First and foremost, let me say that I think the latest updates from Google are not great. I have questions about whether Google is trying to kill the SEO industry. Also, it is possible that Google created a new industry called negative SEO.

That being said, these updates keep SEO companies like Highly Relevant alive while weeding out the chop shops that give our industry a bad name. Without updates like this, anyone would be able to do SEO, which would certainly put SEO’s out of business.

For the companies like us who have survived the recent Panda (Google’s update to target content poachers and content farmers) and Penguin (Google’s update to combat link manipulators and over optimization) updates mostly unscathed, there will be a pool of new clients that have abandoned their now ineffective SEO company or consultant. At Highly Relevant, we have been adapting our own SEO systems and processes to the updates that Google releases over the years, allowing us to stay ahead of these updates by writing amazing content, being social with that content and forging long-term partnerships with websites in our clients’ industries.

If you are looking for help in recovering from Panda or Penguin, we can offer it. The biggest question is what kind of long-term penalties and/or rankings ceilings are put on sites that are penalized? Can people rebound relatively quickly and to their previous rankings by removing “bad” links, 301 redirecting duplicate/light content and integrating social marketing signals on an SEO friendly website? These are all questions that the recent Panda and Penguin updates have forced everyone to ask, and Highly Relevant can assist you in finding and implementing the best solutions for your business.

When I began my online journey in 2004, Google was quickly becoming a household name. It had officially become the most searched engine in the United States, owning 39.8% of the search market share which totaled over 2.05 billion searches of the 5.15 billion searches made in the U.S. during the month of November, 2005 (Source: COMSCORE). Google also received over 93,124,000 total U.S. visitors in December, 2005 (Source: COMSCORE). That translated into over $1.47 billion in net profits for Google in 2005.

In November of 2011, Google owned 65.4% of the U.S. search engine market share. That is over 11.7 billion searches of the 17.8 billion explicit searches that took place in November (Source: COMSCORE). Google also received over 187,138,000 total U.S. visitors in December, 2011 (Source: COMSCORE). That translated into $9.74 billion in net profit in 2011.

You might be asking yourself, “Why does this matter?” Take a look at the chart below:

SOURCE: Google Financial Tables

As you can see, Google has managed to increase the value of an average unique visitor in the United States from $1.31 in 2005 to $4.34 in 2011, which is an increase in average value of over 230%. However, the amount of unique visitors from 2005 vs. 2011 has only increased by about 101%, so what gives?

Google used to care a lot more about getting people the information they looking for. Unfortunately, today they care more about advertising revenues than providing users with the information they are looking for, and when you couple that greed with manual site reviews, white-lists, hypocritical algorithm updates, preferential treatment of big brands and much more.

Let’s also keep in mind that Google absolutely hates SEO, as it doesn’t make Google any money, and whether you want to hear it or not, SEO is one of Google’s biggest competitors. The more people are spending on SEO services, the less money they contribute to Google’s advertising revenues, which is exactly why Google is working hard to try to kill SEO. That’s right, I said it. Google is trying to kill SEO (or at the very least, make an SEO’s life a lot more difficult).

A clear example of this is the cluster f*$k that is Google Analytics. When Google first announced that they were encrypting the referrer and query string information from logged in users, I wasn’t phased, as it was only to affect about 10% of SEO referring traffic.

But now, the gravity of the change is absolutely undeniable when we try to present our clients with year-over-year or month-over-month SEO traffic and conversion metrics from Google.

First of all, more people are clicking advertisements than ever before, which means overall SEO traffic for a given keyword year-over-year is a challenging thing to acquire. Now throw in the fact that 10% – 40% of SEO searches that once fell under a given SEO keyword are now lumped under “(not provided).” What this means is that we might have increased overall rankings and traffic for a given keyword, but traffic is down compared to the month or year previous because we are not comparing apples-to-apples. Unfortunately, this is very challenging to communicate to clients, and rightfully so.

Furthermore, Google Analytics has completely thrown off the way that SEO traffic numbers are visualized. For example, I was checking over Highly Relevant’s SEO traffic a few weeks ago and my heart sank because I thought we were literally sitting at 0 SEO visits on April 10. As it turns out, we had only 2 SEO visits less on April 10th than we did on April 9th, but the way Google display of the data led me to believe it was dire. See the screenshot below:

In addition, you can also see that “(not provided)” accounted for over 40% of SEO traffic we received those two days, which is noticeably more than the 10% Google originally suggested.

Try explaining how traffic is up when the graphs and PDFs that Google Analytics provide look like that above.

As a result of my efforts, I earned more interesting and in-depth articles to write, such as guest blog posts on environmental blogs and finance blogs with tons of traffic.

In the following article, I will discuss how to write successful guest blog posts on great websites for commercial purposes.  Oftentimes, you will have to provide content to a blog manager before you are guaranteed publication on their site – it is EXTREMELY helpful if you or a linkbuilder have already established contact with a blogger and proposed a topic. Generally, to gain the approval of a webmaster, you must create content that serves as the relevant intersection between the blog and the client – choose a topic that puts the blog topic and the clients business together.

Relevant to the host blog
Establishing relevancy to a client is as important as establishing relevancy to the host blog. Say for example one of your clients is an online diamond buying service. In order to get an article with a back link up on a high-trafficked blog for divorcees, write a blog post about what to do with a wedding ring after getting a divorce, and include specific information pertaining to Texas divorce laws and post-divorce property rights.

Original and engaging
Blog managers are not going to accept your guest blog posts if they are not worth reading. Their blogs are their business, and like any business, they want to provide their customers with the best possible product. The content you provide should not contain common knowledge or information that can be found elsewhere. Your guest blog posts should pertain to human interest and exude personality. A good rule of thumb: only write something YOU would want to read. Do some research and DON’T cite Wikipedia – if you must use Wikipedia, cite the sources that Wikipedia uses.

Not too advertorial
You don’t want your guest post to come off as an advertisement for your client. As I demonstrated in my previous example,   don’t write an article about DiamondsDiamondsDiamonds.com, but rather an article about an important issue for many divorcees, which also directed them towards your client’s service. The hyperlink should be subtle and natural. For example, “After divorcees sell their diamonds, they can use the extra cash to fund their first solo vacation.”

Well-researched and specific
For the DiamondsDiamondsDiamonds.com article, look up various ways women have dealt with their post-divorce rings, including refashioning them, returning them, reselling them, keeping them at the bottom of their jewelry drawers, etc, and cite specific occurrences of each with quotes from actual divorcees. This kind of research and specificity provides the article with confidence and credibility.

Unbiased
Unless the blog you’re posting on is particularly biased in any direction, you will want to take a neutral stance on any loaded topics. You don’t want to plant any politics on your client, and as mentioned before, you don’t want your article to come off as too much of an advertisement.

If you follow these simple tips, you’re likely to have a higher result of accepted guest blog posts on higher quality sites. When you put this kind of care and consideration into your SEO articles, you will feel creatively and intellectually satisfied while building links to your client’s site.

What are some methods you use to publish guest posts on behalf of your clients?

Each member of Highly Relevant Brands’ core leadership brings unique experience that will fuel the company’s endeavors. The team’s extensive experience in Internet ventures, reputation management, social media marketing, conversion rate optimization, and financial and legal due diligence in relation to web property transactions will play a vital role in mapping the path to success for any distressed domain.

Highly Relevant, LLC has been in operation for over two and a half years, and it is with the experience gained during that time in Internet marketing and project management that the team at Highly Relevant Brands will work to occupy and revolutionize the Internet real estate market.

Any good SEO will tell you that if you cloak content on a page, Google will not only “slap” you, but furthermore, your site is in jeopardy of not fully recovering all of its rankings even after you fix the cloaking issue.

It appears, however, that not only will Wikipedia not be penalized, but Google feels the same way Wikipedia does — and even supports Wikipedia’s cause (because it will have a direct negative impact on Google’s own business as well).

The bottom line: this Wikipedia situation is yet another example of Google playing favorites and accommodating certain websites (aka its “white-list”). I challenge people to do a test the same exact way as Wikipedia did for 24 hours and see what happens to their rankings and traffic. We all know what will happen to us, and we all know it won’t happen to Wikipedia.

Update: Google is accommodating Wikipedia to help support their cause…doesn’t that mean that they are manually favoring websites?

The internet has become an invaluable tool in promoting both large and small businesses.  In an effort to improve visibility and spread knowledge about their products retailers are utilizing SEO strategies to strengthen their online presence. Consumers are becoming savvier and looking for companies they can trust, and ranking highly in search results on reputable search engines such as Google helps to set a wary customer’s mind at ease. By optimizing their websites businesses are able to reassure existing customers and recruit new ones at the same time. By investing in SEO retailers can greatly improve their company visibility and revenue for just a small cost.

Retailers can also improve their online visibility and increase their customer base by using business video production firms for online marketing. Video marketing gives businesses a platform to reach new customers and educate them on the services and products they offer. Business video production allows customers to learn about the products and services a company offers in a way that they can’t in written form. By marketing their products in video form, retailers lend visual support to their claims and are able to better showcase the goods and services they offer. By utilizing websites such as YouTube, businesses can further improve their visibility and customer base by targeting new audiences free of charge.

Corporate video production is also an effective way to cut costs in employee trainings without sacrificing the quality of employee performance. In a buyers market the effectiveness of a sales associate’s pitch and the extent of their product knowledge has a huge effect on sales numbers. Yet training employees is both time-consuming and pricey. Corporate training videos allow companies to train their employees in a faster and more efficient manner. Videos are much cheaper than individual training, and make it easier for a large company to offer consistent service throughout multiple establishments. For large retailers with many stores in different locations corporate video trainings can improve employee product knowledge and consistent service for a fraction of the price and time needed for individual training. By utilizing SEO strategies and business video production retailers can greatly increase their revenue at a small cost, while streamlining their business and maintaining consistent products.

In order to get them back to shredding at maximum potential, they should consider making some of these changes. Then they’ll be record label certified instead of your neighborhood garage band.

Problem 1: Images above text on product pages.

How to fix Problem 1: Text links should appear above the images because Google only counts the first link that it sees, and the text links pass more strength and relevance than pictures.  Therefore, the text links on the product pages should be moved above the images.

Problem 2: Sitemap only shows zipped versions.

How to fix Problem 2: Currently, there is no XML sitemap on SamAsh.com; only the zipped versions appear.  SamAsh.com’s webmaster should create both XML and zipped versions of the sitemap (as well as submit them both to the search engines).

Problem 3. Lackluster 404 page.

How to fix Problem 3: The 404 page is a dead end.  A good 404 page should provide a search functionality and useful links to encourage customers to return to the store.

Problem 4: Dynamic URLs in subcategory pages.

How to fix Problem 4: These pages should have static, keyword-rich URLs and content on the page.  Including these keyword-rich URLs and content on the subcategory pages will help SamAsh.com rank for additional keywords.

Problem 5: Canonical issues.

How to fix Problem 5: There are two versions of the home page.  The non-www version should be redirected to the www version because this is the stronger of the two versions.

We’re not trying to sweat you, Under Armour, but we too are all about performance. Take a peek at some ideas we had for them to take their SEO game to the next level.

Problem 1: JavaScript Dropdown Menus.

How to fix Problem 1: UnderArmor.com’s dropdown menus are created with Javascript. While search engines can crawl Javascript, it is unknown how much link juice is passed through the links.  Therefore, it is not recommended that sites use it for their global navigation.  We strongly recommend HTML and CSS navigation.

Problem 2: Lack of keyword-rich content.

How to fix Problem 2: The home page and all major category pages should have keyword-rich content that is accessible to the search engines and helpful to customers.

Problem 3: Cannot locate the sitemap.

How to fix Problem 3: The page http://www.underarmour.com/sitemap.xml exists, however, no sitemap loads when you go that URL.  We recommend implementing a sitemap that will actually load.

Problem 4: No Custom 404 Page.

How to fix Problem 4: All 404 errors return customers to the home page. A custom 404 page should be created with a search feature and useful links to encourage customers to continue shopping.

Problem 5: Product Pages are not indexed.

How to fix Problem 5: Poor internal linking structure is causing the product pages to not to be indexed.  Proper site architecture should be created making sure that all pages that should be indexed are accessible to search engines through links.

Bonus Problem: Slow Load time

The site loads in over 16 seconds.  Google penalizes sites that load in anything over 4 seconds.

Here are five SEO problems that DicksSportingGoods.com is currently facing, and our recommended solutions.

Problem 1: The site has multiple home page URLs.

How to fix Problem 1: Redirect all of the duplicate homepage URLs to the root URL:
http://www.dickssportinggoods.com/

Problem 2: Many of the URLs are dynamic and are amongst the most non-SEO friendly URLs that we’ve ever seen. Here is an example:
http://www.dickssportinggoods.com/category/index.jsp;jsessionid=QhfGTyGB0qZ5t4v8FWl7d7jHGVkJg5LySYTlbjjp2xcXv2RQn04C!1820288686?
ab=TopNav_Footwear&categoryId=4413987

(Imagine having to read that URL to someone.)

How to fix Problem 2: Update the URLs accordingly. Here is an example of what the above URL could look like: http://www.dickssportinggoods.com/category/footware

Problem 3: The category pages have no content on them, which is holding them back from an SEO perspective.

How to fix Problem 3: Add unique, relevant content to the category pages and add internal links to the most important sub-categories or products.

Problem 4: Not using H1 tags.

How to fix Problem 4: Adding H1 tags to the home page, internal category pages, and product pages is an SEO must-have.

Problem 5: There currently is no alt text on the logo and no title on the logo url

How to fix Problem 5: Add alt text to logo like this:
alt=”Dick’s Sporting Goods”

Every Thursday, we’ll publish a post about a specific, high-profile website and identify five opportunities where that particular website can improve its SEO. (If you
have any websites that you’d like for us to assess, please e-mail us at info@highlyrelevant.com.)

Not only will we point out five specific challenges that the website is having from an SEO perspective, but we’ll also make recommendations on how these issues can be corrected. We’re solutions-oriented at Highly Relevant

Being big football fans, and since we’re right in the middle of football season, the first website that we’ll be “tackling” is NFL.com.

Here are five SEO problems that NFL.com currently faces along with recommended solutions:

Penalty 1:
Many of the URLs are dynamic or contain non-SEO-friendly characters (e.g. question marks and equal signs). Here is an example: http://www.nfl.com/teams/pittsburghsteelers/profile?team=PIT

How to fix Problem 1: Re-write the URLs and ensure that all of the URLs have SEO-friendly characters.  This is what the above URL should look like: http://www.nfl.com/teams/pittsburghsteelers/PIT.

Notice that this new URL doesn’t have any non SEO-friendly characters in it.

Penalty 2: Many of the home page links to inner pages have unnecessary characters (for click-tracking purposes). Here is an example: http://www.nfl.com/goto?id=09000d5d8237f2f9&module=HP11_cp

How to fix Problem 2: Link to the base URLs to pass link juice and page strength to the correct URL.  This is what the above URL should look like: http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d5d8237f2f9/article/cowher-to-dolphins-both-parties-should-tread-carefully

Penalty 3:
NFL.com has multiple H1 tags.

How to fix Problem 3: Only have one H1 tag on a given page; change the other H1 tags to H2 tags.

Penalty 4: Not using rel=”canonical” tags.

How to fix Problem 4: Certain pages are tagged for clicks, and they should have the rel=”canonical” tag to the correct URL. The URL should look like this: http://www.nfl.com/players/search?category=team&filter=0610&playerType=current&clickid=topnav

Penalty 5: There is no alt text on the logo and no title on the logo URL.

How to fix Problem 5: Add alt text to logo. Here is what it should look like:
alt=”National Football League”
title=”NFL”

That concludes the first installment of our SEO audit series.  Feel free to comment with any questions that you may have about these particular problems of general SEO issues. We’ll see you next week when we take a look at DicksSportingGoods.com!