Google: Links In Press Releases Are Unnatural Links & Should Be Nofollowed

Google: Links In Press Releases Are Unnatural Links & Should Be Nofollowed
 Yesterday we reported about the link schemes Google update and later on I had the opportunity to ask Google's John Mueller specific questions about this update and what it means.
My main concern was how specific the example was given on this one:

Links with optimized anchor text in articles or press releases distributed on other sites.

My questions were:
(1) Just the optimized anchor text within these press releases have to be nofollowed?
(2) Do you have to nofollow basic URL links (i.e. not optimized keyword anchor text) in these releases?
(3) Why is Google calling out press releases here?

Author: Barry Schwartz

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After Google Penalizes Your Site, Those Who Stole Your Content Will Rank Above You

After Google Penalizes Your Site, Those Who Stole Your Content Will Rank Above You
One complaint I see a lot from webmasters and publishers is that someone stole their content and is outranking them for their own content. The Scraper and Panda algorithms don't help.
I cannot tell you how many times I hear this complaint and it saddens me to hear it.

Most of the time, not all of the time, but most of the time, the issue is that Google has penalized the site that is complaining about stolen content. Since that site is penalized, Google will rank other sites above it. Now often, those other sites have your content and are targeting your same keyword phrases and thus are ranking for the content they stole from you.

It stinks, it really does. You spend all this time and effort writing great content for your web site. It ranks well for years and makes you nice money. You participate in some link building and Google releases a Penguin update and you no longer rank well.

You then check who is ranking above you and it is your competitors, but not just any competitor, the ones that have literally ripped off your content word for word (even sometimes link by link).
They over take your rankings because Google knocked you down.

Of course, you can issue DMCA takedown requests but then the next scraper will pop up. The only solution, in many cases, is to reverse your penalty or heck, scrape your own site and start new.

Author: Barry Schwartz

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Google Updates Link Schemes Examples With Mentions Of Guest Posting, Advertorials & Press Releases

Google Updates Link Schemes Examples With Mentions Of Guest Posting, Advertorials & Press Releases
On Friday, I wrote at Search Engine Land Google Warns Against Large-Scale Guest Posting, Advertorials & "Optimized Anchor Text" In Press Releases. In short, Google has updated their link schemes document specifically citing three new topics:

(1) Large-scale article marketing or guest posting campaigns with keyword-rich anchor text links
(2) Advertorials or native advertising where payment is received for articles that include links that pass PageRank
(3) Links with optimized anchor text in articles or press releases distributed on other sites.
Since the story broke late Friday, it might have been missed by many SEOs. Despite that, the story does have over 60 comments right now and growing.

Why are SEOs up in arms about these changes?
Well, it is mostly around the "Links with optimized anchor text" phrase. This is what link builders were all about. Getting links with "optimized anchor text" and now, at least within "articles or press releases distributed on other sites" that is dead. Well, where else do you get "optimized anchor text" where it matters, expect off site on articles or press releases all on other sites? Of course, internal links matter but as much as external links?

Author: Barry Schwartz

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Was There A Weekend Google Update?

Was There A Weekend Google Update?
I am a bit torn, I've seen some chatter over the weekend at both WebmasterWorld and Google Webmaster Help but not enough to see strong signs of a definite update, like the one we had with the softer Panda update about ten days ago.
But I am also seeing signs from some of the SERP tracking tools of an update. For example, MozCast showed very high changes with 105 degrees on Friday but cooler weather on Saturday. Whereas, SERPs.com showed very high volatility on Saturday, not Friday. SERP Metrics is all over the place, while Algoroo is showing high changes both Saturday and Sunday but lower activity on Friday.

To me, this seems like one of those limited updates where Google may have not made a huge algorithm change but rather there was a change with either some link network or maybe a UI change causing this.
I am not sure. I wanted to see what you had to say about this and if you think I should bug Google to go on record about this possible Google update.

Author: Barry Schwartz

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Google's Matt Cutts: You Can Hide Content Only When...

Google's Matt Cutts: You Can Hide Content Only When...
In one of Google's Matt Cutts recent videos, Matt answered the questions of it is okay to use those expandable web techniques to expand and collapse content. It is okay to use those techniques or is it considered hidden text and against Google's Webmaster Guidelines.

Matt Cutts said clearly that if it is done for user interests and not to spam or manipulate Google's search rankings, then it is okay.

Author: Barry Schwartz 

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Google EMD: Does It Impact Non EMDs As Well?

Google EMD: Does It Impact Non EMDs As Well?
 When Google launched the EMD Update in September 2012, I assumed that it only impacted keyword rich domain names. Specifically, sites that target the keyword phrase in their primary domain.
For example, a site targeting the keyword phrase [cheap flowers] would be impacted only if their domain name was www.cheap-flowers.com or a variation of that.

A WebmasterWorld thread asks if this is not true. Is it possible that the EMD update also impacts non EMD sites but with very exact matched subfolders or file names or both? For example, the flower web site might be www.johnsmith.com but the URL targeting the [cheap flowers] keyword phrase would be www.johnsmith.com/flowers/cheap-flowers.html.

Got that? Why am I even suggesting this is possible?
Last night I saw a case of a site that had a huge drop in Google traffic, like 60-80%, exactly on the date of the EMD announcement. I know there were other updates around that date, but Penguin was way after, Panda was a week or so after. The traffic statistics clearly shows a Google penalty on the date of the EMD update. But the site isn't a pure EMD case.

Author: Barry Schwartz

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I Spun Hundreds Of Articles The Right Way!

I Spun Hundreds Of Articles The Right Way!
Sometimes I don't get it... I spotted a thread at BlackHat Forums about spinning articles - yes it is a black hat forum, but seriously.
Looking at the conversation that starts of by explaining that the SEO/Webmaster spun these articles the right way. He wrote, "I have a 500 word article which I have spun to 100 articles from 65-95% uniqueness." The others in the forum say as long as the uniqueness is 70% or more, he did it right.

But what do spun articles read like? Do they make any sense? Is this a strategy to convert on? I assume there is no way this is a long term strategy with spinning articles?

One SEO said it works great for him and for over six months!

If you spun it more than 70% then it will be fine for you. I am also working on the same technique and my keywords are the first page on Google since last six months. I have the shopping cart website so i am working on this technique.

Author: Barry Schwartz 

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Google's Cutts Says Don't Worry About Duplicate Content But SEOs Don't Trust

Google's Cutts Says Don't Worry About Duplicate Content But SEOs Don't Trust
Yesterday at Search Engine Land I covered a video answer from Google's Matt Cutts on the topic of duplicate content.

In short, should you worry about having duplicate content on your site or not. The short answer, is no. Google's Matt Cutts said that if you have content that is duplicative in your site, don't worry about it. He said, "I wouldn't stress about this unless the content that you have duplicated is spammy or keyword stuffing."
He may have been specifically talking about boiler plate content like privacy policies and such. But he does expand his answer to tell you that the only real case you should worry about is when your using duplicate content in a spammy way.

Truth is, SEOs and webmasters don't believe him. Also, Google has been telling webmasters not to worry about duplicate content for years. But even their own advice has been shown to be contradictory.

Author: Barry Schwartz 

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Can You Redirect A Google Penalty? Probably.

Can You Redirect A Google Penalty? Probably.
Should you redirect a site that has a Google penalty to a site that does not have a penalty?
I get this question all the time from webmasters. They have a bunch of sites, some of those sites got hit by either an algorithmic or manual penalty. They don't want to lose everything, so they ask if they should 301 redirect the penalized domain to the unpenalized domain.

My answer is almost always, don't do it. Don't send the negative link signals from your penalized domain to your unpenalized domain.
I don't think Google ever specifically answered this question - they may have. But it seems logical not to want to redirect a bad site to a clean site.

Oh, so what about negative SEO you ask? Good question. What is to stop you from redirecting your penalized domain to a competitors site? I guess Google has some failsafes for stuff like that?

Author: Barry Schwartz

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Panda Recovery Poll: Did You Recover Last Week?

Panda Recovery Poll: Did You Recover Last Week?
As you know, Google pushed out a new Panda update last week, that was "more finely targeted." I suggested this was the softer Panda release that we've been expecting but Google didn't use those words.

That being said, it was indeed one of those updates that has shown a huge cheer from SEOs and webmasters where they noticed their Panda sites that were impacted were not no longer impacted. At least, I've never seen so many happy SEOs and Webmasters after a Panda release. In fact, we even covered some recovery charts. Of course, that doesn't mean there are many still impacted or new sites impacted by this release.

Author: Barry Schwartz

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Pictures Of Google Panda Recovery

Pictures Of Google Panda Recovery
Every wonder what the analytics and impression charts look like when you recover from a Panda update?

Well, yesterday we confirmed a Panda update was pushed out, one with a softer touch, as Google said "more finely targeted." And with that, SEOs started sending me screen shots of their Analytics and Webmaster Tools.

Hope you did well with the last Panda update.

Author: Barry Schwartz

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Confirmed: Google Panda Update: The "Softer" Panda Algorithm

Confirmed: Google Panda Update: The "Softer" Panda Algorithm
Update: Google confirmed there is a Panda update going out now that is "more finely targeted."
There is renewed chatter in the WebmasterWorld forums about another shuffle taking place in Google. The consensus is that this update is likely Panda related.

We know Google has now slowed the Panda rollout to happen over several days and we also know Google will not confirm Panda updates anymore. We also know that Google wanted to soften the Panda algorithm a bit.
The chatter in the forum seems to back up the soften part where many folks, not all, are saying it looks like a Panda recovery has been pushed out.

Despite Google telling me they won't confirm these updates anymore, I am going to try to reach out and see if this is indeed the "softer" Panda algorithm being released. If I hear back, I will let you know.

Author: Barry Schwartz

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Google's Cutts: Be Careful Linking Many Sites Together

Google's Cutts: Be Careful Linking Many Sites Together
Yesterday, Google's Matt Cutts posted a video answer to the question "If I have 20 domains, should I link them all together?"
The short answer is, most likely no - you should not link them all together.

As I explained at Search Engine Land with my article titles Google's Matt Cutts: Linking 20 Domains Together Likely A "Cross Linking Scheme" - it may be considered by Google as a cross linking scheme - at least those are the words used by Matt Cutts.
As you can see, the overall theme and feeling you get from Matt is that it is typically a bad idea.

So the next question I will hear is what about linking 18 sites, or 15 sites, or what about 10 or 5 sites together. I love those questions. Those asking those questions are linking the sites for one purpose, ranking.
So what about it? :)


Author: Barry Schwartz

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Google To Penalize Sites Manipulating Browser Back Button & Faking Search Results

Google To Penalize Sites Manipulating Browser Back Button & Faking Search Results
Google announced their next spam target are those who are implementing manipulative browser history techniques to trick the user to thinking they are on Google's search results, when in reality, they are on a page of search ads.

How this works is when a user goes to a web site from Google's real search results, they then decide to click back to the Google search results. Now instead of the back button taking them to Google's search results, it detects the browser back button action and takes them to a page that looks similar to Google's search results but in reality are just ads.
Google said they will take action against sites and webmasters that do this.

Author: Barry Schwartz

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Useful: That Is What Google Wants To Rank

Useful: That Is What Google Wants To Rank
A WebmasterWorld thread has discussion around one word - the word "useful."
Netmeg said it in a thread and senior member, Whitey pulled it out into it's own thread.
All Google wants is to rank web sites that are the most useful for their users for a relevant query.
So now the thread goes through what makes a site useful or not. Here are some tips on what makes useful websites pulled from the thread but note, there are many more in the thread.

• Offer better deals than your competitors
• Give easier filtering, comparing and selections than others
• Be mobile friendly and good at it
• Give users content they can't find elsewhere
• Anticipate your users and give them what they want
• Engage your users

There are many more tips on how to make your web site useful.

Author: Barry Schwartz 

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Responsive Design & Hiding Links & Google Webmaster Guidelines

Responsive Design & Hiding Links & Google Webmaster Guidelines
A Google Webmaster Help thread has a webmaster who made his site responsive. Meaning, he made his site mobile/smartphone friendly through the responsive design approach. The responsive design approach is Google's recommendation.

That being said, even though responsive design is mostly the same content, same HTML, and same look.... Sometimes, there are slight differences. Sometimes, the navigation slightly changes. Sometimes some of the images or content is removed. Sometimes, some of the links or handling of telephone or email addresses change. These are all done with making the mobile template more usable for mobile users.

In the case of the Google Webmaster Help thread, this user removed some links from his navigation because the URLs were not mobile friendly or useful to mobile users. He also added HTML to the telephone numbers to make them click to dial on smartphones.

Is that against Google's webmaster guidelines? I'd be bold and say no.
As long as you serve up this HTML as is to GoogleBot as you would a desktop or mobile user, then you are fine. Don't serve up GoogleBot something different than you would serve other users. I.e. don't hide or add links just for GoogleBot.

Author: Barry Schwartz

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Seriously: Hiding Links With Font Colors?

Seriously: Hiding Links With Font Colors?
 I just don't get it. How can people in 2013 think Google is that dumb? A Black Hat Forum thread has a webmaster asking if his idea of hiding links using black font on black background a "smart idea."

Really? Are there still people out there doing this stuff? I guess so. But doesn't Google catch this stuff fairly easily? I wonder if they even bother to penalize the sites doing this or if they just discredit the links? I assume they just discredit them because this is way too easy to do.
The good news is that everyone in the thread is telling this webmaster NOT to do this.

Author: Barry Schwartz

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Google May Be Updating Search Algorithm

Google May Be Updating Search Algorithm
Here I am again, coming to you to tell you that I am seeing higher than normal chatter in the forums about a possible Google search algorithm update.
I see many threads at the Google Webmaster Help forum and increase chatter in the WebmasterWorld forums. It started around late yesterday and has picked up through the morning.

Some are saying this update is related to a Panda refresh. As we know, the Panda updates are now rolled out over several days, so the impact in the search results may not be as obvious. It is hard to say if this is indeed Panda, Penguin or something else. But it does appear that something is causing webmasters to take notice, more than just a manual penalty here or there.

Author: Barry Schwartz

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What SEOs Are Focusing On With Enge's Interview With Google's Matt Cutts

What SEOs Are Focusing On With Enge's Interview With Google's Matt Cutts
Whenever you hear a Googler talk about SEO or the ranking algorithm, SEOs tear apart each word. Now, when Matt Cutts talks, it is a billion times worse.

Eric Enge interview Matt Cutts, that interview was titled Link Building Is Not Illegal (or Inherently Bad) with Matt Cutts. In my coverage of the interview at Search Engine Land, I pulled out these five topics as the items that interested me:

• Link Building Is Not Bad: Just don't try to get the link first, have compelling content people want to link to instead.
• Press Releases Links: They still "probably not count" but your goal should not be the link but the exposure the press release gives you to editors who may read them and cover your story.
• Content Syndication: If your content is being syndicated on other sites, give Google signals to know you are the original source. Make sure you publish well before others, possibly use rel=canonical, link to main source of content, and maybe use authorship.
• Problem With Guest Posts: A large number of people are doing it the wrong way, guest posts have become more like article directories or article banks these days.
• Links: Links are still "the best way" to rank content.

Author: Barry Schwartz

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What Is Your Focus When Ranking In Google?

What Is Your Focus When Ranking In Google?
WebmasterWorld moderator, goodROI, posted a thread at WebmasterWorld asking SEOs and webmasters to share "what method(s) do you use to formulate your SEO strategy?"

In short, what do you SEOs focus on when trying to rank well in Google?
He starts off by telling everyone he focuses on what Google tells him not to focus on. When Google says don't focus on links, then he will focus on links. His logic, Google is not telling us not to focus on meta tags - so since Google is not bothering with that, he knows it is not important. But links, they do talk about that a lot, don't they?

Here is the list of what SEOs in the thread focus on, but the thread is just getting started:

• Focuses on what Google tells Webmasters to ignore, such as links
• Stays away from over saturated niche markets
• Focus on who is ranking and what they are doing
• Focus on harming competitors
• There is no silver bullet, never will be

Author: Barry Schwartz

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Is Guest Blogging Getting Out Of Control?

Is Guest Blogging Getting Out Of Control?
Yesterday I wrote a story at Search Engine Land named Google: Guest Blogging For Links? You Better Nofollow Those Links. As you can imagine, it caught people's attention - as it should. The title is not as extreme as Marie's Yes, high quality guest posts CAN get you penalized! but it is extreme enough.

In short, if you are intentionally guest blogging for the sole purpose of that post having a dofollow link to your site - Google would prefer that you nofollow the link. If you do not, you leave yourself open to a possible manual penalty.

That is the short of it. You can argue otherwise but if Google sees a guest blog post with a dofollow link and that person at Google feels the guest blog post is only done with the intent of a link, then they may serve your site a penalty. Or they may not - it depends on who is reviewing it.

Author: Barry Schwartz

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Google: You Weren't Hit By Penguin, Those Are Normal Fluctuations

Google: You Weren't Hit By Penguin, Those Are Normal Fluctuations
A webmaster noticed his rankings and traffic from Google sharpely declined after the Penguin 2.0 release and decided to ask about it in the Google Webmaster Help forums.

The webmaster said they noticed a "sudden drop in rankings for branded" right after the Penguin 2.0 release. So they investigated their links and saw "huge influx of spammy links coming into our site from Chinese Wholesalers."

Author: Barry Schwartz

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Google Manual Penalty Notification But Google Says No Manual Penalty...

Google Manual Penalty Notification But Google Says No Manual Penalty...
A webmaster posted in the WebmasterWorld forums that he received a manual spam notification for "unnatural links" from Google on June 27th. He cleaned things up and quickly submitted a reconsideration request. Shortly after, on July 3rd, he received the response not that the penalty was revoked but rather there was no penalty to begin with.

How can it be that he received a message days before saying he had a penalty but then be told there was no penalty?

Author: Barry Schwartz

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Do Larger Or Smaller Web Sites Rank Better In Google?

Do Larger Or Smaller Web Sites Rank Better In Google?
A WebmasterWorld thread is having renewed discussion around an old debate on does the size of a web site matter in Google.

There is no doubt, the more pages you have on your web site, the more chances you have to rank for more keyword phrases. But that being said, does a web site that is larger have a better shot than a web site that is smaller to rank for competing terms? If they are both trying to rank for [blue widget] does having a larger site improve your ability to rank for such a term?

Author: Barry Schwartz

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July 2013 Google Webmaster Report (Google Is Hot)

July 2013 Google Webmaster Report (Google Is Hot)
It was an incredibly busy month in the Google SEO/Webmaster world. Besides for Google announcing the spam algorithm, explaining about Panda's slower rollouts, releasing a new mobile ranking factor and pushing out a multi-week update, we've also seen a ton of chatter around a few updates in the past 30 days.

In fact, with this multi-week update, all the Google volatility tools are lighting up over the past few days. Here are screen shots from them:

Author: Barry Schwartz

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Domain Crowding Search Spam Complaints

Domain Crowding Search Spam Complaints
I hate being in over packed elevators, don't you? Now, imagine if the elevator comfortably fits 8 people, but you are in it with a total of 10 people. Now imagine if 9 of the other people are clones of the same person. Would you find that fair? Would you find it crazy and unwarranted?
That is the way some SEOs and webmasters feel about a topic in the search field named "Multiple Domains Crowding."

It is basically the process of a webmasters or SEO owning multiple domains and web sites, that target the same query phrase. They are hoping to crowd the first page of search results with only their web sites, this way if a consumer clicks on the first result and decides not to buy there, they can then click on the second or third or forth and buy from that site. The money and traffic all goes to the same place.

Author: Barry Schwartz

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Should You Take Over A Competitor's Domain Name?

Should You Take Over A Competitor's Domain Name?
A HighRanking Forum thread has a site owner asking about expired domain names. Not any expired domain name, an expired domain name of a competitor that went out of business.

He asked if it would be safe to pick the domain name up and 301 redirect it to his site.

Author: Barry Schwartz

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Can You Test The Google Disavow Tool?

Can You Test The Google Disavow Tool?
I am surprised this topic has not come up more often in the SEO forums - the topic of being able to test the Google Disavow Tool but uploading a file, waiting, removing links, waiting and repeating this process over and over again.

A Google Webmaster Help thread kind of aludes to it but not fully.

The issue webmasters are having is that they are disavowing a ton and waiting and not noticing an increase in rankings. They are then scratching their heads and asking, did I disavow links that were actually helping my site rank? So they go back in and remove some of the domains and URLs from the disavow tool and wait again.

You repeat this process over and over again until you see any ranking benefit. If you remove a URL and your rankings drop, add it back. Of course, doing this can take forever.

Author: Barry Schwartz

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Google's Matt Cutts: Disavow Can Help With Penguin

Google's Matt Cutts: Disavow Can Help With Penguin
Just in case anyone had any questions about Google's disavow tool being able to help those hit by Penguin, Matt Cutts said the tool can help with Penguin.

In a tweet, Matt responded to another tweet by @joshbachynski saying, "do you have doubts the disavow would help for penguin? there is a rumor going around a googler said it wouldn't."

Author: Barry Schwartz 

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