10 Things SEOs & SMBs Should Know About New Google Places Dashboard

Recently, Google announced some significant changes to their Google Places dashboard. The wires have been humming ever since, and the reaction has ranged from fall-off-seat excitement to ‘humph, is that it!?’

Whatever the opinion, the truth is that these changes signify a big development in the way Google handles ‘Local.’ Google has been talking up the importance of local for an age, and the increased real estate given to local results in SERPs backs this up. They have also updated and iterated their local product almost more than their main search product in the last 12 months.

But, despite this rhetoric and commitment, Google has given scant attention to how SMBs use and manage their data within maps/Google+ Local.

Tuesday’s announcement changes this. The new ‘Places for Business’ dashboard is all about making life easier and clearer for SMBs to manage their data and promotion within Google’s local products (Maps/Mobile/+Local), and they have really put some thought into solving the backend issues and providing a helpful, consolidated interface.

Hang on… before I go too far with the praise, let me make one thing very clear. This update is also designed to make it easy for SMBs to purchase Adwords Express. Google has struggled to monetize ‘Local,’ and this update puts AdWords Express front and center on the dashboard in the hope that SMBs will start to spend more with them. ‘Google the Benevolent?’ (Yeah, right…)

Listed below are ten things SEOs and SMBs should know about the new dashboard.

1.  Phased Rollout – Many Changes Still To Come

This update has addressed a number of issues which have confused and frustrated SEOs and SMBs for years; but it has not improved all issues and niggles. This is very much a v1.0 for the new dashboard, and there are many more improvements to come over the coming months.

2.  Only Available To New Profiles Or Newly Verified Profiles

The new dashboard is only available for new listings (newly created or newly verified) and not for existing, verified listings. As soon as a listing is verified, they will get access to the new dashboard. However, those of us with existing verified listings will have to wait until the rollout reaches us.

Also, the dashboard is only currently available in the US. Once rollout is complete in the US, then it will jump across to other territories. There’s no clear timeline on this; so, it’s a case of carry on doing what you’re doing and wait till Christmas arrives!

3.  Easier, Faster, Clearer Update Route For Google+ Local Page

This change is a huge improvement – and a big thumbs-up to Google for sorting this out!

The current/old dashboard had a slow and tenuous link to the Google+ Local page with changes made in the old dashboard taking a long time to show up on the visible Google+ listing.

The new dashboard feeds data directly into Google’s updated ‘knowledge graph’ data structure. This enhanced structure makes management of data within Google better, and Google puts more trust in this data.

The upshot for SMBs is that any changes made via the dashboard have greater trust and should go live on their Google+ Local page faster – within 48 hours, according to various sources.

4.  Verification Process Still The Same

Thumbs down on this one, I’m afraid!

The verification process for listings is still the same. Businesses still need to get a PIN via mail, SMS or phone call and enter this into their listings so they can take control of their listing.

But, there is a clearer process for disputed listings. If you want to take control of a listing which is currently claimed into a different Google account. there is a clear, stepped appeal process. Listings can no longer be claimed into multiple accounts, which will greatly reduce confusion over listing ownership and administration.

It also appears (fingers firmly crossed) as if this process is going to be overseen by a dedicated customer support team, which would be a hugely welcome change.

Sources - searchengineland

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SEO Step Delivers Performance

Having worked with some of the biggest brands in India and abroad, SEO Step has the relevant experience and expertise to accomplish high value projects. A strong team of optimizers have contributed to the impeccable reputation that it commands. The portfolio of SEO Step features international brands and boasts of some high performing websites, helped over 700 companies to take advantage of a site that is a lead magnet.

SEO Step provides value added services that ensure that the client’s online requirements are fulfilled. Apart from marketing, it also develops custom web applications that help organizations automate various business processes and generate revenue. All in all SEO Step is an integrated online marketing agency in Mumbai that delivers high quality web based business solutions.

SEO Step is an Online Marketing agency based in Mumbai that has, for over a decade, consistently delivered Performance Based SEO Services. SEO Step has maintained high standards and has created landmark sites in terms of online marketing. Over the last few years, SEO Step has accomplished some very challenging sites in terms of being extensive and involving complicated functionalists.

Author: Jagmohan Dobal

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Study Finds Google’s Penguin Update Getting Stricter Over Time

A study by Portent, an Internet marketing company, shows that Google’s tolerance of spammy links to trigger a Penguin algorithm ranking drop has declined by 30% since the Penguin algorithm launched.

The study shows that of the 500,000 links found, Google has been steadily reducing its tolerance for webspam. Now, Google is likely to penalize sites with as little as 50 percent suspicious links in their link profiles, whereas 80 percent was required when Penguin first launched.

Portent analyzed about 10,000 links pointing at each of the top 50 sites on the 2012 Inc. 5000 list. They then captured the SEOMOZ and Majestic SEO data for each incoming link. They designed a crawler to score the link as spam based on the page the link is linking to being related to the page the link is coming from. They did this and collected data on more than 250,000 links pointing at penalized sites, and 250,000 links pointing at non-penalized sites.

Here are the results over time:

Source: - Search Engine Land

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Phone Numbers No Longer Allowed in Google AdWords Ad Text

If you want to include a phone number in your AdWords ad, you'll need to use the call extensions feature. Starting in April, Google will begin disapproving any ads that include telephone numbers in the ad text, according to a recent policy update.

The official word from Google:

In the next few weeks, we will no longer allow phone numbers to be used in the ad text of new ads. Advertisers who would still like to promote phone numbers in their AdWords advertising can use the call extensions feature. We're posting this alert now to provide adequate lead time to make ad changes.

In April 2013, we will begin to disapprove ads that were using phone numbers in their ad text before the March 2013 policy change.

While an ad like this is currently showing, once April rolls around that ad will no longer be allowed in AdWords: Sources: - Search Engine Watch

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Google: Sorry We Accidentally Penalized Your Site

Yesterday, Digg was completely delisted from Google's search index. Some thought it was an issue with their robots.txt file, some thought it was a Google bug and some had no idea what to think.

What was it? Google accidentally penalized the whole site. Yes, it was an accident.

Matt Cutts, Google's head of search spam, said on Hacker News, "we were tackling a spammer and inadvertently took action on the root page of digg.com."

Google released an official statement as well:

"We're sorry about the inconvenience this morning to people trying to search for Digg. In the process of removing a spammy submitted link on Digg.com, we inadvertently applied the webspam action to the whole site. We're correcting this, and the fix should be deployed shortly."

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Google Launches Notes Service Google Keep

Google today launched Keep, an app that allows you to save things, clip stuff from the web, hoard notes and what not and put them all onto your Google Drive. Yup, you guessed it — it is an imitation to Evernote and many other such applications. It is a good thing that Google has decided to compete with the likes of Evernote — it validates their market.

It might actually be good, or even better than Evernote. But I still won’t use Keep. You know why? Google Reader.

I spent about seven years of my online life on that service. I sent feedback, used it to annotate information and they killed it like a butcher slaughters a chicken. No conversation — dead. The service that drives more traffic than Google+ was sacrificed because it didn’t meet some vague corporate goals; users — many of them life long — be damned.

Looking from that perspective, it is hard to trust Google to keep an app alive. What if I spend months using the app, and then Google decides it doesn’t meet some arbitrary objective? Evernote has my data and frankly, I’m glad to pay them to keep it because they are who they are. One of the reasons I use Evernote is because it is their only thing. (For now.) Evernote is focused on making the service better. And it keeps that focus every year.

Evernote is like Derek Jeter, playing shortstop and trying to win every day. Google? It is the digital Mr. Ripley.

Sorry Google, but you might not realize that you are acting like the company you wanted to replace: Microsoft. The Barons of Redmond used to float products into the market — smart displays and weird stuff — that companies like Samsung and LG would put out in the market, only to yank them later. In the end, I stopped believing in Microsoft and shifted my dollars and attention to other brands.

And by the way – how is this app strategic for you guys and Reader is not? A little clarity would certainly be appreciated.

How about a pledge? If you build it, we use it, and you use our personal data to make your other products better or your ad sales executives richer, then you will keep it around.

Source: Giga Om Image courtesy of Flickr user Dano 

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Redesign Your Existing Website? Here’s What You Should Consider

It’s often a dilemma for marketers, whether they should redesign their website. Some of the fears of redesigning a website are that the web traffic would stall and the search engine rankings would drop. There are few aspects that need to be taken care of while redesigning the website. Following article would help you in getting your redesigned website right.

Continue Brand Theme:-

Though the approach towards the new website should be fresh, there should be a continuing string of brand themes and elements that need to be weaved into the new website. The redesigned website should be fresh but familiar to the loyal customers of the company. A drastic change in the design and interface of the website would alienate the customer and might result in a drop in recurring or nurtured leads.

Maintain navigation and user interface:-

Your leads are used to a certain format of navigation and browse about your site intuitively. Drastically changing your site navigation and interface could lead to the lead getting confused. Browsers like quick and easy navigation and this should be facilitated through an easy navigation and interface.

Minimum Page Layers:-

The number of new pages and links must be restricted as it would distract the user from the primary objective of his visit. Lesser the number of pages, more focused the site, and effect more effective. However care should be taken to see that the page and link restriction does not have an impact on the SEO efforts of the company.

Search Engine Rankings

One of the most important aspects that need to be considered during website design is the SEO or Search Engine Optimization. The web designer or the web designing company must ensure that the websites equity should not be affected. Google reindexing should be taken care of as the website may get recognized as a completely new site. There are ways to bypass SEO related hurdles. Some of the things that the web design company could do is to retain all meta tags and meta keywords. The URLs should also be kept unchanged as change in URLs could lead to those pages getting cached anew. There should be an effective use of canonical tags and 301 redirects. The sitemap must be immediately submitted to Search Engines, once the website is launched.

Maintain a backup of the old website, including images and content

Losing content and missing out on details happens often. To avoid this, it is essential to have a backupof the entire site. Moreover, it is important to maintain a repository of all the files and creatives used within the site.

If the above aspects are taken care of, transition to a redesigned website becomes easy.  

Author: Jagmohan Dobal

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