Google launches Tool For Reporting Scraped Content Ranking

  If you publish value web content, you’re going to get scraped. Unsavory characters who want content on which they can sell advertising spider your content, lift it, and publish it as their own.Google announced a tool to combat that, called the Scraper Report, which allows legitimate site owners to report sites that are stealing their content and publishing it as their own. 

SEO and Google expert Matt Cutts announced it via Twitter, and as ad expert Larry Kim of WordStream noticed, hilarity ensued.
Because, according to some, Google is the biggest and best scraper site on the planet.

Dan Barker, an e-commerce and digital marketing expert, pointed out via a simple screenshot that Google scrapes huge swathes of the Internet, especially Wikipedia. Kim retweeted it — the first to do so — and thousands followed. As of Friday morning, Barker’s original tweet has over 14,000 retweets and almost 12,000 favorites.

One joker, Mariano Amartino, had an attractive idea of what to do with the tweet:
The key point here, of course, is not just the immediate comic value of Barker’s response to Matt Cutts, who commands approximately god-like respect and fear among search engine optimization and online marketing aficionados. The key point is that Barker hit on precisely the pain point that online marketers are feeling vis-a-vis Google, which by far dominates the search landscape and therefore sits at the epicenter of every search marketer’s world.

With its constant algorithm updates that try to get better the web search knowledge for most of us, Google certainly hurts some sites on a regular basis — such as JC Penney a number of years ago, which the search giant whacked for scammy-looking links. Rap Genius found itself on the wrong side of Google’s wrath for much the same reason just lately.

Most of the time, the results are maybe better for most, but sometimes Google’s actions seem arbitrary, self-serving, and unfair.
In this case, Barker is maybe suggesting that Google take some of its own medicine.

VentureBeat and marketing technology analyst David Raab are working on a new Marketing Automation usage and ROI study. If you currently use a marketing automation system, help us out by answering the survey. If you do, we'll share the resulting data with you.

you might also like : Google about site hacking

Content Marketing Trends In 2014

 Most of the current “Get ready for 2014!” posts integrated a section about content marketing and how important it will be this coming year. 

Google’s recent emphasis on long-form content and its dedication to shutting down article submission sites and penalizing other strategies marketers have used to make content bound for at search engines, rather than the reader, means companies are taking notice of just how significant good content is for their online presence.

Hiring Trends in 2014

Because of the deterrent tales that come with Google penalization, and the fact that 93% of B2B marketers are currently using content marketing in some form, and plan to step up their efforts , there has been a dramatic boost in the number of brands and start-ups hiring content marketers because they  want a stronger online attendance and know that great content is going to take their web traffic to the next level.

Of course, many large companies have had an whole team of content marketers for years now, but the increase in start-ups and small to medium-sized companies hiring for this type of site is growing earlier than ever before.

Many of the content marketer positions are the first position of their kind within the company, showing a new inclination in hiring someone to heart solely on content.

Below are some of the top experience and duties of this new crop of job openings that I’ve seen in the last few months.

Blog Responsibilities

The primary task in most of these new job openings is the company’s blog being the main focus. The blog starting point varies madly. Some have no blog at all; others have one that could be better. The novel content marketer is accountable for creating a strategy around the blog’s messaging, setting up goals for content and writing the bulk of the blog posts.

Besides creating a innovative strategy, because the person is being hired solely to write, many companies are expecting blog posts on approximately a daily basis, with many wanting four to five posts per week. moreover, the content marketer would also be responsible for organizing the editorial calendar for not only their own posts, but for any contributing guest bloggers.

Crafting an engaging and active blog is one of the easiest ways that content can help a company, both from a social and SEO standpoint.

Long-Form tasks

Another newer duty that many small to medium-sized businesses have never implemented before they formed the content marketer position was a focus on long-form content, like white papers, e-books, webinars, or tutorials.

As mentioned before, Google’s inclusion of long-form content and PDFs in search results (which wasn’t always the case) has made companies understand that the longer the content, the more likely they are to receive traffic from it.

Regularly producing several different types of long-form content not only gives content diversity, it makes the company a leading resource in their industry.

In the best part of the job openings, the new content marketer is also expected to frequently interface with all employees, particularly those in marketing and advertising. By working mutually on strategy for each season or promotion, content can be a lot stronger and carry across different platforms, from social media to blog posts.

The content marketer may also help foster outdoor marketing efforts, like guest blogging on other websites to raise awareness and writing copy for advertisements, brochures, or other promotional resources.

By allowing this new employee to be freely accessible across several departments, the advantage is two-fold. The content marketer will have a better feel for the company as a whole and other employees have a store to work with on content-related projects.

Cross-working in several departments also helps all employees feel like they are working to a common goal, something that is important to many of the hiring companies.

Flexibility and repayment

Another clear feature of the type of companies that are hiring content marketers is the outstanding employee settlement and perks. Many companies willing to add on a person whose sole focus is writing also usually have huge perks, like telecommuting, paid insurance, three to four weeks of vacation, paid cell phone, new computer, and more.

This can’t be a chance, as companies that are progressive enough to understand that content marketing is essential to their company is also progressive in other areas, such as company traditions and working environment. Working for these growing companies are ideal for the ideal content marketers, as a more creative, independent environment typically leads to better content and strategy idea generation.

Why This Role is essential

Hiring a content marketer that has no set ROI guarantee may be one of the greatest acquisitions a company can make. More content equals more visibility, and by hiring someone focused solely on writing can help companies be seen as a store in their industry, increase their chances of being found via search engines and other inbound links and continue to grow an situation of vision.

you might also like : Google Hummingbird reactive Content marketing instructions

Content Is The King

 If there's one thing we heard ad nauseam in 2013 (and 2012, 2011, 2010...), it was that "content is king." Frankly, this phrase has been said so many times that it has lost its meaning. What exactly does that mean?

Content will continue to be a key part in SEO moving into 2014. I don't think that will ever adjust. But your strategy has to become accustomed if you're going to keep up.
Here are five ways to make sure your content will sustain in the New Year and move you past your competitors.

1. Marketing Automation to calculate It

We know, and clients know, you want good content, and for a while, that's all they wanted. But in 2014, clients will demand more than "8 blog posts published" as a KPI, and that's where marketing mechanization comes in.

For me, the benefit of a marketing automation platform like Pardot or HubSpot isn't in automating your tactics; it's in as long as a better way to report and measure how your content is working for you. You can see things like:

•    Content patterns: You can see if a user is only concerned in one topic, and only serve them content that matches their benefit.

•    Sales over leads: Syncing into a CRM, instead of showing clients leads your content brought, you show them sales.

2. Smarter, and individual, Content in Emails

Email marketing can be a huge enhancement to traffic and sales, but it demands creative content specially for that user: Those timeless clichés won't work anymore. You have to find a new approach.

3. Make It Available On the Move

In 2013, 63 percent of cell phone users used their phone to go online. That's doubled since 2009.

Google authorized responsive web design in 2012, and Google's Matt Cutts has lately stated responsive won't hurt your SEO, but the move to more mobile-friendly web experience brings to light a larger question with your overall content strategy.

We classify devices in three types: desktop, tablet, and mobile. But within those sections, you're at rest working against dozens of different screen sizes. Not all laptop screens were created uniformly, and the same goes for tablets and smartphones.

With most responsive design, when you scale to a smaller screen, the content on the right moves below the content on the left. But what happens when that piece of information on the left is a critical call to action? You don't want that at the bottom when it's on a dissimilar device.
You have to think about how your content will look on the dozens of different screen sizes your users use to read said content.

4. Separate Content From Link Building

For most, 2013 was the year that "content marketing" replaced "link building." If Google Trends is any signal, that will continue into 2014.

unhappily, that's not how we should look at content. If you're writing content for the sole purpose of building links, you're doing it wrong. Content – and content marketing – is a part of link building, but they're not interchangeable.
In 2014, write content for the purpose of educating and informing, not manipulating and profiting. And when it get links, it'll be even better.

5. Small Tastings Mixed With Larger Portions

A couple of years' back, we wrote a lot of content on one page because it was better at attracting search engines. In 2013, we wrote 1,500-word plus blog posts because users wanted to sink their teeth into it; the more in-depth your content, the more likely people will share it.

Summary

The key thing to keep in mind is content isn't going anywhere, not in 2014 and not ever. It's just getting modified to fit what your users want and how they're accessing it.

you might also like :Google Hummingbird reactive Content marketing instructions

Google Hummingbird reactive Content marketing instructions

 The Google Hummingbird algorithm restore has been a hot topic of late. There are literally hundreds of blog posts and articles analyzing accurately what Hummingbird is, why it was engineered in the first place, and how to adjust reporting and client expectations when keywords hold far less weight than they once did.

Rather than rehash the ideas of others or take more stabs in the dark at what Hummingbird is, this post aims to overview several types of content that are more likely to be Hummingbird-friendly. Realistically, if you have followed Google’s direction and focused on generating quality content, you are already in front of the game.

Types of Content That Are Hummingbird Friendly

Not all quality content is created equally. If you are building outstanding materials but they only focus on you, your products/services, or some other self-serving objective, you are choosing to limit your exposure.

On the other hand, even some tried and true content types may fail to rank as well as they did previously. That said, if Google is truly starting to rank content based on user search intent and context of the content itself, several specific types of content stand out. Let’s take a look at what might work well in today’s SEO environment.
 

Evergreen content

“Evergreen” refers to content which does not have a shelf life or expiration date. Whereas breaking news is only of interest for a short period of time, evergreen content provides in sequence that is applicable to online searchers well into the future.

The beauty of evergreen content is that it only grows stronger in authority, ranking, and traffic over time. You will know when you’ve crafted a great piece of evergreen content by the stats. If you have content that has grown legs of its own, keep it updated on the same URL or redirect to the updated version. This sort of material earns its own links, provides real value, and will get you the eyeballs you are seeking for your site.

Even more significantly, evergreen content provides a great way for Google to rank according to context. Something that has ranked well over time has been crawled repeatedly, and as algorithms are tweaked and improved, this same content has a golden opportunity to remain visible with the latest Hummingbird objectives.
 .
Educational Content / How to’s

Since Hummingbird aims to rank more related content for natural questions and queries, the logical first place to turn is educational content, including “How to…” types of materials.
When building this content, be sure not to confuse the related query by using too much jargon or obscure titles. Consider the following two potential subject lines for a new blog post:

•    “Slingshots and Trajectory: Experiments in Distance”

•    “How to Build a Killer Slingshot Using Common Household Items”

These two subject lines could easily be titles for the exact same blog post… or two completely dissimilar posts. Now think about Hummingbird – which of the two is most likely to match to a question on the topic?

1.    They tend to focus on company-specific questions

2.    They are naturally all represented on a single page as a list of questions with answers

3.    FAQ pages are notoriously weak at earning natural links

In other words, a typical FAQ page is more likely to rank for “company name FAQ” than for the content in any of the questions. But there is a way about that challenge.

When building your FAQ, make a separate page or blog post that answers each of the questions. Then link directly to that page or post using the question itself as secure text. Not only will this offer you with a dedicated page to rank for the query / question, but it will also allow you to deploy an internal link with rich anchor text.
If you are willing to restore your idea of what an FAQ page is, there is unclaimed value to be had.

Problem / Solution

 
Another way to aim semantic / intent based queries is to adopt a problem / solution format. In this case, the key is to spell out the problem in very clear language. This will make the context that Google needs to match open queries against the answer you spell out in the rest of the document.

Social / Viral resources

 
Although still a work in progress, it is very clear that Hummingbird is a step along the path to figuring out social SEO signals. This should come as no shock if you’ve been following Google’s actions the past 2-3 years. They have clearly stated that they have to figure out a way to analyze social signals.

What does this mean? The social media-based answer you get to any piece of content is poised to play a role in the context that Google assigns to that content. This can be calculated by way of shares, comments on the posting of the content, likes / +1’s, and a list of other actions.

If you have fallen into lazy habits such as broadcasting marketing spam on social networks, start re-evaluating your behavior now. It could be months or over a year before Google figures out how to handle social signals. Don’t wait until they do so to clean up your act. It could be too late by then.
 

Top Tips  

 
Top tips describe something we see with blog content all the time. A quick look at Twitter will reveal a litany of “Top 3 Ways to…” and “4 Marketing plans to Avoid” types of posts.
This format naturally lends itself to Q&A matching. Rather than just saying what to avoid, focus the title on the real reason(s) to accept or avoid the suggested actions.

Instead of the example above, try something like “4 Marketing Tactics That Can Lose You Customers”. The reader can easily surmise that it is best to avoid those tactics, and you are again calling out the context clearly and overtly.
In-depth Analysis

With the introduction of in-depth articles as a hub for Google earlier this year, they have made it clear that in-depth analysis is highly valued. I see the same thing with my own blog posts and other content – research and detailed analyses do very well for SEO purposes.

Data has always been a good way to get eyeballs and usual links. That remains true today.
Research and data are poised to have continued success without missing a step. This type of content approximately always answers a question, or at least draws an insightful conclusion. Regardless of which approach you prefer, the end result is the same – data and in depth analysis addresses unanswered questions.

You can conduct surveys, assimilate data from disparate sources, or give information about tests you have fielded directly. All of these make new answers to existing problems. This is exactly the type of content that Hummingbird favors.
 

Summary

The bottom line on all of this is to keep creating quality content, and start view more about how you will offer context to help Google better rank it for open questions. Of course, as the social signals part evolves, we will see a whole new range of recommendations you can adopt.

For now, be sure all of your original content comes with Author Markup, and start taking social more dangerously if are not already doing so. These two items, while not yet key pieces of the Google ranking algorithm, are poised to play a major role in the coming years.

you might also like : Google Hummingbird, and what it returns for Online Marketers & SEO