The Blog - Where Business Collides with Human Nature

• Google has made it clear that it is keeping more traffic on Google owned properties through an increase in SERP features.
• The result has been a decline in the available traffic to the organic results.
• This has forced businesses and site owners to refocus marketing efforts on alternate sources of traffic, increase conversion from current traffic and branding as a way to improve search visibility.

 The competition for keyword rankings are increasing daily and it is becoming more important to protect the traffic you currently generate in order to sustain growth.  

 For the first time ever the total amount of zero-click searches have become the majority result in the total queries made on Google’s search engine.

 This landmark event should be cause for concern as the trend may continue past the 51% of searches that are now click-less. This has resulted from the emergence of Google SERP features that are more frequently being displayed in a search result.

Data and insights about Google and search results that should be very important for you to review. It is an easy read, not technical as Rand Fishkin tells it like he sees it --- and shows that less than half of Google searches now result in a click.

What is blogger outreach?  

It’s the process of developing a communication strategy that helps you reach out to bloggers with strong influence online for the purpose of promoting your content to their target audience.

Outreach programs can be tedious and some say "take too much time". As a result, software tools such as Ninja Outreach, BuzzStream and BuzzSummo that help to reduce the amount of time to research may help.

• There is an excellent article about Outreach Plans on Moz >
  
  
• There is probably no better resource about Outreach Planning available anywhere than what PageOnePower offers here >

The Best Free SEO Tools for your business success:

With HubSpot's all-in-one-marketing system, there are many SEO tools built-in and already available. As a result, I have not found it as necessary to use as many SEO tools.

Even so, here are many SEO software tools that will compliment any marketing system, including those using HubSpot.

There is a big buzz going on related to "mobile-friendly". Since Google announced "mobile friendly" will become one of the criteria for ranking, many website designers and software sales people are overly excited with a new reason to sell small businesses and entrepreneurs the next website.

Google have announced their campaign to get website owners and webmasters ready to update their websites for changes in mobile friendly ranking factors, with a deadline set by the firm of the 21st April 2015.

As of this date Google has advised they will be expanding their use of “mobile-friendliness” as a ranking signal, and that it will affect all mobile searches worldwide. There is expected to be a significant impact in Google’s search results so we are advising below what website owners can do to ensure they are ready in plenty of time.  

"My website is not a content farm!" "What do you mean I am farming content?"  "My website is a review site, not a content farm!"  The exclamations and indignations are rampant.  Sensitivity and embarrassment are mixed with anger and regret.  Have you heard someone say:  "Sure, I borrowed a bit, took short cuts, and why not?  It is America!  We are free to pursue happiness and capitalism."

When the search engine companies have reputations to keep and the results are nothing more than fluff or misdirection which leaves those searching feeling frustrated, their "customers" are not happy.

Did you ignore the hype over the last 10 years about SEO? Are you tired of the emails, spam and phone calls with big claims "We can make you #1 on Google in 7 days"? The idea of a brick and mortar business relying on the invisible world of the Internet or SEO where terms about "keyword ranking" have been foreign.

It no longer matters. The tricks, strategies, tactics, white hat, gray hat and black hat for keyword ranking is being outsmarted by search engine software.

The new world media and technology, Internet marketing, social media, content marketing and the new hot "inbound marketing" has changed. Not everyone has caught up and "experts" will keep trying to sell the old.

Marcus Tandler, a speaker at TEDxMunchen, delivers a fresh perspective of the future of search engines. Search expectations constantly change, and search engines are forced to change with them.

Today it has become crucial for search engines to understand rather than to merely index as our search is “recency-sensitive” and replete with questions.

German born marketer Marcus Tandler has become famous for his rapid-fire presentations and future-facing insights. Finally, Marcus has made it to the TEDx stage to share his predictions with the world. 

Tandler predicts that search of the future will be moving from a web search to a contextual search to accommodate our ever-rising search expectations.

This video is about more than search.  Consider how the behavior of humans has changed.

If you are an SEO expert, you have to crack the books and test online marketing theories daily. The world of getting found via search engine optimization continues to evolve as search software gets smarter.  Will Google truly have a power to read the heart and mind of someone searching?  If so, will an SEO expert be able to know exactly the right button to push at exactly the right time? (Not likely)

If you are an entrepreneur, you see and hear the hype from a distance about SEO this, social media that.  You pause for a month to take care of business and when you come back to review the news, it has all changed. There are new widgets, new methods and the old ways are "dead". Who can you trust when the system and tools change more frequently than you change your socks?

"I won't be manipulated" is the mindset of search engine companies and they have low tolerance for those attempting to game the system.  

And now... 

The latest dialogue about search engine optimization (SEO) sounds more like days of old before the Internet.  In fact as you listen to the SEO experts now, you may recognize the similarity in language Jay Conrad Levinson used in his books about Guerrilla Marketing.

Regardless, 51% of web traffic is said to to come specifically from search. People need or want something special and they Google/Bing for the answer. Experts, brush up and think forward. Entrepreneurs, get your head out of the sand.  

While the search engines are less likely to give you a boost in ranking because keywords are included in the domain name or url, you should continue to do so.

In the few seconds it takes for visitors recognize a website as relevant and helpful, details matter.

By creating domain names or urls which which are very specific to the product or service, you provide another way for the visitor know instantly if they are in the right place.

Using Google Fonts is simple enough once you get the hang of it.  The new font options by Google certainly makes things much easier and removes another barrier for those who avoid "coding". (Though you will have to copy and paste a a couple lines of code.)

Here is a video from profgustin on Youtube which shows the basics of using Google Fonts for your website: