Montreal SEO & Internet Marketing Blog

The Cynic’s Guide to Interpreting Google

Okay, we like to find the hidden meaning behind what google says poke fun at google, right?

Yesterday, Google’s Non-Profits Team Google Grants published a post on their official blog, about a training session they held recently in Washington D.C. Their blog entry details the material that was taught to campaign managers on how to move sites up in natural search results.

We’ve taken this opportunity to test the beta version of our soon to be patented Google PR Cynic translation application (GCTA), AKA Goognic™, on the Google Grants Team‘s recent post.

Google Grants Team wrote:	Goognic™ Translation
At a recent non-profit training held in our D.C. office, I got the chance to teach a group of issue campaign managers the basics of “search engine optimization” (SEO), or how to earn a spot for your content that is closer to the top of Google’s natural (left-hand side) search results	At a not-immediately-profitable training session, our Google Propaganda Team got the chance to explain how to organize website content in order to help the successful targeting of Adwords campaigns.
It was a rewarding experience because we were able to take what’s often a technical conversation and make it feel like something everyone could (and should) do.	Our strategy here was two-pronged. From those of whom that will achieve results by following the guidelines, Google shall reap the rewards of better organized sites added to the index (we’ll profit when they switch to Adwords, once their site gets buried on page 6 a couple of “updates” down the line). Those that are overwhelmed by the whole “SEO thing” will realize there is really only one way to go. Did I mention Adwords?
Indeed, when most people hear the words “search engine optimization,” they figure it’s too technical for them or that it doesn’t apply to them. But if you’re running a long-term education or awareness campaign, you need to know how to improve the chances that interested users will find your information through natural search results. It’s just as important as learning how to use your Google Grant effectively.	See previous section. Oh and by the way. The Adwords store called. They want your rankings back.
Fortunately, much of what you can accomplish with SEO doesn’t require any programming or technical skills, but it does require a big-picture awareness of your issue. Because ultimately, you’re not trying to rise to the top of any one search results page, but rather to make your site more relevant to the whole search picture, which means designing your site, sections, and sub-pages with the most high-demand search terms related to your issue in mind	Don’t be intimidated by all this SEO stuff, because if after all your hard work your site still doesn’t rank, well hey, that’s ok, because an Adwords campaign will probably work REAL sweet now!
Doing well in high-demand search results pages requires that you first know what search terms or keywords are most popular. Take concepts and terms you discuss on your site and test them against related terms using tools like Google’s Keyword Tool and Insights for Search. Make sure you’re developing individual pages centered around what people are looking for, using the language they use	Lets get to know some of the tools you’ll be needing to run your first PPC campaign! Sktool, Analytics, Google’s Keyword Tool. Mmmmm, do you smell what the Goog is cooking?
Use these high-demand keywords where they accurately describe your content, especially in page titles, section headings, and in URLs. If you have lots of images or interactive graphics, make sure your most important content appears in text too, because the Googlebot doesn’t read images.	Googlebot has been able to “read” images for over a year. Nobody’s seemed to notice so far, so we’ll hold out a little longer from telling you, we don’t want to have to deal with curtailing a landslide of image sculpting. Well not until we endorse it first. (Ok, that was cheap, sorry, I couldn’t resist)
Finally, understand that the number and quality of other sites that link to your content determines much of your ranking in search results. Make sure you know the other online players on your issue, and encourage them to link to you. Starting a blog or Twitter feed is a great way to keep users abreast of the latest updates to your site and encourages them to link to you too	We’ll be acquiring Twitter soon. Get ready to transfer all your Twitter profiles to your Google accounts, suckahhhhs!

Ok ok, maybe I went a little far this time. But how could I resist? Google has a working++ business model, and I respect that. They’ve done many great things for the search industry, and will continue to do so, while making a profit (Go figure). But who says we can’t entertain the troops in the meantime.

In case you passed on clicking through to the Google Grants site, here are the slides from the recent training session. Enjoy!

Tags: AdWords, Bing, Google, Guidelines, Humour, Keyword Tool, PPC

Google Declares “Vince Update” is a Minor Change Only – Not Brand Favoritism

On  March 4, Matt Cutts responded to questions from concerned SEOs and webmasters regarding Google’s apparent shift towards pushing known brands in the Search engine results.

The basic observation made by the SEO community at large is that since February 2009, search results for generic terms such as “car” or “laptop” have been favoring the big brand names more than ever before. Obviously, branded companies boast digital marketing budgets and consumer awareness that greatly surpass lesser known brands, but many, including Aaron Wall, speculate that this month saw a spike in the rankings of brand heavyweights like never before.

In his video response, Matt starts by explaining that while there was a recent change in the algorithm, it was not a major update, rather just one of 300 – 400 simple algorithm changes that Google performs annually. Some of the staff over at Googleplex have nicknamed this algorithm tweak “Vince’s Algorithm Change“, in reference to one of Google’s engineers extensively involved in its completion.

Matt goes on to explain that the concept of “Brand” does not really exist in Google’s indexing system. Instead, the notion of trust (TrustRank) is strengthened, relevant inbound links are discussed as usual, and Matt also touches on some of the other standard Google guidelines.

Take a look at the video. Oh, and for some humor, watch as Matt accidentally mixes his words at 2:48 in. “The um, net update, the net uh upshot of this change is pretty simple…”. Just kidding Matt!

…off to strengthen my brand.

Tags: Bing, Google, Guidelines

Google Finally Publishes Official SEO Guide

Until this week, the closest Google has ever come to publishing anything on recommended Search Engine Optimization practices has been the well known and rather vague Google Webmaster Guidelines. Just the fact that they used the jack-of-all-trades-but-master-of-none term ‘webmaster’ hints at the rather limited potential value of the document to anyone that’s been involved with the industry for say, a few days. The guidelines are a great starting point for someone new to web development, but aside from advice and hints posted by Matt Cutts on his and others’ blogs, the public hasn’t ever had any Googficial (How’s that for a word – Come on Oxford and Websters, I dare you) documentation on how to get better website visibility in Google.

2 days ago, however, Google’s SEO Starter Guide appeared on the Official Google Webmaster (shudder – there’s that word again) Central Blog. Now in terms of the information value in the guide, I’d say it’s a step up from Google’s Webmaster Guidelines, but not by much. New to SEO or web development and need a reliable source of information on how to make your site more search engine friendly? Need information you can trust, since you are new to the game? Well here it is. Which brings me to the real value of these guidelines as far as SEOs and Internet marketers go.

Trust. We know that having the experience with the basic SEO practices outlined in the SEO Starter guide and far beyond is what really makes the difference in a competent Internet Marketing professional, and if there is even a single piece of information in this guide that you aren’t familiar with, you might want to reassess your worth to your clients. However, the basics of SEO, now officially outlined by Google in their guide, will help to take some of the mystery out of SEO for business owners when wondering whether what they’re paying for is actually worth it. Nothing in this guide is new to us, except that Google has finally put it’s stamp of approval of the most basic of SEO principals that we’ve all been using for a long time; and they finally refer to it as SEO as well. Potential clients often want to understand what basic steps you’re taking to help their internet presence in exchange for their hard earned money. Just the fact that Google has official documentation on the basics of SEO is a step in the right direction. Thanks Google.

Tags: Bing, Google, Guidelines, Nofollow