Why a Site punch by Google Penguin Won't pick up

When Google launched the Penguin algorithm April 24, 2012, a lot of sites who had relied strongly on low-quality link building were severely affected. I frequently hear stories from business owners who were hit hard over two years ago and haven't been able to pick up.

In many cases the stories are terrible ones of small business owners who hired an SEO firm or consultant to help them get better their rankings, not knowing that the work that was being done was going against Google's excellence guidelines. And now, many of these small businesses are having to cut staff and losing a lot of money because they can't find a way to get well their Google presence.

Reason 1: You Haven't Done a methodical Enough Link Cleanup

If you were adversely precious by Penguin, it's because you have unnatural links pointing to your site. We know that there can be factors other than links that can contribute to a Penguin hit, but bad links are by far the most significant cause.

In this Webmaster Central Hangout with Google's John Mueller, when asked whether disavowing was equivalent to removing links in the eyes of Penguin, he responded:

"From a theoretical point of view, using the disavow tool is enough...from a practical point of view it 

In most cases, if you paid for the link or made the link yourself, it's unnatural and it needs to go! There can be some exceptions such as locally relevant directories. But, the vast majority of the time, a self-made link is an unnatural link.

Reason 2: shocking Disavowing    

In almost every case, if you're going to disavow a link, disavow it on the domain level.

It used to be that you could run into problems by uploading the wrong type of file for your disavow that it wouldn't work but now you will get an error message if you upload an shocking file type. For example, if you tried to upload a .csv instead of a .txt file you'll get something like this:

Pay close concentration to errors that display once you have uploaded your file such as the one below: This type of thing can happen when you try to convert a non-UTF8 file to UTF8. The access would be accepted by the disavow file, but most likely Google wouldn't disavow example.com properly.Here is more information on some important things you should know about the disavow tool.

Reason 3: You Need to Wait for a Penguin restore

This seems to be a hard concept for many people to grasp. You won't see the profit of your hard work until a Penguin refresh happens.

As the last refresh was October 4 , there are many people who are waiting anxiously for this to happen. I can't tell you how often I get an email from someone who wants to give up on their Penguin hit site because they have done everything they can think of doing and have not seen recovery. Again, recovery isn't going to happen until Google refreshes the algorithm and decides whether your link profile is once again trustworthy.

And here is some hard news to swallow: Some sites will need to see two Penguin refreshes before recovery happens. The reason for this is that in some cases, it can take up to six months for your disavow file to be completely processed.

Reason 4: Your Site Doesn't Have Enough Good Links to Rank Well

In many cases the only reason why a site was ranking well in the past was because of the power of links that Google is now able to recognize as unnatural. If this is the case, then removing and disavowing all of your bad links is not going to be enough to see you make a dramatic recovery.

Google is working harder and harder to get to the point where the only links that count toward a site are ones that truly are earned votes for that site.

Reason 5: Other Factors Are Holding Your Site Back

Penguin may not be the only thing that is holding your site back from ranking well. I've seen numerous sites that were dealing with both Penguin and Panda problems.

Panda is a filter of trust similar to Penguin, but deals primarily with on-page quality rather than links. If the Panda algorithm is affecting your site then you're going to have to deal with your on-page issues in order to recover. Here's more information on the Panda algorithm.

Conclusions

It is possible to recover from Penguin, but it isn't easy. You need to do an extremely thorough cleanup of your links, your disavow file needs to be fully processed, you need to wait for Penguin to refresh, and you need to have a site that is worthy of ranking well even without the power of unnatural links.

Here's an example of a site that saw not only a complete recovery with Penguin, but once Google started trusting their links again they were able to see the benefit of the new good links that they had obtained while they were under Penguin's thumb.

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Significance of Thin Content

What is Thin Content?
Google helps us to know how our sites should behave via their Webmaster Guidelines. While this is a regurgitation of common sense for those who know how not to be an uber-spammer it doesn't help us to get a handle on what thin content truly is.

How to Assess Thinness

 
Thin content in many cases is not as clear as understanding that you do not scrape copy from other sites or exist to collective content. You need to take a detailed look at the mission of your content, what purpose it serves, and how your visitors digest and connect with your content.
Common SEO tactics of the early 2000s are no longer relevant; there is no need to build content solely for keyword rankings instead of providing added value to users.

Screaming Frog

 
Run a URL scrape of the site and export this list to sort URLs by word count. Also sort URLs by folder. Are you seeing that half of your blog content features posts that are 250 words? This is thin content.

Google Analytics

 
Review All Pages section and sort by exit rate. For those pages you see that aren't particularly expected to usher an exit, what you had expected to have a better user acceptance, are you seeing 75 percent or higher bounce rates? This is thin content.

This data is telling us that users aren't getting what you might expect out of page. Granted, you may have scientific issues, too many external links opening in the same window, or other SEO mistakes occurring, but at least you'll understand where to adjust your focus.

Open Site Explorer

Review the backlinks for your domain. Step into the Top Pages tab to gain an accepting for what content on your site is receiving links. You may find that what links you do possess are to the homepage and high level pages and that there are pages or site sections with no real link authority.

When you export this list also take note of page level associated tweets, Facebook shares and likes, and Google+ +1's. Again, this may collect information on what content of your site lacks authority from a social or buzz perspective. Google is looking at these factors as well to gauge the latent for thinness.

Do Bots Value Your Content?

 
We have a beautiful good feel for what thin content may exist on our site, but let's take Google's lead on what but be thin in their eyes.

Take a trip back into Google Analytics or make your way to Google Webmaster Tools. We will want to take a look at the last three months of Landing Page idea data. Export this and sort by folder. Are there folders of your site that you are noticing which hold little impression value?
We're going to do another task with much the same intention.

Where to Put Your interest?

The development above identified thin content and inversely it also showed us what isn't thin. Take a look at those pages and site sections that hold authority, great search presence, and user commitment, and take notes. This are the personal guidelines you will have for reviewing the thin content you have found.

What to Do With the Thin Content?
 

You're going to have to gaze at each page or folder of thin content and ask yourself a few questions:
 

•    Should it die/redirect? If there is no genuine value for this page anymore, let's not allow this content to impede users, or dilute internal link juice or crawl budget anymore.
 

•    Should you revive a section? If the content is just poorly written and has aesthetic issues you just may have to do some tweaking in order to revive this content.
 

•    Should you no index? If you feel that even though the content is thin it still may benefit some users or is a part of the conversion course then this may need to stay. Let's go ahead and meta robots leave out these pages though so that we are taking them away from search crawler view.
 

•    Should you reduce internal linking? The page holds some value but doesn't do well and you just can't seem to part ways with it. In the least begin to shrink internal linking to this page so it isn't in the common route of search engine crawling as well as a distraction for site users.

Conclusion
 

You may have been scratching your head as to why your overall site performance hasn't been doing well and on the other hand not looked genuinely enough past perceived success to see what page/section opportunities exist. This process will let you to find what thin content exist on site, but also what quality content exists to help mold your personal site standards of content quality.

New Google Updates

If you've ever had to move a website, you've maybe been faced with the fear that Google might not figure out that the website is new and it will suffer in the search results until they manage to sort out what happened.

Google has updated their guidelines to help webmasters deal with moving sites, with issues that might come up due to moving a site to responsive design.

Google has also updated information to include moving a site with no URL change, such as if you were to go to a new hosting provider or a new platform that was able to keep the old URLs intact.

When it comes to moving a site that has utterly new URLs, Google goes into quite a bit of detail on how webmasters should map old URLs to new ones, and things to also keep in mind to fix any stragglers that somehow get missed in the transition.

If you have a website that serves different URLs for mobile users versus desktop users, also remember that Google has new smartphone recommendations for webmasters that detail accurately how to handle these kinds of situations, as well as benefits of using responsive design to improve these issues.

When you move your site, you can use Google's change of address tool within Google Webmaster Tools. You need to have both sites confirmed, both the old domain and the new domain, and it is quite simple to do by following instructions.

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Link Building and Content Marketing

Link building is a rapidly changing work. Best practices today may not be best practices just six months from now. This happens at an curiously high frequency, and it’s a consequence of Google’s ever-evolving stance on link building.

Right now, a slew of SEOs are moving towards content marketing as a main method of link building.

There are some similarities to be sure. For instance, they share common end goals, including Driving traffic

•    growing conversions

•    Brand building

•    Creating relationships

•    Improving online visibility

Although content marketing and link building go great together, the two practices can, and often are, implemented separately from each other.

Link building doesn’t necessarily require content. It may be easier to build links with content, but it’s not necessary. You can build links without content.

Why Content Marketing Helps Link Building

If you’re engaged in a content marketing drive just as a method of building links, you’re doing it wrong. Content marketing shouldn’t go out of its way to build links that point back to your site.

Of course, you don’t need to give away all of your best content. A sound content marketing policy will reserve a portion of the best content for your own domain. Like I said, users like good content: you don’t want your site to be absent of it because you gave away your best work to somebody else. This kind of content makes link building easier because excellence content on your site makes it far more linkable.

What defines quality content exactly? It varies, and technically quality is always subject to the eye of the beholder. In my mind, quality content is content that:

•    Is thoroughly researched

•    Clearly presents a message in crisp, commanding prose

•    Targets a exact audience

•    Adds value to a conversation

•    Fills a content gap

Why Link Building HelpsContent Marketing

I don’t care how good your content is, it is valueless if no one ever sees it. This means you need to do something to draw eyes to it. You may think you have the To Kill a Mockingbird of online content, but the internet is not Field of Dreams. There’s no such thing as “If you build it, they will come.

If you have a great piece of content out there on the web, build links to it. Or at least try to, through lively promotion to engaged audiences and relevant sites. Not only will you be generating referral traffic to your amazing content, but it will help to progress your content’s performance in search, thus further improving traffic. Don’t let anyone fool you into believing that link equity isn’t precious

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Latest seo tips

In SEO, it's no different. In order to be successful, you must be able to consultatively sell. You must be able to bind your head around the really important "pain points" and goals of a prospect, and speak toward that.

On the flip side, it's very challenging to sell to someone who doesn't have a clue about what SEO really is.

Here are a few tips that you might use to help cut through the techno-babble, relate to a prospect, and close some business.

Tip 1: Listen, With extremely Big Ears

 
I was told once that "the person who speaks the most, loses". If you're one of those guys who tries to out-talk the next guy, you maybe won't find a lot of success.
You must get a view to share with you their experiences:

•    What's vital in their business (how do they make money)?

•    How are they currently staffed?
•    What marketing efforts currently exist?
•    Do they measure their marketing efforts to an effective cost-per-lead/cost-per-sale?

Then, you can start to ask some SEO questions such as:

•    When did they last restore their site?
•    Are they happy with current conversion rates?
•    Have they ever hired an SEO firm before and, if so, what did they do and why aren't they still working with them?
Often times, there is so much information that wants to be gathered that I will ask if the prospect has developed an RFP (request for proposal) for the effort, so that the scope can be defined.

Tip 2: appreciate Their Business genuinely
 

Recently, I met with a prospect that spends $19 million per year on marketing, but not a penny on SEO. Then they proceeded to tell me that usual search is their second most important lead generating source, behind direct traffic to the website.

After gaining access to their Google Analytics, I was able to see that they had lost important traffic, year over year. Part of this was due to the fact that they redesigned their website and had to address this "quickly", so no thought was put into SEO for the newly designed website.
 

Tip 3: Speak in Terms They Understand

When you can tell a CEO that you feel very confident in churning out ROI, and you can share with them the numbers as to why you feel that way, you're making the difficult process of SEO selection much simpler.

Most clients don't understand "robots.txt" or "404s" or any of that stuff. They know "money in, money out". They want to speak in terms of ROI.

You might pull keywords that you know are related for their business, and the search volume, and the client's current ranking, so that you can "show them" why you feel justified in asking them to invest $15,000 per month in SEO. Of course, you have to be able to back that up and really have a project plan in mind that you feel will equate to this success.

Summary

SEO isn't for everyone. So – if in your research you find it doesn't compute – please walk away. Let them know that SEO may not be where they need to spend their income. But, for many, it's a gold mine of chance that has been neglected for far too long.

Important Technical SEO Skills

Job specialism has been the default framework for the past few decades, but today you can also notice a subtle shift towards a mixture of general and specialized knowledge. One such area of connection seems to be the SEO field, where marketing meets programming. They don’t have to meet, of course, but their communication is what really makes you an SEO professional.

So what is expected of you in order to be considered a true SEO “expert”?

1. An Analytical Mind

The most basic requirement is actually not a technical one. You can learn to code and be quite good at it, and you can get used to all the tech talk, but at the end of the day it’s not about the syntax or about the libraries, it’s about being able to solve troubles. Knowing what information is essential and how to gather it, being able to understand it, map it in the context of a larger framework, noticing patterns, understanding long-term property of exacting decisions, having a knack for solving puzzles…the list goes on and on. These skills come into play at each and every step of the SEO process. 

You don’t essentially need to switch jobs or focus entirely on programming, or assume that there’s no such thing as a marketer anymore. In fact, original ideas are still your best asset in the online world. But while a artistic mind can be a wonderful spring of ideas, what you’re really looking for is a sustainable system of irrigation.

And only analytical thinking skills can give you that. Focus on short-term gains and build your plan around passing fads and you will find yourself working more than you should every time Google rolls out an update to one of its algorithms. 

2. HTML Coding

Most articles about what tech skills SEO experts should have agree HTML coding is one of the very basic fundamentals. While this is by no means enough, it is pretty much vital to your job. SEO is a whole new beast nowadays, not just about keywords or linking. But in a deeper sense, it hasn’t changed much, as it has always been about the same thing: building sought after web sites.

And the best sites, more often than not, are built in a certain way: they are accessible, they are easy to follow, and they are well-organized. In order to professionally deliver content to your audience, you need to know how to create and manage said content in a way that is in tune with the environment it resides in.

You’re in the business of creating marketable web sites, and for that you actually have to know the code and understand the syntax when you see it.

3. Web Hosting Experience

Choosing a class web hosting provider is a significant factor building a high-ranking website. Beyond that, though, there are other factors to consider. Web hosting choices must consider downtime, which refers to the amount of time your website is unreachable due to problems with the hosting server. If one of Google’s spiders tries to visit your site and it’s down, it will record it as such and move on.

The second important element is speed. While Google’s algorithms take into account a staggering number of factors, the loading speed of your website is likely one of them. Of course, the loading speed itself depends on many things, but important drops in speed might just be the fault of your hosting server.

4. Excel Know-How

There’s a lot of data to be analyzed once you start treating SEO as a long-term strategic attempt. And there are a lot of useful tools out there to help you make sense of the information you gather, but at a minimum you should be recognizable with Microsoft Excel. In fact, you should be more than familiar with it: you should know it at least at a medium level. You don’t fundamentally have to get to the level of using VBA macros, but knowing a little bit about search functions pivot tables, lookup functions, logical functions (if, and, or), and graphic objects will take you a long way.

5. Programming (PHP, JavaScript etc.) (Optional but Great Skill)

All of the technical skills mentioned so far are pretty much indispensable for an effective SEO. If, however, you want to go above and beyond, you should absolutely start looking into programming languages such as PHP or JavaScript. PHP has improved a lot since it was first introduced and is now a staple in creating dynamic websites. It can be integrated in HTML code and can help you access a wide range of databases, validate users to restrict access to certain parts of the site, encrypt data, auto-generate files and so much more.

6. Server Side Configuration (Optional but Great Skill)

Server-side refers to the server that runs the site. So a visitor’s request doesn’t get executed on their computer, but on the computer they requested the page from. The main advantage in using server-side scripts is the skill to highly customize the response based on the user’s requirements, access rights, or queries into data stores. You can use server-side scripts to enable automatic redirects from certain pages, or optimize MySQL so your database information can be accessed easily and quickly.

Conclusion

There’s a lot you can do in terms of SEO without getting too technical. But there’s so much more you can do with some technical knowledge. If you have a car, is vital to know how to drive but a really good driver knows all  the intricacies of his vehicle. You need to understand and even know how to write a bit of code. Get recognizable with the engine (or, in your case, the server), the transmission and even the small nuts and bolts that keep it all together. In the long run, it will pay off. You will get more mileage, better speed, and you will attract more visits.

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Global Marketing Tips

 Going global can be an thrilling change for any company. It can also be fraught with potential pitfalls, with many mistakes arising from marketers fading to take cultural differences into account.Here are some common mistakes you to avoid.
 

Adopting a Universal advance

Even if you have a product you feel has a true possible global appeal, make sure you adjust your message to the individual market. Many truly worldwide brands, such as Sony and McDonald’s, adopt a ‘glocal’ strategy. Mcdonald’s, for example, is a global brand that adapts not only its marketing campaigns but also its menus to cater for local markets.

Even a company as knowledgeable as McDonald’s can make a cultural mistake however. In a 2010 campaign, comic book character Asterix The Gaul was shown holding a success feast in a McDonald’s restaurant. The character is little known in the US, but in France he is a civilizing icon and the theme of his resistance to the Roman Empire has been co-opted in recent times to represent France’s resistance to professed American cultural imperialism. This makes him a exclusively poor choice to sell a fast food brand like McDonald’s and the movement caused something of a backlash among defenders of French cuisine and culture.

Failing to focus Your Online Presence

Traditional marketing such as TV, radio, and print advertising is naturally modified to each target market. But there’s sometimes a tendency to neglect international customers online. The nature of the web means anyone can access your main website. Major social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter also have recognized international audiences. English remains the most commonly used language online but it still represents only around a quarter of total usage.
Additionally, many users who access foreign language websites place more trust in websites written in their own local language.

 A survey by Eurobarometer found nearly half of internet users in the European Union visited foreign language websites at least occasionally. Only 18% said they would frequently buy online in another language however, and 42% said they would never buy online in a language that was not their own. Localizing your website and social media attendance can really help you reach out to international markets. A fully localized site with a country code top level domain such as .fr for France can also help produce trust by giving your site a local feel and boost your search engine rankings in local searches.

Poor Translation

Good quality translation is necessary in all aspects of your global marketing strategy, from product names to slogans and website content. The most efficient way of doing this is to work with native speaking translators who are also familiar with your sector.
You should also make sure accessible brand and product names don’t mean anything unsuitable in your new target market. In German, for example, the word “mist” means “manure”, giving an entirely different slant to Irish Mistwhiskey liqueur, Clairol’s mist stick curling iron and the Rolls Royce Silver Mist model.

Keeping The Same Keywords

Literal translations do not always make efficient keywords as locals could use colloquialisms, abbreviations, acronyms or simply alternative terms to search for the same thing online.

A direct Italian translation of “low cost flights” for example could produce “voli a basso prezzo”, which performs relatively poorly as a keyword. The Anglo-Italian mash-up “voli low cost” really performs far better, but this is something you’d never guess without a little cultural knowledge. You don’t necessarily need to ditch all your cautiously researched English language keywords but use them as a jumping off point and conduct extensive research keywords. This would ideally start off with a brainstorming meeting with native translators.

Not Being Mobile Friendly

The mobile web is becoming increasingly significant wherever you operate. In developed countries, more and more people are browsing the web, shopping and keeping in touch via their smartphones.

In some markets, catering to mobile is totally vital. In many developing nations, the majority of users only have access to the internet via their phones and other mobile devices. 70% of Egyptian users, 59% of those in India and 57% in South Africa only access the mobile web and your website design and marketing efforts should reflect this.

There’s a lot to consider when taking your brand global. Thorough market research should cover sensible considerations such as demand, competition, and local rules and rules. In marketing terms you should also take artistic differences into consideration and try to speak to each subgroup of customers in a way they understand.

Google announced Search Removal Request Form

Following the European Union "Right to be Forgotten" court ruling, Google has now launched a new form to allow people to submit removal requests to the search engine.

The form launched Friday and supposedly spurred 12,000 requests. Users in all 28 European Union countries, as well as four extra non-EU countries, can now request removals from search results.

The form requires that those who submit the form submit a valid form of photo ID to complete the request. It does, however, allow users to request removals for others, provided they are acting for that person, such as a spouse or lawyer.

To submit a request, you need to contain the full name for the person you are requesting search results to be removed, your own name (if different) as well as the relationship to the person you are submitting the form for and a contact email address. Google also said you must:

(a) Provide the URL for each link appearing in a Google search for your name that you request to be removed. (The URL can be taken from your browser bar after clicking on the search result in question).

(b) clarify, if not clear, why the linked page is about you (or, if you are submitting this form on behalf of someone else, the person named above).

(c) Explain how this URL in search results is immaterial, outdated, or otherwise wrong.
The form defaults to only submit a single URL for removal but you can add added as needed, but Google requests an explanation for each one.

Google also seems to recognize the option that there could be fake removals from people attempting to damage competitors. They hope that the requested information will avoid people from impersonating others, or from those trying to attempt to stifle legal information.

It is attractive though that the identification does not need to be a government issued ID or passport. Users can also vague the identifying numbers from the identification and Google will wipe out their copy within a month of the removal requests being closed.

Why there are four non-EU countries is a mystery, other than they are physically close to the UE. The four countries include Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.

There is no announced timeline for how long Google will take to take action on the submitted "Right to be Forgotten" requests.

"Almost a third of the requests were in relation to accusations of fraud, 20 per cent were in relation to violent/serious crimes, and around 12 per cent regarded child pornography arrests,"

 The Telegraph reported. "More than 1,500 of these requests are believed to have come from people in the UK. An ex-politician seeking re-election, a paedophile and a GP were among the British applicants."

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YouTube to begin fresh App exclusively for Content Creators

If you create videos as part of your content marketing strategy, you’ll be happy to make out that YouTube is about to launch a new app just for you.

In an announcement made on the Official YouTube Partners & Creators Blog today, YouTube unveiled their first Creator Preview video which is a run-down of new features they’re working on.

Among the new features is a brand new mobile app that gives video makers easy entrée to YouTube’s creator features. The new app is designed to give creators the ability to manage their channel on the go.

Among the new set of features is the introduction of a monetization method where fans can add funds directly to their favorite video makers.

YouTube would like to see its content creators earn more money directly from YouTube, rather than having to rely of off-site methods such as selling merchandise.Other new monetization methods include the ability to share revenue with musicians when making cover songs or mashups.

Also in the works is something YouTube calls the Creator Academy, which is a set of support articles to help users get more out of YouTube.

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