Google Launches A Google+ Dashboard For Managing Business Pages

Google Launches A Google+ Dashboard For Managing Business Pages
Google announced yesterday on Google+ a new Google+ Dashboard for businesses that manage their Google+ local page on Google+.

Jade Wang also posted about it in the Google Business Help forum explaining:

It will give business owners using Google+ to manage local pages one place to easily manage the pages, share, and access other tools like AdWords Express and Offers. Local Google+ page managers will also have access to improved page insights. Google+ users, find the new dashboard simply by logging into plus.google.com and switching to the page you’re managing.

Author: Barry Schwart

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A Google Update Kicking Into Gear Now?

A Google Update Kicking Into Gear Now?
As I mentioned in our monthly Google webmaster report this morning, it seems like there is an uptick in chatter around a possible Google update kicking off this morning. It is extremely early but I've received emails, tweets and other correspondence of a possible Google update.

In addition, the WebmasterWorld thread has some renewed discussion around changes in traffic and search results and both SERPmetrics and especially SERPs.com show volatility in the Google search results. And MozCast just updated showing incredibly high changes in the Google search results.

Author: Barry Schwartz

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Google's Matt Cutts Says Rel=Author Can Help Search Quality

Google's Matt Cutts Says Rel=Author Can Help Search Quality
Google authorship rich snippets are everywhere these days and they supposedly do help increase traffic to your web site by improving the visibility of your listing in the search results. But can they help you rank higher? Maybe...
In a recent video by Matt Cutts, as I reported at Search Engine Land, Matt implies pretty directly that using the rel=author data can help Google understand the authority and credibility of the individual who posted a piece of content.

Do you think Google should use rel=author to improve search quality? Do you see issues with that?
Either way, if you are not on Google+ or using rel=author on your content site, get to it!

Author: Barry Schwartz

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Google's Matt Cutts: Negative SEO Extremely Rare

Google's Matt Cutts: Negative SEO Extremely Rare
Yesterday, Search Engine Watch published a story that was a bit outdated. What they eventually did was redirect the story to an older story which said the same thing.

In short, Google updated the time stamp on their Can competitors harm ranking? help document. It was assumed by the author of the story that the content changed as well, but it did not. The content did change over a year ago and we reported that but the truth is, on the negative SEO claims by Google, Google's Matt Cutts always said it was possible.

I mean, back in 2007 we reported Matt Cutts as saying that it is possible, but very hard. Now it is easier but still very rare, according to Matt Cutts.

Author: Barry Schwartz

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Are These Your Best SEO Tips?

A WebmasterWorld thread has Webmasters and SEOs sharing their best SEO tips. The thread was started by moderator, goodroi, asking "Put Up or Shut Up - Share your best tip for better Google rankings." So what are some of the best SEO tips being shared? 

• Every page of your site should offer significant value to your audience.
• Check your site for errors on a regular basis.
• Test your own SEO theories and don't just go by what forums or bloggers say.
• Be patient with your tests.
• Focus on metrics that matter.
• Network not just online but offline, those relationships will help your site grow.
• Don't spam your real, money making web sites. Go long term with those.
• Always learn and try things.
• etc.

Author: Barry Schwartz

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Google (Rich Snippets) Structured Data Markup Helper Tool

Google (Rich Snippets) Structured Data Markup Helper Tool
In December 2012, Google launched a data highlighter tool that aided more novice webmasters in creating structure data for use in the rich snippets in Google's search results.
Google announced that they added more data types support to that tool, which we covered two weeks ago. But they also added a web based version of that tool, that instead works within the browser and produces the HTML for the markup for you.
The tool is named the structured data markup helper and it basically allows you to select your markup type, highlight what you want to markup on your page and then outputs the HTML for you to copy into your code.

Author: Barry Schwartz

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Google's Official Tips On Internationalizing A Web Site

Google's Official Tips On Internationalizing A Web Site
Google's Jens O. Meiert and Tony Ruscoe posted on the Google Webmaster Blog 6 quick tips for international web sites.
This is a topic we covered a lot and honestly is somewhat foreign (pun) to me.
The 6 tips in short are:
1. Make pages I18N-ready in the markup, not the style sheets
2. Use one style sheet for all locales
3. Use the [dir='rtl'] attribute selector
4. Use the :lang() pseudo class
5. Mirror left- and right-related values
6. Keep an eye on the details

Author: Barry Schwartz

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Google's Cutts On Internal Links Hurting You

Google's Cutts On Internal Links Hurting You
A WebmasterWorld thread asks the question, is having too many internal links with the same anchor text something you have to worry about post Penguin 2.0?

Matt Cutts answered this in a video from over a month ago, where he said:

Typically, internal website links will not cause you any sort of trouble. Now, the reason why I say ‘typically not’ rather than a hard ‘no’ is just because as soon as I say a hard ‘no’ there will be someone who has like five thousand links – all with the exact same anchor text on one page. But if you have a normal site, you know…a catalog site or whatever…. you’ve got breadcrumbs…you’ve got a normal template there…that’s just the way that people find their way around the site, and navigate, you should be totally fine.

Author: Barry Schwartz

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