Penguin and SEO Company

Google Penguin 3.0 Update due any day.  Are you ready?

What to do/What not to do

Link Building Techniques to Avoid

• Here are some old link building techniques that have been consigned to the garbage pile.
• Article spinning to try to fool Google into thinking you are posting lots of unique content – gone!
• Placing articles on low quality directories (or multiple submissions to those same directories) – gone!
• Multiple social bookmarking, fake social media accounts and other black hat SEO techniques – gone!
• Comment spamming—not that you would do this but you wouldn’t believe some of the tactics people will use on your behalf – totally gone!
• Using the same anchor text link on multiple articles or posts or even press releases – sayonara, baby!

Managing Bad Links

• DO use the Google Disavow Links tool to get Google to ignore any poor quality links that you find.
• DO use Google Webmaster Tools to see if Google has flagged any issues with your site, then fix them and submit a reconsideration request.
• DO stop comment spammers from linking to you with plugins like GASP.

Link Building in 2014 – What to do

• DO offer yourself as an expert source for other people’s posts, interviews, white papers and more. Use tools like HARO or MuckRack to find opportunities and make connections. That’s great for building your authority, too.
• DO focus on local search by setting up your Google+ Local profile and getting listings in local directories. That makes you immediately relevant to the new on-the-go consumer sector.
• DO guest post on high quality sites that are relevant to your business.
• DO build links by leaving useful comments on high quality sites.
• DO encourage other high quality sites to provide honest reviews of your products and services.

Content Marketing & SEO

Who first said “Content is King”?

It was of course William Henry “Bill” Gates III, erstwhile of Microsoft®, in an essay of the same title, back in 1996.  A good content is a great marketing strategy, and great content is-

• What good is great content if no one can find it? How useful is findable content when it doesn’t engage and persuade?
• The only thing worse than no SEO at all, is ALL SEO.
• More content isn’t better unless it’s meaningful and findable.

Sarah McGraw 

Sarah McGraw is working as a part time link builder and content writer but she is mainly focusing on building and analyzing SEO strategies to develop new SEO techniques that will last longer in SEO industry. Feel free to reach him out on sarahmcgraw44@gmail.com.

 

Heartbleed Bug: Change Your Passwords Now

Security researchers can all come to an agreement on one thing- the Heartbleed bug could be one of the biggest security threats the Internet has ever seen. The bug has affected many well-known websites and services including Instagram, Google and Yahoo, and if you have logged into any of such websites over the last two years, your account security could be compromised, enabling hackers to steal your passwords, or snap-up your credit card information.

So in this present scenario, what should you actually do to protect yourself? Do you need to change your passwords? Or do something else? Read on to find out.

Is There a Need to Change Password?

Before you change your password to protect yourself from the Heartbleed bug, consider two things- was the website you have an account on affected by the bug? If yes, has that website updated its server to a new version of OpenSSL, and updated its security (encryption) certificates? If the website did not use a vulnerable version of OpenSSL, there is no need to change your password.

However, if the website was vulnerable to the bug, and has updated its servers with a security patch to fix the issue, this means you need to change your passwords immediately. In case, the website has not yet installed new security certificates, you must wait before you change your password as then your password could still be obtained by hackers.

But, note that is no guarantee whether your information was already compromised or not as there is no indication that hackers knew about the exploit before this week. The Internet companies are suggesting users to change their passwords as a precautionary measure.

Also, if you have the same password for multiple accounts on multiple websites, and one of those sites was vulnerable, you are required to change the password on every account.

Furthermore, make sure that you keep an eye on your all sensitive online accounts, such as banking and email, for any suspicious activity for a few days.

Source: http://mashable.com/2014/04/09/heartbleed-bug-websites-affected/

Top 15 Sites to Get Royalty Free Images for Your Blog?

Getting a visitor on your blog is totally different than making him stay there and hit the Subscribe or Bookmark button with a thought of returning back again. This has been one of the most challenging tasks especially when you’re already posting a great useful content on your blog on regular basis. Yeah, I know, you must have heard of the famous “Content is King” phrase all over the time. But talking of your visitors, this phrase is of not much use unless you’re paying attention to one of the other most important blog elements which is, of course, the blending of graphics -with the text part of your posts.

Usage of relevant, attractive and informative images is certainly the most important key to a blog’s success.  Talking of myself, I too feel biased towards a blog with some great mix-up of images and content, than a blog covering great, but plain text only.

However, getting new and relevant images for each blog post you publish on your blog is one of the most daunting tasks for a blog owner, especially if the blog is updated on a day to day basis. You simply cannot just make a search on Google, Bing or Yahoo to grab an image available on the net as it can lead you to a legal problem for violation of Copyright Act. Though there are many sites which offer paid photos, yet it certainly doesn’t seem a highly reliable solution especially if you’re a small blogger and is not making much out of it. The other option can be to get a camera and start shooting yourself. However, this is also not a thing of every blogger as not everyone has traits of a quality photographer.

 

So in this post, I am going to suggest you one mid-way solution that can solve both of your problems – being, getting images for your posts without the fear of any legal copyright issues, by providing you here some good sites offering royalty free images that can be used without spending a penny. However, you must see the license terms before using the images as some sites may offer paid and free images together. You can simply use any royalty-free images from the sites listed below with simply attributing the work.

• MorgueFile
• Pixabay
• Flickr
• Stock.XCHNG
• Wikimedia
• Unrestricted Stock
• Free Digital Photos
• Usa.gov
• Stock Free Images
• Foter
• Free Foto
• Dreams Time
• Free Range Stock
• 123RF
• RGB Stock

So, register on these sites today to experience the power of graphics in blogging. However, as I said above, make sure to have a look at the license terms of the websites shared here, before actually making the use of an image, to avoid violation of any legal terms. Please recommend any other websites that you have used but are not on the list here, to help your peer bloggers.

source: http://www.ishir.com/blog/1972/top-15-sites-to-get-royalty-free-images-for-your-blog.htm

How to optimize your website for mobile users?

Ten years ago, people used traditional phones for dialing and texts simply for sending messages to people.

Nowadays, smartphones have has taken over, and people rely on their phones, not only to speak, but also to browse, shop and find information on the internet. In brief, the “mobile phone” now plays the role of a multifunctional device in modern day life. Today people have little patience when using their phone to get data, as compared to users on desktops. People desire the correct information fast, and easy. It is this reason why business owners must look to create a friendly user experience for visitors that come to their sites through their mobile devices.

Know your visitor –

* Audience – the youth have always been early adopters to technology, quickly absorbing and adopting new technology. They learn new things instantly and are excited for the upcoming tech trends. Whereas, elders are much comfortable with easy-to-use infrastructure and unwilling to change their habit.

* User Experience- the website used for business and customers are diverse. The basic components for designing a mobile website for business used can lead to create a low cost, efficient, and stabilize framework. For customers, in order to attract more impression so as to increase conversion rate fascinate design, well directory and easy to adopt are fundamental elements.

* Functionalities- different business should have various types of design to suit each of the customers’ needs. For instant, a bank company mainly serves users who are return customers. The landing page are created for the purposes of having users to check account status, transfer money, or retrieve bank statements. A searching websites are used by the people who want to find their data right to the point instantly. For search site, it is often seen a search box placing on the top of the landing page.

* Revolution- there are wide range of screen size for people to pick on. In order to balance the handy mobile web browse experience and the information which the company wants to deliver, the company should decide what should be display when the viewer’s first enter to the landing page.

Guest Blogging Penalty – Reasons and Tips to Recover Fast

Google Penalizes MyBlogGuest Community

There is no secret in the fact that guest blogging has been on shaky ground for some time now. Google has made many statements over the last year about guest blogging as the tactic grown as a link building tactic.

Supporting its stance, Google has been aggressively going after companies that it considers are violating its SEO guidelines, predominantly link networks. And, as a major step in this regard, Google recently penalized a popular guest blogging network, MyBlogGuest.

MyBlogGuest is one of the largest and most well-known guest blogging networks within the industry. The network is also famous because of its founder, Ann Smarty, a prominent name in the SEO industry who, at the time of writing, boasts more than 39,000 followers on Twitter.

MyBlogGuest Penalty- Why Did it Happen At All?

“Stick A Fork In It, Guest Blogging Is Done”, that’s what Mat Cutts had asserted a few months back, making it crystal clear that if any company is using guest blogging as a way of gaining links in 2014, it should stop as over a period of time it has become a really spammy practice.

However, note that there definitely are many cases where guest blogging can be high-quality and can be valuable to a site’s visitors, and Cutts does not discourage that. He just reiterates that guest blogging shouldn’t be done for the sole purpose of link building. He states, “There are still many good reasons to do some guest blogging (exposure, branding, increased reach, community, etc.). Those reasons existed way before Google and they’ll continue into the future.”

In the case of MyBlogGuest, it seems that the linking issue was the problem as they had quite an open policy on linking within the guest blogs, mainly the links that could not be no=followed. But, Ann smarty, the founder of MyBlogGuest, has come up strongly on Google’s this decision, and has tweeted, “Even though #myblogguest has been against paying for links (unlike other platforms), @mattcutts team decided to penalize us”.

“We are already policing the links: No made-for-SEO links are allowed within our platform (for at least a year now; We’ve been always advocating no-anchor-text links but we started actively policing them 2 years ago, then we stricken the rules even further). You are free to link to your home page but no keywords are allowed (just names), for example,” Ann explains.

Google Guest Blogging Penalty- Check out Some Quick Recovery Tips

If you’re registered on MBG and have cited your websites and blogs there, for which you’re accepting guest posts, then there are great chances that your website/blog has got at-least a Page Rank penalty and an unnatural linking message in your GWT.

However, no need to panic as you can still get out of this situation by following the subsequent recovery tips that will help you adhere to the Google guidelines and uplifting the penalty.

• Remove all your websites and blog links from your MBG profile and forum threads there.

• Add rel=nofollow to all the links in author bio of the guest posts that you have posted on your website or blog.

•  Don’t link to a same URL more than once in a guest post, it looks unnatural and spammy.

• Try to avoid linking directly to the Home page of the sources that are cited in your guest posts. Instead link to the exact page url which is relevant to your guest post. However, if you’re talking about some particular business then you can link to Home page, but prefer to use brand name or URL as the linking text rather than some money keyword anchor text.

• File a Reconsideration Request via GWT.

I am quite sure that these tips will help you in recovering soon. Although these are not only for the ones dealing with MBG penalty, but everyone else who is involved in guest blogging must consider these points, and I’m sure this way you can leverage the true power of guest blogging by playing safely under Google’s rules.

Why Ex-Google Employees Not Reveal the Ranking Secrets in Google

Recently, I noticed a thread at Black Hat World asking why have we tend to not seen a case wherever a former Google employee who  worked in search quality sell their information or publish the key sauce on what it might go for rank well quickly and obtain made quick. Or why haven’t these former Googlers done it for themselves, exploit their information to rank well in Google and build a fast buck?

I decided to chase some former Googlers worked within the search quality team at Google however currently not working in Google. What they told me was a bit more fascinating. This is often all captured in a Google+ thread.

Pedro Dias, somebody at the upper levels of the Search Quality Analyst team, worked in Google for regarding 5 years and then left closer to his home, I believe. He gave many reasons why he has in person not given up the key sauce.

• Because SQ Googlers hate spam and something associated with cheating or manipulation… we’ve got seen the darkest of the net… Really;
• Because this could make a breach of trust between all my current and ex-colleagues;
• Because we tend to like better to have it for long term future, than to figure for the “get made quick”;
• Because we do not see SEO as “gaming the system”… Despite what several SEOs say? We’ve got our own vision, we tend to like better to assume like Search Engineers and facilitate businesses perceive Search visibility instead of marketing magic formulas and torching them.
• Because we signed an NDA, though it does not count the maximum amount because the points higher than.
• And generally as a result of we tend to prefer to recognize stuff that others do not and keep it like that.

I grilled him to a small degree additional, as a result of i was actually surprise if they are doing recognize the key sauce. I asked Pedro, “does one have deep dark secrets that you simply will use to use the algo and rank #1 for [Viagra] or one thing that competitive.” He responded:

‘Again, i might like to not come in such details mentioning that i do know X, Y or Z… I feel lucky to possess been a part of a get cluster and touched some vital and exclusive areas that is all I will say…’

I guess once a Googler, invariably a Googler. Kaspar Szymanski, worked as Search Quality deviser in Google for seven years, chimed in conjointly. He told me: ‘just like my purchasers price experience, they equally price integrity.’

Again, I still surprise, if Google has something that one in every of these former Googlers will truely exploit and obtain made quickly with. Yea, i’m positive there square measure some things that may add the short term and Googlers and non-Googlers will figure those out. However future – you continue to have to be compelled to recognize the basics.

It simply happens that each one of those Googlers quoted here act in somewhat of AN SEO and search authority role currently.

source: www.ishir.com

Office Web Apps Updates – An Overview of the Major Enhancements

The New Year of 2014 was kicked off with a great batch of improvements in Office Web Apps. The complete suite of Office Web Apps was enhanced and updated so that things could be done more easily from anywhere. Microsoft announced nice new additions to many of its Office Web Apps, which mainly includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote Web App. The company is giving all of these apps a user interface overhaul that brings an even flatter design, exciting new features and simple navigation. However, here’s a look at some of the major updates made in the Office Web Apps:

Improvements in Word Web App

 

Word Web App is picking up Tell Me orientation feature, which combines natural language questions and search to help you understand what you are trying to achieve and helps you do it faster. Also, with Word Web App enhancements, it is now possible for you to create and edit footnotes and endnotes directly in Word Web App. Not only this, even the ribbon has a new look now, thereby, making the job of sharing and renaming your documents easier.

Addition of ‘People View’ Feature in Outlook Web App

 

The new exciting feature- People View in Outlook Web App allows you to quickly view messages from people who are important to you. The feature enables you to see the mail from your most frequent contacts and automatically refreshes based on your most recent chats.

Changes in the Look and Usability of Each Web App

 

Microsoft has enhanced the look and usability of each Web App, using a new color-coded bar that allows access to the new navigation header and includes a Share button for the real-time collaboration. Also, changes have been made to the visual appeal of Web Apps by adding Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote Web App tiles to the navigational header that is provided by SkyDrive and Outlook.com.

Addition of Real-Time Co-Authoring to Office Web Apps

The addition of real-time co-authoring is one of the most interesting enhancements made to the Office Web Apps that even non-Office 365 users will get to enjoy. It was an effective collaboration tool that was missing until now and that would allow you to edit and manage Word, Excel and PowerPoint presentations in SkyDrive.

While all these updates have been rolled out to customers worldwide, it is worth the wait to see that how these changes actually look and work in the real world

source: www.ishir.com

Google Warns Local Businesses: You Have 3 Weeks to Save Your Places Listing

If you have your business set up on Google local pages, there are a couple changes that you should be aware of when it comes to verifying and updating your Google+ business listing.

You Have 3 Weeks to Save Your Google Places Listing

The most important change is that some business owners are being required to update and save their Google Place listings. Some business owners were confused about whether this email notification was spam, however it is coming from Google.

Affected users will have three weeks to save and confirm their Google Place listings. Jade Wang, Google Business Community Manager, explained:

 We are making some changes to Google Places for Business and Google Maps so we can continue providing people with the best experience when they’re looking for local businesses. As part of this process, we’re asking business owners to review and confirm some of the information in their Google Places accounts so we can keep showing it to Google users. We know this will be a few extra steps for merchants, and we apologize for any inconvenience and thank you for your time.

 

We have sent business owners affected by these changes an email entitled “Action Required: You have 3 weeks to save your Google Places Listing”.

If you received this email, don’t worry. You simply need to login to Places for Business, review your business information, update it if necessary, and click Submit.

You’ll need to do this for all listings in your account by February 21 to stay on Google Maps. Otherwise, you’ll need to add your business information and undergo PIN verification using Google Places again.

Change to Google+ Local Page Setup

The second change is designed to make it a bit easier for new business owners when setting up their local listing.

When a business owner first creates or Google+ local page, they are required to verify their listing using PIN verification. Google is now making a change were business owner will now be able to see their Google+ listing features prior to verification [].

Important: business owners will still be required to complete the PIN verification before the listing will show up to all users, but it will make it easier to access some of the features while they wait. Business owners must remember that even though they can see the listing, that doesn’t mean anybody else can see it.

Verification can be completed by entering the PIN received either via a postcard and sent to the business address or via phone at your business number. If someone else has already verified, such as an employee who may no longer be with the company, you can simply do the verification process again.

If the listing has been created previously, you’ll still need to use the PIN verification in order to update and take admin control posting.

Wang explained:

If you’re creating a listing in the new Places for Business dashboard, now, you won’t have to wait to complete PIN verification before you can see the +page, for most businesses. Just follow the link from your dashboard to see the new page. You will be able to use Google+ social features on this unverified page, but please note — you still need to complete PIN verification before the page will start showing up in Google Maps and across other Google properties.

If you’ve got an unverified local Google+ page (made using Google+ in the local business/place category), then we still encourage you to PIN verify this page so that it can start appearing in Google Maps and across other Google properties.

If you’re creating a local Google+ page (using Google+ selecting the local business/place category) for a business that we think is already in Google Maps, then you may need to go through both PIN verification and our admin request flow before you can manage the page.

Source: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2327744/Google-Warns-Local-Businesses-You-Have-3-Weeks-to-Save-Your-Places-Listing

Enterprise Mobile Application- Best Approaches to Get Mobile Apps into the Enterprise Domain

Mobility has become a reality which no enterprise can ignore; also, mobile devices have become a fundamental part of the business eco system. Enterprise end users have now become highly mobile, using smartphones to access corporate data and get work done from anywhere. This is the reason enterprises today are constantly attempting at exerting some control over the types of applications that users need to access data, and mobile enterprise application is just that control that can lead enterprise IT to deliver the productivity tools and data access that mobile users demand.

According to a study conducted by industry experts, presently more than 40% of U.S. enterprises are exploring a mobile road map strategy with retail, manufacturing, professional services, and the public sector. But, is the methodology of developing enterprise mobile application same like other app development? If not, what is the right approach that you need to consider to get mobile apps into the enterprise domain? Here are some factors that you must consider while choosing an enterprise mobile development methodology:

 

Testing

The procedures seen in typical application development should extend to mobile apps as well. However, note that as enterprise mobile application is coming into force, it has been predicted by industry experts that mobile app testing may now be more complicated than traditional software testing. This is because testing would account for a host of mobile platforms, operating systems and devices on which an application needs to run.

 

Mobile Security

Remember that the key area of concern for any user using enterprise mobile apps is the mobile security. Therefore, it is important that companies apply the same basic set of security practices that they have long applied to desktop and laptop applications to cover enterprise apps as well.

 

Mobile Development Allied with Business Architecture

Note that the main impact from mobility does not come by using mobile as a way to access your website. To provide users with an outstanding mobile experience, you need applications that are allied with your business architecture and IT infrastructure.

 

Feedback

Feedback is a key to determining if applications really provide value to users. Also it is a key to find out areas that could be improved in future updates. However, remember that just because an app has been downloaded several times, it does not mean it is useful for users. You need to determine facts like whether users are using the app after installing it, how often are they using it, and what impact has the app put on employees’ jobs to know the real value of the app.

source: http://www.ishir.com/