be set up to load equally fast on a mobile device, and vice-versa.

First, let us look at the simplest scenario. If your website contains graphics, blocking scripts and heavy media content, it is bound to slow down the page. Such a page will be labelled anyway. However, even if that isn't the case, it could be that your website is not configured to handle mobile properly. In the wake of responsive design, too many extra scripts can weigh down the processor on a mobile, thus slowing down the loading speed.

So while you are being mindful of this notorious label (which, by the way, is still being tested), always consider the above two possibilities. If you need help speeding up your website, we have a lot of reference material to help you along. Just follow the link given below.

• Push Your Website To Maximum Load Speed

Good luck (:

Read More

Blogger Will Now Automatically Create Sitemap.xml File For All Blogs

There's big news with regards to sitemap files in Blogger. If you have a blog running on Google's Blogger platform, you no longer need to worry about creating and maintaining a custom sitemap and then submitting it to search engines. Google will now automatically create a sitemap file in your root directory, eliminating the need for third-party sitemap services on Blogger.

A good, high-quality sitemap is an integral part of search engine optimization. It offers a really simple way for site owners to share information with every search engine about the content they have on their site instead of having to rely solely on crawling algorithms.

Blogger limitations

Many Content Management Systems such as WordPress let you easily create a sitemap with either native or third-party support. This includes Blogger as well.

Blogger, as you might know, is pretty limited. Blogger users can not access the root directory of their blog. Their content remains hosted at Google even if they have a custom domain. The ftp directory your web hosts creates can allow you to only host files at sub-domains, and if you try hosting files at the root directory, Blogger will return a 404 error.

As a consequence, the only good way of submitting a sitemap for Blogger was to submit an RSS or Atom feed, since it does almost the same thing and is in xml format as well.

Automatic sitemaps

There is good news though. You no longer need to do all that to submit a sitemap. Google will now automatically create a sitemap for your Blogger blog, and that too on your root directory. You can view it at http://www.yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml (e.g. http://www.mybloggertricks.com/sitemap.xml)

Not only that, the sitemap file further contains links to pages like:

• http://www.mybloggertricks.com/sitemap.xml?page=1


• http://www.mybloggertricks.com/sitemap.xml?page=2


• http://www.mybloggertricks.com/sitemap.xml?page=3

I think this is a very welcome step, and I hope the Blogger teams will provide customization options as well for the sitemap. If you have any questions, or want to participate in the discussion, then please feel free to join us on our discussion form where we talk about creating a sitemap for Blogger.

Good luck (:

Read More

How To Get Your Content Displayed In Google Quick Answer Box?

Google's Quick Answer box - while useful for the casual searcher, creates a lot of challenges for webmasters. On the one hand, if your content is used by the Quick Answer box, you get prominence. But at the same time, if users can get their questions answered on the SERPs, why would they click through to your site, right? Their utility is debatable. Today, however, we will talk about how to get your content displayed on Google's Quick Answer box.

The Google Knowledge Graph is what powers certain components on a search results page, and the quick answers box is just one of those components. Semantic markup, like that provided by Schema.org, is just one way to help communicate what�s on a page to search engines. According to Schema.org;

On-page markup enables search engines to understand the information on web pages and provide richer search results in order to make it easier for users to find relevant information on the web. Markup can also enable new tools and applications that make use of the structure.

Getting featured in Google Knowledge Graph

Here are some things that can help you get featured in Google Knowledge Graph. 

• Implement structured data on your website


• Use nouns (i.e., entities) in your writing when it�s natural to do so


• Link to relevant sites


• Get featured in Wikipedia

Wikipedia is an example of data organization done right - the way Google likes to use. Google likes organized, easily accessible data. That�s why merging everything you know about SEO best practices with useful content and structured data can help you show up in Knowledge Graph-powered results.

Here are some tips for optimizing for the answer box.

• Select a topic that�s interesting for your users


• Create quality content relevant to the theme (use �buyer persona� studies, focus groups, and engagement analytics to determine the content mix)


• Structure the page with user experience in mind


• Where relevant, clearly define a how-to list, including the phrase �how to� in content and bullet points clearly present answers


• Implement SEO practices like basic on-page optimization, theme-relevant cross-linking and technical SEO tactics

This is still a new feature, and optimizing for the Knowledge Graph in general is still fairly novel for many, We'll be sharing in-depth articles about optimizing for the Knowledge Graph. One I'd particularly like to talk about is Wikipedia and its importance for ranking well on Google. So stay tuned for some really useful posts :)

Read More

How To Fix Your Website When It Gets Hacked?

It's not uncommon for sites - even large ones with lots of protection - to get hacked. Security is a major problem these days. And if your site gets hacked, it can get damaged in a number of ways. You could lose all your data, or lose its ranking due to malicious activity. So while you can take periodic backups, you cannot prevent someone from hacking into your site. The best and most practical thing to do in such an event is to recover your site as fast as possible so that the effect of the attack is neutralized/minimized.

Here are some tips shared by Google for getting your website back on track after it has been hacked.

Clean up malicious scripts

Hackers can target your site for any number of motives. From taking down your website and deleting its content to simply adding backlinks discreetly, there's a lot that can be done. If you notice suspicious content appearing on your website, delete those unnecessary pages immediately. However, don't just stop there.

Hackers will often insert malicious scripts into your HTML and PHP files. These could automatically be creating rogue backlinks or even new pages. Make sure you check your website's source code and see for any malicious PHP or JavaScript code that could be creating such content.

Maintain your CMS

Websites often get hacked due to vulnerabilities in a CMS that get patched with updates. If you're running an older version, your site is more susceptible to attack. Make sure you keep your CMS updated, and use a strong password for login. If possible, enable two-step verification to secure the login process.

www vs. non-www

www and non-www URLs are not the same. http://www.example.com is not the same as http://example.com - the former refers to a sub-domain 'www', whereas the latter is the root of your site. When checking for malicious content, verify the non-www version of your site as hackers often try to hide content in folders that may be overlooked by the webmaster

Other useful security tips

• Avoid using FTP when transferring files to your servers. FTP does not encrypt any traffic, including passwords. Instead, use SFTP, which will encrypt everything, including your password, as a protection against eavesdroppers examining network traffic.


• Check the permissions on sensitive files like .htaccess. Your hosting provider may be able to assist you if you need help. The .htaccess file can be used to improve and protect your site, but it can also be used for malicious hacks if they are able to gain access to it.


• Be vigilant and look for new and unfamiliar users in your administrative panel and any other place where there may be users that can modify your site.

Got any questions? Feel free to leave a new thread in our discussion forum. You can read the post from Google along with a couple case studies here. Good luck (:

Read More

Google Labelled Your Site As Hacked? Here's How To Fix It

Is your website being falsely labelled in search results as a 'hacked' website even though there's nothing wrong with it? There isn't cause for concern, because it might not be something 'hidden' that you apparently can't detect. Google is reportedly working on a new hacked page classifier, and as a result, a number of websites are getting incorrectly marked as 'hacked' in search results.

This was acknowledged by Google's John Mueller on Google+.

We're slowly rolling out a new hacked page classifier and noticed a small number of misclassifications. We're sorry for any trouble this may have caused -- we are working on addressing the issues.

Obviously, this is a very serious problem, because nobody in their right mind would visit a hacked or malicious website intentionally, right? So if your website has been effected, here's what you do.

How to tell when your website is effected?

First, do a quick search for your site and see if a line of blue text appears underneath the title tag reading �This site may be hacked.� If you don�t see that line, you�re good. If you do see that line, and you�re certain your site is not hacked, here�s what you can do to fix it.

Fixing the problem

All you have to do is, fill out a Google docs form for misclassification of your website. The link is given below.

• Google docs form for misclassified websites

One you fill it out, someone at Google will review it and remove the label if your site is in fact safe. It is not clear how long you�d have to wait before Google removes the label on your site, but hopefully they are quick about it.

Mueller recommends getting someone who is experienced in working with hacked sites to double-check whether or not your site is really hacked, because that�s a whole other issue you�ll need to deal with.

If you have any further questions, please feel free to create a new thread in our help forum, and we'll try to help you our over there. Leave your responses in the comments section below.

Read More

What To Look For When Hiring Ghostwriting Services?

Are you looking to hire a ghostwriter? As you know, there are a large number of individuals and service providers offering such services, and businesses are increasingly hiring them to write business eBooks or blogs to serve their marketing purposes. However, the question remains: how do you hire a ghostwriter? A recent post by Vorongo posted by Cameron on what do you need to look for when hiring a ghostwriter inspired us a lot and we thought we can share our experience on this subject to better help webmasters in hiring authors for their blogs.Check out these five must-have qualities your ghostwriter should have.

1. They Must Have Industry Knowledge

Your ghostwriter should understand the genre or industry you need them to write for. Having a firm understanding of the in�s and out�s will make your manuscript, blog post, or article stand out.

An exceptional ghostwriter is one who intentionally follows up on industry news and current trends. Your ghostwriter should not have to do a vast amount of research to take on your project. Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses, so it will not make them a bad person if they do not meet your qualifications. It just means they are not meant to work on your project.

2. They Must Sign and Respect the Confidentiality Agreement

You are hiring this person to be your writer and make your publication stand out. You, however, don�t want the masses to know that it was not you doing the writing. So signing a confidentiality agreement is a must and may not be a complication for them to do so. However, just because they have signed one, does not mean they are adhering to it.

Conduct a thorough interview with the potential writer. Remember, your ghostwriter must not only sign a non-disclosure agreement with you, but must adhere to prior ones they have signed as well. So in asking for their published articles, if you find they are showing you pieces of work they�ve completed for others, it means they would turn around and do the same to you. This is not ethical practices, and they are not the ghostwriter for you.

3. They Must Show Proof of Publishing

Now, although it�s been stated that they should not show off their ghostwriting work, they can, however, show you their own publications and other writing pieces. A ghostwriter does not become one overnight. In fact, they may have had a terrible time writing as a career for themselves so turned to ghostwriting. Ask to see their portfolio of which should include:

• Their current publications


• Articles, blogs, novels, and other literature pieces clients have given permission to use


• A list of references

You want to see proof they can write better than you can. Check for organization of their writing and if they have ideas to help you shine.

4. They Are Flexible and Able to Meet Your Needs

Flexibility is key in the writing industry. You have deadlines to meet and need your ghostwriter to help you maintain them. The ghostwriter that you choose should understand and be capable of showing you that your time is valuable. They should:

• Coordinate with you for interviews, transcription, and idea creation


• Work around your schedule


• Show patience with revision requests you may have

5. They Represent You Well

Finally, your ghostwriter should match your voice and represent you well. When someone reads your work, it should accurately reflect you to the point where a close friend or family member believes you wrote the piece. In the samples they show you of their work using their name, it should reflect one particular style. If they show you ghostwritten pieces, keep in mind it�s meant for that particular client, so the style of writing will change.

Remember, the purpose of your hiring a ghostwriter is to reflect your story on your timetable. Choose one that will compliment your unique style and respect the relationship you two must build to create the perfect story.

Questions and feedback is warmly welcomed! Do share your precious views on ghostwriting buddies!

Read More

How To Get Free 100 GB OneDrive Storage?

When it comes to online productivity wars, no one probably does it better than Microsoft. With their recent transition into this whole 'cloud first' persona, it has become harder for competitors to stand their ground. A few days back, we shared Google's offering of an extra 2 GB free space on Google Drive. Today, we were staggered to see Microsoft offering a humongous 100 GB of free space for OneDrive users.

This free OneDrive storage offer can be claimed before the end of February, after which it will expire. The free storage will remain with you until February 2017, so you have a good two years to enjoy your free storage!

As a Blogger, I cannot do without certain cloud applications. Be it a note-taking app such as OneNote or Google Keep, or a cloud storage I can host my personal website on. From backing up your website data onto the cloud, to keeping your photos synced across devices, there's a lot that can done with these productivity applications.

To me, just how Microsoft is giving away so much free space is amazing. A few GBs here and there are the norm. You get free 3 GB for turning on camera upload, and so on. Dropbox had a space race going an year or so ago, and even that gave you 25 extra GB at max. So for OneDrive, an extra 100 GB for free is a big deal!

How to get the free 100 GBs?

The free space is available, courtesy of Bing Rewards. It is a program where you are rewarded for using Bing and various other Microsoft services. Unfortunately, it is only available for residents within the U.S. Despair not, however. There's a workaround!

Step 1: Connect to a US-based proxy

If you live inside the states, you can skip to the next step. For non-US residents, you can use a VPN service or a US-based IP address. TorGuard is one such service that gives you lots of servers within the U.S. to connect to. VPN.CC is another example that offers free trials as well.

Step 2: Join Bing Rewards

You can claim free credits just for signing up with Bing Rewards using your Microsoft account. This credit can be used to get free storage and other such offers and services on OneDrive.

Step 3: Claim your reward!

All you now need to do is click on the reward offer within Bing Rewards dashboard, and 100 GB will be instantly added to your Microsoft OneDrive!

Which cloud service do you prefer, and why? Leave your responses in the comments section below, or post a new thread to our forum for further help! Cheers :)

Read More

How Snapchat Can Be Used To Grow Your Audience?

Snapchat is an exciting new social media platform through which people can send photos and short videos to each other. We recently talked about some of the ways you can market your brand on Snapchat. One problem for brands was, reaching out to their potential customers. Pulling contact numbers out of your marketing list was less than desirable. With a new update though, Snapchat has added the Discover feature for users to discover new content.

A potential growth opportunity for brands!

What is Discover?

The new discover feature gives users a new way to discover and explore content and stories from different editorial teams. This new tool was the result of collaboration between various media leaders to help build a story. Snapchat says the tool is unique...;

"...because it has been built for creatives. All too often, artists are forced to accommodate new technologies in order to distribute their work. This time we built the technology to serve the art: each edition includes full screen photos and videos, awesome long form layouts, and gorgeous advertising."

The discover tool can be found by clicking the bottom right corner of your open screen that leads to contacts and then clicking the purple circle located in the top right corner of your contacts page.

Personalized Ghost/QR Code

Snapchat has also released a new way to find followers. Every person on Snapchat now has his or her very own ghost. The ghost sits in the middle of a yellow box, which has several black dots. The dots are individual QR codes.

This means, that user can now take screenshots of their ghost, post it on social media and ask people to follow them. It also means that users can easily find brands on Snapchat and add them from anywhere their ghost is posted.

How does this work? A user simply points the camera at another person�s ghost and clicks on the white ghost in the middle of the screen. This will automatically add the user to their contact list.

Snapcash

Snapchat also partnered with Square, a payment processing app, to create Snapcash. Snapcash is integrated into the Square Cash Platform and allows users to connect their debit cards and send cash to other users. Once the debit information is connected to a Snapchat ID, users can send cash to other users by using their Snapchat ID. The user that was sent the money will receive an alert to their profile. If the user wants to accept the money, the user has to add their debit information to their Snapchat profile.

Business opportunities

Considering that most of Snapchat�s users never log out of the system and it is now the fastest growing social media app, it could hold many opportunities for new ways of crowdfunding from a highly engaged and committed audience.

We haven�t seen Snapcash live up to its full potential yet, because when Snapcash initially launched brands had no real way of redirecting the user from the message to the Snapcash function. Now that Snapchat has launched Discover and QR codes to each user, a brand can easily redirect people from one platform to Snapchat and then to Snapcash.

This new chapter is a refreshing one for Snapchat. It has made more room for advertisers to reach new audiences and to bring crowdfunding to an entirely new level. They have successfully created a platform that can be monetized without making users feel like they are being advertised to.

Do you think Snapchat has the potential to make it big? Let us know in the comments section below!

Read More

Now Choose Who Manages Your Facebook Profile After You Die

Have you ever put some thought into what will happen to your online accounts once you're dead? Death is inevitable, and a lot of people tend to not think about it too much. But have you ever wondered what will become of your accounts then? Will they stay locked forever, because no one knows the passwords you took into the grave? Facebook has the answer - now you can decide who will manage your Facebook account once you're gone!

If you come to think about it, the whole idea is pretty comical. While I am sure there are many geeks out there who write down their passwords in encrypted files, the keys to which are contained within their wills (guilty as charged!), a large number of people don't give it much thought, and hence their accounts get locked forever.

With the new Legacy Contact feature, Facebook now wants you to think about who you'd trust enough to have access to your account once you're gone. And with Valentine's day right around the corner, I can take a wild guess as to the topic of conversation between many couples tonight - just saying (:

Facebook Legacy Contact

You can select a trusted contact - a friend or family member - to be your Legacy Contact. Once Facebook is notified that someone has died, it will memorialize their account, and the word 'Remembering' will appear behind their profile names. The Legacy Contact (if chosen) will then be able to access the deceased's account.

The legacy contact will be able to;

• Make a post on the memorialized account's behalf (for example to make an announcement)


• Respond to new friend requests from family members and friends who were not yet connected


• Update the profile picture and cover photo

The legacy contact will NOT have access to;

• Account login information


• Account settings


• Personal messages (inbox) of the deceased person

You can view or add a legacy by going to account Settings >> Security >> Legacy Contact. From here, you can choose whether you want that contact to be able to download and archive of your profile pictures, photos, posts etc.

(If you don't yet see this option, don't worry. The feature has been introduced in the US, and is being rolled out slowly to other users around the world)

Alternatively, you can choose to have your account permanently deleted upon your death.

Let the eventuality sink in for a while! Have a long, happy and blessed life, y'all! Good luck (:

Read More

How To Get Extra 2GB Of Free Google Drive Storage?

Google Drive is one of the most popular cloud services today, used by millions around the world. Every Google account holder has his own free cloud space, which integrates so well with other Google products. From simple file sharing to hosting a website, there's a lot you can do with Google Drive. Google is now giving away an extra 2GB of free space, which I am sure many of you will find welcome.

Remember: This is a limited time offer. You can retain the extra 2GB forever, but only if you claim it before 17th February!

Google decided to celebrate Safer Internet Day in style by giving everyone a free upgrade on their Google Drive storage. There's a small price to pay - a couple minutes of your time to review your account settings.

How to get the free storage?

In order to get the free storage, you need to complete a quick security check on your account (link is given below).

=

Earn free storage by completing this security checkup

=

After login, you will be prompted to start the security checkup.

Next, you will be taken through your recent account activity. This includes login events for your Google account, device accesses, apps authorized to use your Google Account credentials, and so on. Once all is said and done, you will see a confirmation screen.

Google says the checkup will take around 2 minutes, but it took me less than 30 seconds. It�s a 3-step process that asks you to verify your password recovery information, as well as review your recent login activity and app permissions.



Once you see the three check marks, you can close the window or continue to your account settings. you're essentially done and are eligible for a free 2GB worth of space.



You�ll have until February 17th to complete the security checkup. The additional gigabytes will be added to your account around the end of the month.



If you want to keep on top of your account security you can revisit the security checkup again at any point to ensure there has been no suspicious activity.



Enjoy your free, extra space (:

Read More

How To Implement Google's Sitelinks Search Box On Your Website?

Sitelinks are Google's way of letting users know what links could possibly be most relevant to them. They help users find content more quickly. Google implemented search sitelinks to facilitate users and make it easier for them to search for and reach the desired content on your site directly from SERPs. A lot of webmasters miss out on this opportunity though. Compared to other types of markup, implementing search sitelinks is easy. Today, we'll show you how to easily set up yours.

Does your site qualify?

This question isn't easy to answer. Not every site qualifies for the sitelinks search box, and Google isn't overly transparent about the requirements. However, if you can answer "yes" to any of these questions below, it's quite possible your site qualifies.

• Google often sends notifications to verified, eligible sites through Webmaster Tools. Did you ever get one?


• Navigational or branded search traffic - Keyword phrases such as 'mbt' and 'mybloggertricks' send this website thousands of visits. The more the volume of branded search traffic, the likelier the sitelinks search box is to appear


• Try searching for your site using the most common branded and navigational search queries that your visitors might use. If the sitelinks search box already appears, then you most likely qualify to take advantage of adding the SearchAction Schema on your site and directing visitors to your own search results page.

Making use of your internal search engine

Most internal search engines work perfectly fine, including the default WordPress search function. If your website doesn't have internal search, it's easy to get started with a free Google Custom Search engine.



For websites that use Google's default Custom Search engine, Google also has the chance to make money on ad clicks, because the free version of the Customer Search engine includes Google ads. Google offers a paid version known as Site Search that allows an ad-free experience.

Adding the schema

The next step if your site qualifies is to add SearchAction schema markup on your site. Add the following code to your homepage.

<script type="application/ld+json">

{

   "@context": "http://schema.org",

   "@type": "WebSite",

   "url": "https://www.example.com/",

   "potentialAction": {

     "@type": "SearchAction",

     "target": "https://query.example.com/search?q={search_term_string}",

     "query-input": "required name=search_term_string"

   }

}

</script>

Make sure to edit the "URL" and "target" fields to match your own website information.

If you implement the markup on your site, users will have the ability to jump directly from the sitelinks search box to your site�s search results page. If Google doesn't find any markup, it'll show them a Google search results page for the corresponding site: query, as it has already done until now.

If you have any questions, you can create a new thread over at our new forum. Good luck :)

Read More

How To Get Great Content Ideas For Your Blog?

Brainstorming for content ideas can be tough. You easily get distracted and everything seems to have already been written! To make matters worse, requirements to content concepts and titles have become much more complicated. With the growing importance of referral traffic, we now have to rethink title strategies and how they appear on social sites. If you're feeling strapped for content ideas, here are a few that can help.

Check your Comments Section

When you let people share and comment on your site, you could end up with some great blog post ideas. Your readers might ask for more information about a specific item you didn�t cover clearly in your first post, or they might share their own opinions about the topic, which could make your fingers itch to write. Reading those bits carefully could make your blogging much easier.

Check out the Competition

According to 2014 stats, more than half of all small businesses don�t have a website. As a result, your top competitor may not have a blog that you can follow. But that same competitor might be active on social media sites like Twitter and Facebook. The posts you find there could give you great ideas about topics you should cover.

If you grab an idea from someone else, be sure to tweak it or amend it or somehow make it your own. Stealing outright could get you in hot water, both with your competitors and with Google. But borrowing a good idea could help you to come up with the story idea that�s been eluding you.

Yelp Pages

People with reputation management problems are likely accustomed to the idea of using Yelp as an early warning system. When they see a poor review pop up, they know they must get to work generating content that either refutes or explains the complaint. But Yelp can also help you write blog posts about issues people either like or have questions about.

Read through your reviews and look for items that get a lot of mentions. Not all Yelp comments will contain blog gems, of course. Some might just contain complaints or random bits of praise you can�t build on. But, watching the comments closely could give you some great ideas for writing that will really resonate.

Targeted Keyword Research

And ofcourse, nothing beats good ol' fashioned keyword research. This is a fundamental part of the writing process, as it helps you find the right terms which will perform better on SERPs. But more than SEO, your searches can also help you to find out what people are looking for, and that could give you some excellent blog post ideas.

With Google AdWords� Keyword Planner, you can run a simple search on a topic you�re planning to cover. Your results page will give you keywords that are similar to the topic you�ve hit, but they come with just a few changes.

We'll soon publish an entire section dedicated to keyword research in the SEO process, so stay tuned!

Coming up with new content ideas is not easy. But if poke around and are receptive enough, with enough luck you will soon find great content ideas to go on your blog! Good luck :)

Read More

Google To Show Tweets In Search Results Pages

Twitter has just confirmed today that it has signed a Firehose deal with Google, which will bring Twitter news to non-Twitter/logged out users. For the benefit of both the companies, this deal will make Twitter's feeds directly accessible to Google, meaning that Google can now display tweets in its Search Results pages in real-time.

Google had a pretty similar deal with Twitter years ago, but that was dropped in 2011. Google previously had to crawl Twitter for new information - pretty much like it crawls every other website.

However, the new deal once again gives Google immediate access to Twitter's live data stream, which means that the slow crawling process can be done away with, and tweets can be made visible in SERPs in real-time.

The changes will incrementally start taking place within the next few months.

Back in 2009, Google was able to index tweets automatically. But that deal sort of fell away as the then CEO wanted to have control over the network's content. Now though, things have changed. Twitter is very focused now on bringing more traffic to its content and possibly monetizing that to greater effect. So this new Google deal will give Twitter just what it needs - more eyeballs for its content. According to CEO Dick Costolo;

�We've got the opportunity now to drive and aggregate eyeballs to logged-out experiences that we plan to deliver on the front page of Twitter,� he continued, �and that�s why it makes a lot more sense now.�

This can also be seen as an expansion strategy. Twitter is obviously set on targeting logged-out or non-Twitter users with this update. This would serve to bring new users over to the network,  and is exactly the type of attitude the company needs right now as it�s growth in terms of both daily active users and stock price has fallen flat as of late.

So what does Google stand to gain in all this?

This deal is being described as a win-win for both companies. In addition to potentially accelerating Twitter�s growth, it�s also good for Google because the ability to index real-time tweets is valuable for searchers.

Of course, this deal also stands to greatly benefit businesses and publishers as well, as their search engine visibility and social media audience will be amplified. Hence, a new arena for Bloggers and content markets to explore (:

Read More

How Can Websites Rank Well Without Backlinks?

A large proportion of people out there seem to believe that backlinks form the backbone of a website's SEO strategy. Having high-quality and relevant backlinks has its advantages, but are they a necessity? We have talked about this topic many times in the past. Today, I'd like to share highlights from Googler John Mueller's recent hangout where he proved that backlinks, while important, are not a must for ranking well in Google!

John Mueller is the Webmaster Trends Analyst at Google. He shared an instance of a website ranking well without backlinks during his hangout at the GooglePlex with two of his colleagues. Here's the video of the hangout, with adjusted starting position.

Someone asked at the 26 minutes and 3 seconds mark, why does Google use links for ranking at the level they do. He said, Google should use other means to rank sites. Of course, he knows they do use other factors but his point was why do they place so much weight on links.



John Mueller answered that saying they do have tons of other factors outside of just links.

John then said he has a friend of his who is �back home� in Zurich, his friend just put up a new web site for the local neighborhood. The new site does not have any links at all and over 300 pages are indexed and pages are ranking and they are getting a lot of traffic from search.



No one ever linked to the site ever, he said, but they did submit sitemaps to Google and they have an RSS feed.



The web site does fairly well without any links at all, John said. So it is not the case you absolutely need links to rank, he added. John did say that links are "obviously" it is part of Google�s ranking factors, but it isn�t something Google only relies on.



We know a year ago, Matt Cutts said Google did try turning off links in their ranking algorithm and the results were horrible. We also know that Yandex, the huge Russian search engine, did remove links from a niche segment in their ranking algorithm when that segment was spammed to death.



With that being said, let's not forget the importance of backlinks. But the point here is, there are many other factors you need to be focusing on as well.

Read More

SEO Requirements To Remember When Implementing Infinite Scroll

Yesterday, we talked about infinitely scrolling homepages, and whether they're a good design decision when it comes to SEO. While tricky and often prone to mistakes, infinite scroll has its uses, especially where usability is concerned. So today, we'll talk about some SEO requirements you should keep in mind before you go ahead and implement an infinite scroll. These tips will help you design a better homepage for users as well as search engines.

There are two parts to this story. This is the second part. You might like to read our previous post before moving on.

Part 1: Are Infinite Scrolling Homepages SEO Friendly?

Part 2: SEO Requirements To Remember When Implementing Infinite Scroll

Don't break functionality!

Infinite Scroll should be implemented as a "progressive improvement"; that is, it should function as an additional feature available to users that support it, without penalizing others or changing the technical structure of the site.

Downloading asynchronously

Asynchronous roughly means 'not bound with time'. When a regular website loads, most of its content loads synchronously - time driven, that is to say it loads when user visits. But for an infinite scroll, you cannot load the entire feed when the user first lands on the page.

For a "progressively improving" implementation, an Infinite Scroll has to load the required JavaScript elements necessary for asynchronous operation. Here is an overview of Infinite Scroll in asynchronous mode:

1. The user requests a page (eg: site.com/page/3) and gets the content of this page.


2. When it reaches the limits of content while scrolling, a JavaScript function will run, requiring new content from the server.


3. When the server responds with the new content, another JavaScript function interprets the data and injects it into the HTML page.


4. When there is more content to download, the server responds with a 404 error message that will not be shown to the user. Rather, we will post a notice that the content is exhausted. This feature works for both a scroll up as a scroll down.

The asynchronous download can cause delays in the content display depending on the server�s response time. Therefore, we must use preloading and caching. The purpose of preloading is to download the adjacent content preventatively to minimize the new contents� loading time. Caching�s purpose is to keep asynchronously downloaded content in memory.

Maintaining history

The Infinite Scroll is definitely a plus for continuous navigation, but what about "segmented" navigation? If a user scrolls for several sections, finds an interesting link and clicks it, then returns to the Infinite Scroll, what happens?

If a user visits your site, leaves, then comes back a few days later and tries to find a certain piece of content, what is their experience? How will they know where to go? The answers to these questions are found in the History.pushState.

History.pushState lets you change the URL in the address bar dynamically. When the user scrolls and reaches a new section, the address bar will change. The pushState then creates a new state in the browser navigation history. If the user clicks on the back button, it will be up to the previous URL we populate via pushState.

history.pushState(stateObject, title, URL);

window.onpopstate = function(event) {

window.location = window.location; }

Sites like Facebook demonstrate the importance of this practice. If you scroll far down on the site page with Infinite Scroll, then accidentally press the "Back" button and return immediately to the site, you will return to the very top of the scroll instead of exactly where you left off.

These were some of the things to keep in mind. We'll soon create a tutorial on actually implementing an effective infinite scroll, so stay tuned!

Read More

Are Infinite Scrolling Homepages SEO Friendly?

Infinitely scrolling homepages have become a part of many modern blogs and websites today (e.g. Mashable). The intent is to keep visitors on the website as more and more content is loaded. While it can be beneficial to adopt infinite scroll, it is important that its implementation takes into account the best SEO and usability principles. Today, we'll discuss the user friendliness of implementing this feature on your website.

There are two parts to this story. In this part, we'll discuss the SEO aspects of infinite scrolling, whereas in the next, we'll talk about things to consider before implementing an infinite scroll along SEO recommendations.

Part 1: Are Infinite Scrolling Homepages SEO Friendly?

Part 2: (In progress...)

Indexing problems

In terms of SEO, one of the major challenges that you may encounter in trying to implement Infinite Scroll is indexing. The issue stems from the fact that Google does not allow the JavaScript download to display content found below a Web page that was programmed in Infinite Scroll. As a result, when the search engine lands on your Web page, it will only see the content that is first presented to the user; the content that is visible without having to scroll.

To address this shortcoming, you must help Google detect your entire website�s content to effectively index your website and promote visibility between internal pages. You can do this by implementing an interlinking strategy.

Breaking down content

Content on a large website is often broken down into many different pages. In other words, Classic pagination. For infinite scroll, the problem arises when search crawler gets to the end of an initial page load. For a user, more content would be automatically loaded with JavaScript. But a crawler can't get any further, and hence information beyond that is 'lost'.

Breaking down content into various pages not only makes it easier for crawler, but also for users who're using an old browser, or a mobile browser with JavaScript turned off. This is not to say that you should get rid of infinite scrolling altogether. You can offer both solutions side by side. As the saying goes, never sacrifice functionality in favor of graphical usability.

SEO Benefits

The implementation of an Infinite Scroll, when well established, will not influence the SEO performance of a website. The major advantage however, lies in optimizing conversions (depending, of course, on the objectives of the website in question!).

The implementation of an Infinite Scroll on your website may allow you to decrease your bounce rate and increase the amount of content being viewed, as well as the number of pageviews. This can be extremely interesting for sites whose main income comes from advertising with CPM ads (if the advertisement reloads when users change pages with Infinite Scroll).

So long story short, infinite scroll has its uses. In the next post, we'll talk about things to consider before implementing an infinite scroll, so stay tuned :)

Read More