Author Archives: admin

About admin

Weston Riesche is the Marketing Manager at SEO Solutions Inc. Weston is a Graduate of Roosevelt University and holds two Bachelors in Integrated Marketing Communications and Economics. He has been an integral part of the SEO Solutions management team, developing insights into the world of Search Engine Optimization. Social Media and Internet Marketing. Weston works closely with clients to engage their companies with unique, effective and exhaustive Internet Marketing campaigns that leads them to the top of the major search engines.

Google-Lens-Picture

Search With Your Camera With Google Lens

search-with-your-camera-using-google-lens

Google is big, like really big, like civilization level big! So when a company this big introduces
something, even the most apathetic person gets excited. And this year at annual I/O, They
introduced a lot of cool new things, but the one that got everyone’s attention was the “Google Lens”.

Although there have been several unsuccessful attempts in the past to launch the same technology, this time it looks that the image recognition technology will finally be able to take off. Since the Google’s AI has become more sophisticated, now the Camera lens can be used in many more ways than just taking the selfies. You can now search with your camera with Google Lens.

The main highlights of the Google Lens are:

Business Details: Just point your mobile camera at store fronts and Google will provide you with knowledge graph and other vital details about that business.
Connect WiFi: No need to manually enter the password, just click an image of the default
username and password and your phone will automatically connect to the WiFi.
Image Recognition: Now you can get results based on what you are seeing. Just take a picture
of the flower, you want to know more about, and Google will provide you with all the details.

Exciting isn’t it! Here’s the Google Lens video.

Attention Travelers! Google is Testing a New Hotel Review Interface

When it comes to traveling, pre-planning can make all the difference. Most important of them all is booking a good hotel. It really takes a lot of efforts to find a good hotel within your budget. Google is planning to make it a bit easy.

Google is planning to roll out a new Hotel Review Interface. The new interface provides more detailed information about the hotel including cartoon like graphics that will show how other guests have rated their specific amenities. Also, there will be a collection of third party reviews to increase the credibility. Google will also provide an option to easily filter the hotels based on their reviews.

Here’s a screenshot of the new Google Hotel Review interface.

screenshot-google-hotel-interface

 

 

large-scale-article-link-building-on-googles-radar

Large Scale Article Link Building is Now on Google’s Radar

backlinks-handwriting

Google has recently published a blog stating that those who are leveraging guest post as a link building technique should reconsider their strategy. They are specifically focusing on the spammy links, that are tagged as a guest post, contributor post, partner post, etc.

Below is the list of things that you should avoid according to Google: Stuffing keyword-rich links to your site in your articles.

  • Stuffing keyword-rich links to your site in your articles.
  • Having the articles published across many different sites; alternatively, having a large
    number of articles on a few large, different sites.Using or hiring article writers that aren’t knowledgeable about the topics they’re writing
  • Using or hiring article writers that aren’t knowledgeable about the topics they’re writing
    on.Using the same or similar content across these articles; alternatively, duplicating the full
  • Using the same or similar content across these articles; alternatively, duplicating the full
    content of articles found on your own site (in which case use of rel=”canonical”, in
    addition to rel=”nofollow”, is advised).

As of now, Google has just warned those who are using these techniques, and they are not
taking any actions. But as we all know, all the warnings are followed by a mass initiative to
counter it. So in case if you or your clients are employing these techniques, then you might
want to reconsider it. Review all the posts, links and remove those who might cause problems
in the near future.
So, how are we protecting our clients?

We have maintained a comprehensive network of sites using which we power our client websites. Here’s how our network helps improve rankings and future proofs your websites.

NOW LARGE-SCALE ARTICLE LINK BUILDING IS ON GOOGLE’S RADAR

Link Diversification – Sites performing well in Google have good link diversity. We help you build

We help you build backlinks/citations from diversified sources such as:

  • Local and niche business search engines, directories and review sites
  • Informational content sites
  • Guest blogs
  • Press releases
  • Videos
  • Infographics
  • Coupons
  • Image sharing sites
  • Social profiles
  • Q&A sites and more

Since Google prefers a diversified link profile, we recommend getting links from these sources.
All these sources are a part of deliverables. And we will continue to diversify the link profile by
adding new sources.
Different Class C IPs – Having different Class C IP address for your backlink sources definitely
helps with SEO rankings. We have made sure each backlink property is hosted on a different Class C IP block.
Maximum Uptime – Since our network of sites are hosted with premium hosting plans, there are minimum chances of website downtime. Again, we are notified immediately of such instances which help us get the sites back on track.
Different Domain Registration – Not only Class C IPs, having different registration details also
helps. We ensure that each website within our network has different genuine registration details so that it is difficult for Google to detect and flag the network.
Different Registrant Details – Google itself being a Registrant, it has access to the Whois
information of domains at a global level. To make sure Google doesn’t easily detect our
network, we have different genuine Registrant details for each domain we buy and add to our
network.
Penalty Detection – All the sites within our network are included and verified in Google Search
Console (formerly Google Webmaster Tools). We constantly monitor all websites and make sure
they are free from any Google Penalties. If any of our sites, unfortunately, is negatively affected
by Google, we make sure to delete the website from our network. This ensures our client
websites get links from genuine non-penalized websites.
Powered by Quality Backlinks – We make sure each website within our network is actively
maintained and powered by quality industry recommended backlink sources. This makes sure
that the pages are indexed relatively quickly by Google and helps in improving
authoritativeness of the network.
Secured Network – We have made sure that our network is private, secure and select few SEO
technicians have access to the websites. This ensures that we have full control over the
content that is being submitted to these sites and that the content and sites are spam free.
Unique Content – We ensure that each article is submitted just once to avoid duplication of
content thereby adhering to Google’s guidelines. Also the content is written by professional
American writers having experience in writing for that particular industry.
Fresh Content – Google loves fresh content. Since the content is updated on almost a daily
basis, this ensures that the websites are indexed frequently and pages are latest pages are
included in the Google database.

2017 Google Marketing Next Keynote Speaker Google Sridhar Ramaswamy – Tuesday May, 23 2017

Increase productivity, improve customer reach and simplify the user experience for your customers.

Here are some key takeaways from Sridhar Ramaswamy Senior Vice President of Ads & Commerce for Google.

  • People turn to search in Critical “MICRO MOMENTS”
  • Search is twice as likely to be used than any other online or offline source of marketing.
  • In the Google Search App – 20% of search is now by voice.
  • How to put the consumer at the heart of your marketing strategy.

Continue reading

Why Customer Reviews Matter for SEO

Screen Shot 2017-05-26 at 11.21.11 AM

There is no denying that reviews play a huge in customer’s purchase decision. It’s so crucial
that people often overlook the good products just because it doesn’t have any review and
they don’t want to take any risk. E-commerce websites, such as Amazon, provide users the
option to filter the results as per average customer review rating and most of the customers
consider it in their purchasing decision. It makes sense since nobody wants to receive bad
items, after waiting for 3-4 days. Here is why customer reviews matter for SEO and your overall digital marketing campaign.

Studies have shown that approx 84% of people trust online reviews as much as personal
recommendations. And that is the reason why it works like a charm. But what about the
reviews for the local business? Do people really pay attention to it or they just go to the site that
is at the top of the search engine result page.

A recent study by BrightLocal revealed that customers prefer a business that has an average rating of 3 stars. And if it is above 3 stars then the click through rates increase up to 25%. The more reviews a business has, the more customers they will get as people generally prefer popular businesses as compared to the new ones, because taking risk is not something we as humans like to do, very often.

So if you own a local business, it is highly recommended that you try to get as many positive
reviews as possible. In general,  the product or service if they are asked to. Since very few businesses ask for reviews, the selected few who do, reap all of the benefits.

HTTPS-WEBSITES-SEO

HTTPS WEBSITES ARE DOMINATING THE FIRST PAGE OF GOOGLE!

So why are HTTPS websites important?

A recent study by Moz revealed that almost 50% of the web pages occupying the first page of Google are HTTPS site pages that have an SSL site certificate. It’s a long jump since just 9 months ago, the percentage of HTTPS site that occupied the first page was just 30%. Experts are predicting that it may increase up to 70% just by the end of the year 2017.

https-graph
The rapid growth comes as a no surprise since HTTPS not only encrypts the data between the
site and the users but also provides many other advantages that come handy in the longer
term. Google is not so open about the advantage that they are giving to the HTTPS websites
(as always) and they are just stating that the secure sites are getting a “slight advantage” over
the sites that aren’t SSL certified.
However, it’s obvious that they are pushing the HTTPS and the new Chrome update is a clear
example. The new Chrome now comes with an inbuilt warning that users see when they enter
any site that is not SSL certified. It sends a bad message to the users when they see the
“WARNING” sign just before entering your website.
As a business owner, you now know why HTTPS websites are important. Don’t give your clients a bad impression, so make sure that your site is SSL certified.

Here’s a handy guide to help you with the migration from HTTP to HTTPS.

4-New-Features-Google-Dashboard

Google Adds 4 New Features To Its My Business Dashboard

Google has just added some new features to its Google My Business dashboard. Some of them were much awaited while some others are a pleasant surprise. All the new features will not only make it easier for the business owners to manage their accounts but also will provide them the ability to include more analytical data.

Return Customers / Popular Times

This is one of the most awaited features. It was a hefty task to know the exact numbers of return visitors and unique visitors on the site, but now you will be able to see it in graphical format. It will also show you the busiest time so you can make changes accordingly.

Screenshot-Google-My-Business-Dashboard

Link to Your Restaurant Menu

This new feature is going to dramatically escalate the number of visitors you get to your
website. If you are a restaurant, you can now add the link to your menu directly on the
knowledge panel. However, you can only add one link, so make sure you have your menu
listed on a single page.

Google-My-Business-Dashboard

 

Link to Your Services

Just like the restaurant menu, you can now add link to your service page directly on the
knowledge panel.

Google-My-Business-Listing-Screenshot

 

Get 18 Months of Insight Data

You can now download up to 18 months of Google My Business insights data into a spreadsheet. Anyone with a single or bulk account will have access to it and thus will be able to modify their strategies based on the data.
The Google knowledge panel has eventually become a business’s home page and more and more customers prefer it, rather than going to the business’ website. It makes sense since it is more convenient to get all the information required on the SERP itself.

Facebook-Messenger-Tool

Facebook Messenger Day – A New Tool for Marketing

Facebook Messenger has launched a new feature in the Facebook Messenger App – Facebook
Messenger Day. Through this new feature, you can share videos and images, with your
Facebook friends, which will disappear after 24 hours.
The new feature works just like Snapchat. You can use various emojis, filters, and text in your
messages. So, you can utilize this new feature for marketing and promotion of your business, post promotional videos, templates or images, via messenger app with your clients with whom you are connected on Facebook.
The Messenger Day feature is available only in the Messenger app, in the top-left corner you can find. Add to Your Day option, tap on it and add a photo or video to your day. You can also
customize your list with whom you want to share, tap the gear icon to the left of the screen,
where you select My Day and choose your audience and tap send to post it.

facebook-messenger-day

FACEBOOK MESSENGER DAY – A NEW TOOL FOR MARKETING

  • You can also know how many people and who actually viewed your Day.
  • With this feature, you can promote your brand through social media marketing, on an
    individualistic personal level, where you can directly interact with your Facebook clients.
  • Attract your friends on Facebook towards your business, through this medium and
    encourage them to like your business page and official profile on Facebook.
  • You can also share live videos and images of an ongoing event and promote your event,
    a seminar, workshop or exhibition, this way you can also invite people to visit your event.
  • Encourage your employees to share the same on their Facebook Messenger Day to
    widespread the promotion. More the shares, more the views, more the brand awareness.
  • Share updates and latest developments in your business this way you can make people
    aware of your business’ progress.
  • Via this feature, you can be in constant touch with your clients and can build a strong
    relationship with them on a personal level. But, be careful and avoid overuse of it.
Bing-Ads-Will-Stop-Supporting-Monthly-Budgets

BING ADS WILL STOP SUPPORTING MONTHLY BUDGETS FROM APRIL 30th 2017

Bing-Ads-Text

If you are still using monthly budgets for you Bing Ads campaigns, it’s about time that you switch to the daily budgets because if you don’t, Bing will do it for you, very soon. Most of the advertisers have already moved to the daily budgets, but for those who are still sitting idle, Bing has come up with this announcement. They have strongly recommended that every advertiser should move to daily campaign budget from monthly budget before 30th April. Any automated rules which were once in place for the monthly budget will need to be recreated. Shared budgets are already based on a daily basis, so this change will not impact it.

text-takeaways-from-ask-me-anything-google-presentation

Key Takeaways From the Ask Me Anything with Google Search at the SMX West Conference

It always attracts a lot of attention when Googlers are up on stage and open for questioning.The Ask Me Anything (AMA) with Google Search at the recent SMX West conference was no exception. The panel was moderated by Danny Sullivan and featured two prominent Googlers: Gary Illyes (Webmaster Trends Analyst) and Mariya Moeva (Webmaster Outreach Specialist).

SMX-Conference-Text

Here are the Top Takeaways from the Ask Me Anything with Google Search at the SMX West conference.

  1. The Mobile-First index will be launched after a month or two. Make sure to have your
    website mobile friendly by the time is launched.
  2. Google has confirmed that Mobile page speed will be a ranking factor when the
    mobile first index will be launched. The desktop signals will get replaced by it.
  3. Google does have an individual Page/URL authority.
  4. Google has ended “Authorship” feature for once and for all. It is no more a ranking
    factor.
  5. Quality content is the key to getting your website featured into the featured snippets. Also, it should be well structured & relevant.
  6. For the knowledge graph, Google still prefers Wikidata entities and the CIA World
    Factbook. There is no way to get in the knowledge graph. It’s algorithmic. Anything that
    gets in requires multiple sources of data to support the need for it to be in there.
  7. There is no specific percent of 404s that can hurt your rankings. But we still prefer
    resolving these issues for a better user experience.
  8. The quality of content matters the most. There’s no need to unnecessary expand the
    length of the content. Just provide answers to user questions and that’s it!
  9. Google tries it’s level best to eliminate bad links, but it is not enough, so we encourage
    you to keep disavowing bad links.
  10. It was clear that the “Fred” update was a quality update, however, you will have to refer
    to Google’s Webmaster Guidelines to know the specific details. It is not disclosed as an
    update, so you have to notice the changes.

 

Picture-Twitter-Post-Fred-Google-UpdateRelated Article: Google Fred Update: What You Need To Know To Protect Yourself