Rich Snippets and Schema.org – SEO in the Semantic Web 3.0

Each December, when the year comes to a close, it’s custom to look to the new year and things the future will bring. While there is a great host of things we can look for in the world of SEO, one of the most interesting studies is the topic of rich snippets, Schema.org and the role of the semantic Web – or Web 3.0.

What are Rich Snippets?

Snippets are additional bits of information from your website that Google, Yahoo! and Bing will display alongside your link in a search engine results page. This could be any number of attributes, from the average price of an entree at a popular restaurant to a product’s price and inventory status:

In May of 2009, Google announced on it’s blog the introduction of rich snippets. The technical explanation is that Google would now be looking for structured data using resource definition framework (RDF) – an XML-based standard – when crawling sites. In other words, webmasters would now be able to influence WHAT aspects of their site content can be displayed as a snippet in a search engine results page by adding XML based tags to their webpages.

A Brief Detour into the Semantic Web

Structured data and RDF are parts of the semantic web (or Web 3.0). A basic understanding of these principles and philosophies will make it much easier to understand how rich snippets are tagged and how they can help your search rankings, and also improve your click-through rates.

Speaking strictly in terms of websites, the semantic web is the c0llective “web” of data that exists and can be directly or indirectly processed, ranked, sorted and evaluated by machines. That’s right, we’re talking strictly about how your content behaves with search engines - not users.

The semantic web has 3 main concepts:

1. Focusing on data itself instead of how it’s presented

What does that mean? Well, say you have the following content on your website:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels
1 cup chopped nuts

To a human, it’s obvious that this is the world famous recipe for NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Chocolate Chip Cookies. However, to a machine this is a just 10 lines of random content. The presentation is what makes it apparent to a human that this is a recipe: the indented, line-item form and listed measurements. But this does not help a machine understand.

2. Usage and Dependance on Structured Data

The second concept of the Semantic Web aims to explain to a machine that a list of items and their measurements such as above isn’t random at all; it’s a recipe, similar to millions of others on the Web. Structured data – primarily resource definition framework (RDF) – is a way for machines to understand abstract concepts such as this.

Think of RDF like this. In the same way you would use <H1> to let a search engine know that your content is the header of your webpage, you would use a particular RDF code to let a search engine know that your ballpoint pen costs $5, is a Bic, and is currently in stock.

There are 3 main types of RDF “code”: RDFa, Microformats, and Microdata. We will focus on Microdata, because this is what is used by Schema.org!

3. Reliance on Linked Data

The third concept is really just the final product of #1 and #2. Now that we are expressing data in a way that allows machines to understand abstract ideas and nuances, the machines can better rank and sort large quantities of data (websites). This will ultimately create a better search experience.

Remember “Watson” from Jeopardy? IMB’s artificial intelligence computer is a great example of how machines interact with the semantic web. Machines are able to make complicated connections from a large series of data. But if the machines can’t understand the data in the same way that a human can, it’s potential usefulness is limited. However, once we define data in a way that is accessible to machines (search engines), they will be able to find and provide very particular information that will be helpful to the user making a search query.

Rich Snippets, Your Website, and Schema.org

OK, so the ideas behind the Semantic Web and rich snippets have been around for a while – why aren’t more people using them? Well, until recently there was not a universally accepted format for adding structured data markup to your site. Google might be OK with one form, but then Bing or Yahoo! wouldn’t understand it.

This all changed earlier this year when Google, Yahoo! and Bing created Schema.org under a joint initiative.

Schema.org uses the microdata form of RDF and provides a single resource for webmasters to use when applying markup to their pages. The website has a very simple design and is actually quite easy to use.

It is broken down into categories of the different attributes or types you want to associate with your content, called schemas.

Each category provides convenient examples of how to add the schema code into your HTML:

The code is fairly straightforward and easy to implement for any web developer or webmaster. Webbed Marketing can also help implement the Microdata for you.

Sill have questions about how rich snippets work or why you should use them? Check out our FAQ and best practices below:

Schema.org and Rich Snippets: FAQ and Best Practices

Q. Why use rich snippets?

A. Because everybody’s doing it. Seriously! Big retail sites like eBay and Best Buy are using it. Restaurants and small businesses are using them. Want another reason? Because Google, Yahoo! and Bing all joined together to create a uniform way to add these to websites. They wouldn’t take the time to do this if they weren’t planning on using them to rank search results. We can’t guarantee that having rich snippets will increase your search rankings, but we can venture a pretty solid guess that it will (when used correctly).

Q. Are there other benefits to using them?

A. Actually, yes. Having rich snippets alongside your listing makes it stand out in the search engine results page. A user is much more likely to click-through to your page if your listing includes a glowing product review, or lists the compatible operating systems for your software.

Q. Who should use rich snippets?

A. Adding Microdata to all of your pages could be time consuming – how do you know if it will even be worth it? This is really a good question for this blog post. Schema.org is constantly evolving to include new industries and “things” that can be defined and associated. The best way to decide if you should be using them is to browse the categories (Schemas) and see what applies to your content.

Just last month, a post on Schema’s official blog announced support for job listings! You can tag attributes such as base salary, experience, location, etc.

Q. What do rich snippets look like?

A. Rich snippets appear along with the title tag and meta description for your website in a search engine results page. They can take a number of different forms, from user reviews to product price ranges.

Q. Will adding the code for rich snippets change the way my content looks?

A. No! Rich snippets only appear in the search engine results page. The microdata code used to add them is invisible to humans.

Q. Why don’t I see them in every search?

A. Sometimes Google (or Yahoo! or Bing) will choose not to display a rich snippet in the search result. This could be because the particular page does not have any Microdata in the HTML, or because they do not completely trust the source.

You will see rich snippets more often when narrowing your search type (try searching “Shopping” or “Recipes”)

Q. Are there disadvantages to using them?

A. You will never know exactly which rich snippets the search engine will choose to highlight if and when your page shows up in a results page. So if have 10 different product reviews on your page, and they are all tagged with rich snippets, the “bad” one could show up in a search result.

Q. Could rich snippets be used as web spam?

A. Yes they could. In fact, the #1 best practice for tagging rich snippets in your content is DO NOT GO OVERBOARD. Tagging several different attributes on a single webpage is webspam. Don’t think you’ll get caught? Think about this: Schema.org was developed by a partnership of Google, Yahoo! and Bing. If you don’t think they have contingencies in place for when people try to manipulate the system, you’ve got another thing coming. It is very possible that pages or even whole sites that overuse or misuse microdata could suffer penalties in the search engine rankings.

Additional questions? Please don’t hesitate to ask! Contact us today at 614-291-8456 or online.

Tags: google, search engine optimization, SEO

Google “Freshness” Update – 5 Action Items

Yesterday, Google’s search quality master Amit Singhal made a post on the Official Google Blog that raised more than a few eyebrows across the search engine universe – especially in the SEO field.

Already being deemed the “Freshness” update, the blog post explained that Google has made some updates and changes to the algorithm to complement the Caffeine web indexing system – one of the major updates in the past 18 months. The original Caffeine update set up to provide “50 percent fresher results.” Yesterday’s update aims to up the ante.

Here’s what it looks like: type a head term like “college football” and you’ll likely see a string of “up-to-the-minute” results. If these look suspiciously like something that might get pulled from an RSS feed, that’s because it’s essentially what this is (albeit a bit more sophisticated).

So What’s The Big Deal?

Here’s what’s got people’s attention. Amit’s blog post states that Google’s Freshness update will affect “roughly 35 percent of searches.”

…seriously?

OK, so let’s put on the brakes. This statement is a little misleading. People hear 35% of searches and think “that means 35% of my keywords, and 35% of my landing pages, and 35% of…”

This is not actually the case. When Amit says “roughly 35% of searches,” this means 35% of the searches that are actually being performed every day – not the entire universe of possible keywords.

It turns out, this update is more likely to affect broad keywords, keywords dealing with breaking news events, and – of course – celebrities. These types of keywords are known as QDF – “query demands freshness.” Due to the nature of the Web, these queries make up a HUGE percentage of the total search volume (well beyond 35%). So the good news is that your keywords and search queries will likely not see major effects.

Not convinced? Do a little keyword volume research on these three terms and then compare with your website’s keywords: football, lady gaga, kim kardashian.

5 Action Items for Google “Freshness”

As with any update to an algorithm, you never can tell exactly what websites it might affect. But if you look at this update through a different lens, you can actually see opportunities where your website may be able to benefit from these changes.

1. If You Still Don’t Have A Company Blog, Now’s The Time

You really should have a company blog by now. Before if you didn’t, you were missing out on a lot of opportunities. Now if you don’t, you might start to feel it in SERP ranking and corresponding site traffic. This update puts fresh content on a pedestal (duh) – even websites that have been unable to sniff a page #1 ranking could now find themselves in the top 5 results with a timely and well-written blog post.

2. The Same Goes For Online Press Releases

These two could really be 1A and 1B. It’s hard to think of a piece of online content that implies “freshness” more than a time-stamped press release. While it used to be great publicity to get your release in the top spot of a Google News search, now you can bet Google will be shuffling these releases into it’s top 5 on the regular Web SERP for QDF search queries.

3. Don’t Be Afraid of a “Follow-Up” Press Release

When Google says freshness, they really mean it. Results in these top spots will not sit there for long. So even if your press release announcing your big company fundraiser to provide aid to recent hurricane victims generated a ton of buzz on Tuesday, by Friday it is… dare I say… “old news.”

But you can get back in the saddle with a follow up press release. If your event was a success, explain how big – and why. Reinforce exactly how much aid was raised for your cause. The key here is to make sure you are not clearly just jamming a bunch of words down everyone’s throats for the sake of having a follow up release. There needs to be some substance and some value. Keeping these short is advisable.

4. Content Marketing Programs

If the Panda update may have killed the classic “article marketing” model, the Freshness update has given it new life. However, instead of article marketing – with its now shameful directories and duplicated content – think content marketing. Unique pictures, videos, presentations, infographics, whitepapers, industry reports – all of these pieces of content are in high demand. And the more often you push it out, the more likely Google is going to reward your “fresh” approach with high rankings.

The first step in executing a content marketing campaign is to audit your current content profile – Webbed Marketing can help with a Content Audit.

5. Re-Evaluate Old Pages on Your Site

By placing an emphasis on freshness for QDF queries, your old page that used to rank on page #1 for “Football” may end up taking a hit. Now is the time to go back and see if some of these pages can be re-optimized to target more specific keywords (e.g. “Football Memorabilia”).

Tags: google, google caffeine, SEO

Lessen the Impact of Google Search Privacy Changes on your Analytics

Last week, Google announced on its blog that it was making some changes that will affect the availability of search engine data. Google claims that these changes are being made in an effort to make search more secure.

What is Changing?

Essentially, users who are signed into a Google service on their browser will be redirected to the secure version of Google search (https://www.google.com). Searches made from this secure version of Google are encrypted, so the keyword terms that users type in their search are “protected” – sort of.*

How Do I Know If I’m Signed In?

If you see something like this in the upper right hand of your browser, you are currently signed in to a Google service and your searches will be encrypted.

How Often Do People Really Sign In Before Doing A Search?

At first thought, it might seem like the number of people who sign in to Google immediately after opening a browser to do a search is probably low. And it probably is. However, a lot of people will decide to make a search after visiting Gmail. Unless they manually log out of Gmail, they will still be logged in when they perform their search.

The same thing applies with any of Google’s other dozens of free services. And we hear they are quite popular. Although, it’s worth mentioning that Google estimates that only 10% of all searches will now be encrypted.

So What’s the Big Deal?

By encrypting these searches, website owners will lose valuable information about the people who visit their sites. Particularly, they will lose information about what search terms people used to find them on the web. Knowing these search terms is a critical part of organic search engine optimization; it helps website owners learn how to target the right audiences with their website content.

This data is also invaluable for paid search marketers and managers of PPC programs (such as Adwords) because it provides insight into how their campaigns are working.

Starting on 10/18/2011, website owners and internet marketers will see this for every encrypted search:

I wonder what the keywords were for those two visits…

Why Can’t We Get This Info From Somewhere Else?

You see, the only way that website owners and search engine marketers can have access to this information in the first place is because Google provides it: whether you are using Google Analytics, Omniture or another search engine metrics provider. If Google decides not to share data about the people using its search engine, there is nowhere else to get it (unless you commissioned a really large and expensive focus group).

OK, So What Can We Do About It?

Understanding what this means is the first step in understanding what you should do about it. And to do that you need to know exactly how many visits to your site this change is affecting (we will demonstrate with Google Analytics, but you can find similar solutions with Omniture or your preferred analytics packages).

1. Find the # of encrypted visits and divide by the total number of Google visits

Run these numbers from 10/18/2011 to 10/25/2011 (the first week this new change has been in effect). In that week www.webbedmarketing.com missed out on search term data from 2 out of 875 visitors. So less than 1% had encrypted search terms. We found similar results for most of our clients – a far cry from the 10% of visits that Google estimated.

But what if your site is missing out on a significantly higher percentage of search data? Or if the results climb as the update has been out longer and perhaps more people begin performing searches while logged in? With the way Google has been promoting some of its newer service, like Google +, it would not be a surprise to see the number of encrypted searches increase over time.

2. Set up and monitor an internal site search

Almost every website has some sort of internal search engine allowing visitors to try to find what they are looking for once they have arrived on the homepage. But what most people don’t know is that you can track the terms that visitors are searching for in Google Analytics. So if Google is going to hide some search data from you, why not expand your data source by including searches happening on your own site?

Instructions from Google how to set up and monitor a site search.

Unfortunately, this won’t help provide information on the missing data for monitoring paid search campaigns. Hopefully the relatively low percentage of affected data will keep this from being a real issue. But a site search will provide insight for organic SEO.

A good search engine marketer will tell you that an internal site search has always been a great place to mine data for organic SEO. For example, if you review the searches taking place on your website and find an unusually high number of visitors searching for a particular product or service – and you don’t currently offer it – maybe you should consider adding it (and building a keyword rich landing page to go with it, of course).

So there you have it – two simple steps and you’ll be likely never to notice the changes that everyone is making such a big fuss about!

*Wait, What Did You Mean Encrypted Search Terms Would Only Be “Sort Of” Protected?

Oh that…

Well, here’s the thing: Google claims that they are taking these steps in the earnest effort to protect the privacy of its users. But a lot of people just aren’t buying it.

You see, Google is encrypting the search term data from its logged in users. But they are not keeping it hidden from everyone. As a matter of fact, there is one online community who will still have access to this encrypted data: Google Adwords users.

That’s right, those who pay for Google’s Adwords package will NOT be shut out from the encrypted search data. Competing PPC ad platforms, however, will. So while everyone else is seeing (not provided), Google Adwords users will know that these visitors were actually searching for “jelly donuts” or whatever the case may be.

Tags: google, google analytics, ppc, search engine marketing, search engine optimization, sem, SEO

Zanesville, Ohio Wild Animal Outbreak; Real-Time Conversation Monitoring

Wouldn’t it be great if you could monitor a conversation online: in real time?

With Webbed Marketing’s Spiderfly, real-time social media monitoring is a reality. Keep track of social media posts, press releases and more and sort them by tone of voice, author gender and other important factors!

Below is a dashboard depicting the online conversations around the Zanesville exotic animal escape. This information is updated in real time (hit “refresh” on your browser to update the information).

Zanesville, Ohio Wild Animal Escape – Real-Time Social Media Statistics

**UPDATE** Social response to this event has subsided, so below is now a static screenshot summary of the activity.

Tags: social media

Search Engine Optimization Metrics in Google Analytics – Useful?

Google Analytics is an invaluable tool for search engine optimization, in terms of measuring success and obtaining fast and reliable data. In fact, Google’s free website analytics offering should be an essential part of any website owner/operator’s toolkit.

Some more persistent Google Analytics users might have noticed a small change to the platform this week. Google has added a new set of metrics under the “Traffic Sources” section.

*NOTE: You must be using the new version of Google Analytics to access this new function. Check out a video on how to do so here: http://screencast.com/t/hm5ryBJC.

You will also need to connect your Google Webmaster Tools profile to your Analytics account. Here is additional info about Setting up Google Webmaster Tools for your Website.

Once you have connected your Webmaster Tools profile you can get started viewing some of the “search engine optimization” data that Google is now providing.

At first glance, the “Queries” report seems to provide much of the same information that was already available through Webmaster Tools, albeit in a slightly more professional looking display:

The “Landing Pages” report uses some of this same information obtained from Webmaster Tools and displays it pertaining to your top content pages:

Finally, the “Geographical Summary” report provides this same data spread across the different geographical regions where people are clicking on your website in search results:

Also, if you switch from “Country” to “Google Properties” you will get a rundown of how your site performs across Google’s universal search types, including image, video, and mobile (not sure why this is stuffed under “Geographical Summary,” but go figure):

So what is the overall value here? A couple of things stand out immediately, while a few other things are left to be desired. Let’s start with the good:

1. Streamlined Interface Saves Time

Even if the data provided here is no different than what’s already available in Webmaster Tools, it surely is at least more convenient having them both accessible in the same, streamlined interface. Going back and forth between Google Analytics and Webmaster Tools takes time – especially if you are using separate Google email addresses for each.

2. Enhanced Custom Reporting

One of the best features of the new version of Google Analytics is the “Advanced Segments,” which allows you to quickly generate very particular comparisons and data sets useful for making custom reports (for example, you can see all the keywords people are using to find your website organically that also have a conversion rate between X% and Y%).

The new “Search Engine Optimization” section of Google Analytics provides a few additional segments, based on the new data imported from Webmaster Tools:

This is a nice feature – however, it leads into some of the areas where this whole update feels a bit thrown together… (i.e. “The Bad”):

1. Not Fully Integrated with the Rest of Google Analytics:

These new advanced segments are great – but they only apply when using one of the three new reports – Queries, Landing Pages and Geographical Summary. So, essentially, we are only able to sort the data specific to webmaster tools instead of being able to incorporate it into the rest of the Google Analytics data.

This is a bit of a letdown, because it feels like we are really being limited in terms of how we can work with the data. For example, it would be nice to be able to track non-paid search traffic having more than X-number of goal completions that was driven by keywords with a CTR of less than Y.

Hopefully Google is planning to incorporate these new advanced segments into the rest of reports.

2. The “Average Position” metric is a little misleading

To most people, average position would indicate your website’s average rank on Google for a particular keyword. And if you only had 1 page on your website ranking for a certain keyword, this would be the case:

• If your Home page was the only page on your website ranking for the term “internet marketing” and that page was consistently ranking at position #3, then your average position would be correctly display in Google Analytics as 3.

However, if gets a little fuzzy when you have multiple pages ranking for the same keyword:

• If your Home page consistently ranks #1 for “internet marketing” but your Contact Us page consistently ranks #16, then your average position display in Google Analytics as 8. Not very helpful…

The Average Position metric becomes even less useful when you consider it in the “Landing Page” report. Since you are currently unable to click any of the landing pages listed and see which keyword phrases are driving traffic to each, it’s hard to determine exactly what Google is providing us an “average position” of.

Verdict:

Overall, this should be seen as a welcome addition to the new Google Analytics interface. With a few tweaks that are undoubtedly on the way, this will eventually help make G.A. even more valuable to Internet marketers and website owners. And one final note – if you haven’t already begun playing around with the new version of Google Analytics, you probably should. It wouldn’t be all that surprising if we woke up one morning to find the old version to literally be a thing of the past.

Tags: google, google analytics, search engine optimization, SEO, tommy redmond

WM Spotlight: Tommy Redmond

This new series on the Webbed Marketing blog will feature a WM employee each month. This isn’t your typical, stuffy bio or boring professional interview. Nope, we want you to get an inside look at the talented, diverse group we have here at Webbed Marketing. Check out this month’s WM Spotlight, Tommy Redmond, and feel free to comment, ask questions, or find him on Twitter (@tredmond).

1. How and when did you get your job at Webbed Marketing?

I was hired in July of 2008. I initially responded to an ad placed on Craig’s List calling for a copywriter. I met Amy and then the rest of the Webbed team (then 5 people) through a series of Panera lunches.

2. How has your role with the company progressed/changed since you were hired?

My role has changed almost as much and as often as the company itself. I will attempt to tell the story through a series of old-timey silent movie headings:

TESTING THE METTLE
In the beginning I was the company’s only writer, so I had all of the writing duties, as well as editing the materials created by freelancers.

BRANCHING OUT
Only a month or so into my career at Webbed I was given the added responsibilities of PR specialist until a dedicated resource was hired around a year later.

RETURN OF THE NATIVE
Once a dedicated PR resource was acquired, I became the Sr. Web Content specialist for the team. I was able to shift my focus to my original area of interest: writing and managing content.

OPPORTUNITY CALLS!
An opportunity arose to advance my career into the role of Co-SEO Strategy Lead. My responsibility was to focus on the content side of SEO (as opposed to the more technical aspects).

THE STATUS QUO
After a few months and a few internal role changes, I became the sole SEO manager.

3. If you could be superhero, what would your superpower(s) be?

Consistently bombing 350 yard drives.

4. What is your “guilty pleasure” TV show?

Any “How it’s Made” type of show – particularly the ones involving any kind of factory or a very slow, meticulous process involving a master craftsperson. My friends find these shows infinitely boring and hate me for watching them, especially if I am hogging the TV while watching 6-7 of them in a row.

5. What is something you always have in your fridge?

1% milk and Hershey’s chocolate syrup.

6. How would you explain SEO to your 12-year-old niece?

I do not currently have a 12 year old niece. In order to get one I would either have to immediately marry someone who has a 12 year old niece or travel into the future to a time when my younger brother or sister is old enough to have a 12 year old kid. Both sound exhausting.

Tags: tommy redmond, WM spotlight

Google Insights for Researching Local Search Keywords

OK, here is a classic math problem with a “local search” twist:

1. At 10:45 a.m., Jim gets on a computer in Norfolk, VA and searches for real estate license information.
2. Pam gets on a computer in Charlotte, NC one hour later and searches for real estate license information.
3. What does an Internet marketer need to do to target both of these audiences?

Answer? Local SEO campaigns (sorry, the “time” element of the equation was irrelevant).

There is little debating that local search is the future of search engine optimization – and, more generally, the future of Internet marketing. There are already a number of different tactics and techniques that are all part of a savvy marketer’s toolkit. These includes claiming and optimizing Google Places listings for all of your physical businesses.

But relying solely on Google Places, Yahoo! Local, Yelp, and other local listings will significantly limit your local search campaigns (especially if your business doesn’t have traditional brick-and-mortar locations).

A truly effective local search campaign requires a local content strategy. And by local content strategy, we mean:

• Identifying your target regions
• Performing local SEO keyword research for your top products/services in these regions
• Creating unique content tailored to the search demand of each region

What we DO NOT mean by local content strategy is creating 20 versions of the exact same page by simply substituting the names of different cities and states. This kind of local search strategy is scrutinized now more than ever by Google following the Panda update.

But white, black, green or blue hat tactics aside, the most important part of any local content strategy is keyword research.

The Google Adwords Keyword Tool is a good place to start, particularly when you want to find and compare search volume on keywords using a geographic modifier:

The keyword tool also attempts to estimate the amount of local search volume for your terms. However, this number is based on Google’s estimate of search traffic in your current location (so in our case, people in Columbus Ohio searching “real estate license nc”). This is not very helpful if you are not physically in the location of your research target.

In order to justify adding a region to a local SEO campaign (or maybe even to justify creating one in the first place), you are probably going to need more detailed information.

Enter Google Insights for Search.

This tool allows you to compare the search “interest” of various keywords over time in multiple geographic areas. You can also fine tune your comparison and filter by search type (web, image, news, or even product).

Once you enter your search term(s) and select the regions you want to compare, the tool first provides you with a graphical representation of the interest in your search term(s) over time in the selected regions:

Under this graph, you can view a more specific breakdown of each state selected. The interface provides you with a map of search “interest” broken down by the top metro areas in the state. The tool currently will include some metro areas from other states if they are geographically close (e.g. the map below includes the New York City and Washington metro areas).

Finally, the tool also provides a list of top search keywords for that state, related to your initial keyword term(s). It even goes so far as to provide insight to search terms that are rising rapidly in search volume.

Obviously, the tool provides ample possibilities for comparing as many different data sets as you can imagine – which, of course, is a true SEO keyword researcher’s dream.

Things really start to get interesting when you use Insights for Search and the Adwords Keyword Tool in tandem. Use the Keyword tool to find an initial set of data and then migrate that to Insights for Search for deeper analysis. Then, take the recommended keywords from Insights to explore more possibilities in the Keyword Tool. After a few rounds of back and forth you should be able to create and ultra targeted keyword list for each region in your local search campaign.

For example, you may find that the phrase “real estate license + the abbreviated form of each state” is a good keyword to use on all pages. But then you may find different variations are better in different areas. So you might determine that the best strategy is to target “real estate classes” in Pennsylvania, but then target “real estate license renewal” in North Carolina.

You can also check out Google Sets for even more local keyword research ideas.

Now that you have your dynamic list of regional keywords, you can begin creating your content strategy. Need help determining how to use these keywords in the creation of your content? Webbed Marketing can help.

Tags: google, keyword research, local search, local seo, search engine optimization, SEO, tommy redmond

Google Places Vs Google Maps

Local SEO is definitely going to play a huge part in the role of organic search engine optimization in the coming years. Its impact is already seen in a wide variety of searches. Soon the familiar real estate axiom will be equally applicable to search: location is everything.

Lately, a lot of our clients have been asking questions about Google Places. How is Google Places different from Google Maps? Why do I need to claim my place listing? How many listings should my business have?

Hopefully this FAQ will clear up some of the uncertainty surrounding this topic.

How is Google Places different from Google Maps?

The short answer: Google Maps has been around much longer. Business names and addresses have been searchable on Google Maps for several years. However, in the past few years, Google rolled out “Places.” This gave businesses (and customers) an opportunity to provide more than just the basic “phone book” information. Essentially, the “Places” listing replaces the old, very basic “Maps” listing. Now, Google Maps is strictly the module that Google Places uses to locate a business.

When Do People See my Places Listing?

A Google Places listing can be seen by potential customers in a number of different ways:

1. In mobile scenarios, people can download the Google Places app, which shows them all of the different businesses in their immediate area. These can be filtered and searched by dozens of different variables (restaurants, retail, price range, reviews, etc.)

2. When people are using the Google Maps website to get directions or explore a neighborhood, Places listings will show up in the map.

3. The most likely place a customer will encounter your places listing – and the most important to SEO – is when performing a standard Web search. If someone searches “Florists,” the first several results will likely be Google Places listings for florists in the surrounding area.

What Kind of Searches will Result in Places Listings Being Returned?

This is where the most change is happening regarding local search. At first, Places pages would only return for searches with location modifier keywords (e.g. “Columbus OH Florists”). Now, Places pages will show up in search results even without a location being part of the search, depending on if Google can estimate the searcher’s location.

Places pages are most likely to return for inquiries about services (“Dry Cleaning” or “Dentist”); businesses providing a specific product (“Pizza” or “Shoes”); or entertainment/activities (“Museums” or “Miniature Golf”).

However, we are now seeing Places pages showing up for less specific searches.

Why Is there Already a Listing for my Business?

Google gets most of the information for its local listings from telephone providers. This is why Google asks for a phone number and not an address to create a new listing. Additionally, new listings can be created by… anyone! They can also be edited, updated and changed.

Why do I need to Claim My Listing?

Claiming your listing has several benefits. The first and most important is that it “locks” your listing to everyone else. People can still rate your business and add comments. But general business info (as well as strategic information, such as products carried or links to your website) can only be changed by you.

Another benefit is that claiming your listing provides information on who is viewing it. You can see how many times your listing has shown up in searches, how many people viewed it, even how many people asked for directions!

How Do I Go About Claiming My Listing?

Unfortunately, claiming your listing is a slightly complicated process. This is understandable, because if Google is going to give complete control over a business listing, they want to make absolutely sure it is the owner or an authorized representative who is trying to claim it.

The exact process is a little different for each business. If you have multiple locations, you can even upload a CSV file to claim all of them at once.

Webbbed would be more than happy to provide more information and help you claim your business listing. Just contact us with any of your Internet marketing questions!

Tags: google, local seo, search engine optimization, SEO, tommy redmond

Ultra high-speed broadband is coming to Columbus, Ohio

Well, not as soon as many of us had hoped. But it will undoubtedly be here in the near future.

In March of 2010, Google announced that it would be building an ultra-high speed network – capable of generating speeds more than 100 times faster than typical broadband connections – in one community in the U.S. They asked individuals and communities so submit responses explaining why this innovative experiment should happen in their hometowns.

On Wednesday, March 21, it was announced on Google’s official blog that Kansas City, Kansas was selected as the site for this groundbreaking project. Congratulations to the citizens and government in Kansas City!

So what does this mean for Columbus? Well, for starters, the response Google received from the greater Columbus area was impressive.

Ultra High-Speed Internet

This map shows the degree of community response to this initiative. The smaller, pink dots represent an organized government response. However, the larger, red dots represent a location generating more than 1,000 individual responses. The larger the dot, the more responses Google received from people excited about the possibilities of ultra high-speed Internet.

It is clear that the response for individuals in the greater Columbus area made an impact.

And that impact likely won’t go unnoticed by Google. As Construction on the infrastructure for this network begins, with service availability expected as early as 2012, Google has indicated that it is already scouting the next locations to receive this new technology.

What will ultra high-speed fiber network bring to Kansas City? 3D websites? Incredibly sophisticated applications? The ability to lick the screen and taste barbeque? Who knows, but it would probably be a good idea for Columbus to keep a close eye on what’s happening in KCK.

Linkbuilding for SEO

Here at Webbed Marketing we get a lot of questions about link building, how it helps with search engine optimization and how a site can build links. Here is a new piece developed by our own Tommy Redmond and Ryan Whiteside that covers the basics.

Linking is a key ingredient to search engine ranking. In fact, it is possibly the key ingredient. While the exact algorithms and formulas for the most popular search engines like Google and Bing remain a mystery, the basic components are understood. The quality of inbound links a website has is directly proportional to its search engine ranking.

 So what are inbound links? Inbound links are any instance where a website on a different domain links to one of your webpages. Does your business or organization have a listing on Wikipedia or Yelp? If so, then there is probably a link from that listing to your website (probably to your homepage). This is an inbound link.

 Quantity of Links –

 The more inbound links a website has, the more important the search engines deem it to be. This is because, in the search engine’s point of view, links mean popularity. And popular websites are what the search engine assumes that people want to visit when performing a search. The more important or popular the search engine deems a website to be, the more likely the search engine will serve that website up as a result for related searches. The websites deemed most important will earn the highest page one search results.

 Quality of Links –

 Of course, quantity is not everything with link building. Just as important as the number of inbound links your website has is the quality of these links. For example, earning a link from a large, well respected website like Wikipedia might have as big an impact on your search engine ranking as earning 100 links from small, relatively unknown blogs.

 Earning links from these large websites is not particularly easy, which is why a diversified link building strategy is a key component to any search engine optimization efforts. Targeting a large number of smaller linking opportunities and a few “heavy hitters” will typically produce the best results.

 Whether targeting a large, well known website or a niche industry blog, relevance is always important with link building. Having a link from a large, national retailer is great for a business selling products carried in that retailer’s stores, but it’s probably not a great fit for a company in the B2B information technology industry.

 METHOD:

 The term “link building” refers to the process of increasing the number of inbound links to a particular domain or website.

 There are literally hundreds of different methods that can be used to increase the number of inbound links to a website. Some of these methods produce results relatively quickly while others can take months to develop. Additionally, some methods for link building are considered unethical and can lead to a search engine blacklisting a website.

 Below are some of the link building methods that Webbed Marketing will use to optimize a client’s search engine rankings. These are well established, ethical methods to earn inbound links that have been proven to have a dramatic effect on search engine rankings. Because every business and organization is different, the best link building strategy will always depend on a number of different circumstances. The methods listed below are just a sample of some of the more common link building methods.

 Blog Submissions –

 Blog submissions are one of the fastest and easiest ways to earn inbound links. There are millions of blogs on the Internet, most of which cater to a particular industry or topic. This is significant because earning relevant links is so important. This is particularly a good strategy for new or young websites.

 Social Bookmarking –

Social bookmarking is the process by which people can bookmark, share and even vote on Internet content. Websites such as Digg and StumbleUpon allow users to browse countless press releases, news stories, blog posts and other pieces of content. Visitors to these social bookmarking sites can show their interest in a particular piece of content by voting on it. The most popular content is displayed on the front page of these social bookmarking sites, which can generate substantial web traffic. However, every piece of content that is “bookmarked” receives a link – regardless of popularity.

 Directory Submissions: General and Niche –

 General Directories

Directories are large websites which catalogue and organize other webpages. For example, Yahoo! got its start as a general directory. Today, DMOZ is the most significant and respected general directory.

 Niche Directories

These directories are much more specific than general directories, catering to a particular industry or topic. There are niche directories for almost any business or organization, from wholesale foodstuffs to non-profit healthcare.

Although directories have fallen slightly in popularity as more Internet users rely on search for content, th search engines themselves view these directories as valuable and important. Thus, a link from a directory is given a good deal of credibility by search engines.