BrightEdge Weekly Search Recap – 5/21/2011
Hi Everyone,
This has been a very exciting week with continued activity in the convergence of search and social, impact of and solutions for Panda, and great updates from Bing.
Here are the top 10:
1. 6 ways to Use Social Media to Boost Local Search Results
Tips for using social media to boost local search results. #1. Get Fans on Facebook, #2. Use Twitter to Communicate with Customers, #3. Encourage customers to write reviews, #4. Leverage YouTube, #5. Use group buying sites, #6. Give Customers Incentives for Sharing.
Two great case studies on Panda highlighting the impact of Panda and the process to recovery. Case 1 was a Furniture e-tailer that had used manufacturer supplied descriptions. Three big changes that helped: higher quality backlink strategy, original content for targeted keywords, and increased page performance. Case 2: Community site with lots of duplicate content. Changes that helped: removing duplicate content, better use of redirects, and improving performance.
3. Google Social Search Launching in 19 New Languages
Google is now expanding the rollout of social search, which was first introduced in October of 2009, to over 19 new languages. Social is clearly a huge area of focus for Google.
Top Bing ranking factors: links (especially the ones in body content), domain names (especially older domains), content, site structure & code, on-page optimization.
5. Google Adwords Display URL in Ad Titles
Google Adwords now shows the URL directly in the Ad Titles (if your headline already includes the domain, it will not be duplicated). This has been pushed out globally.
6. Panadalized: New SEO Terms Floating Around
New SEO Term Alert: Pandalized. Definition: being hit by the Google Panda update. This article from search engine roundtable includes a comprehensive set of articles and links on the Google Panda update.
7. Bing’s Search Results Now Personalized By Your Facebook Friends
Bing gets even more integrated with Facebook, bringing personalization from social data directly into search results. Bing will now promote content that has been liked by your friends directly to the front page of the search results. Popular pages from facebook will also get surfaced directly in Bing results.
8. 8 Steps to Optimize Your Blog Post
Great article on optimizing blog posts from Search Engine Watch. The 8 steps: (1) Find A Great Subject, (2) Keyword Research, (3) Select Keyword, (4) Track Keyword Rankings, (5) Optimize the page, (6) Syndicate your content, (7) Find Top Links, (8) Track Keyword Performance (rank, visits, leads.
9. 21 Content Types to Share with Google
A very thorough (21 content types) list on seomoz on all the ways to improve indexation from Google. Key examples include: Gadgets, Google Places, Rich Snippets, Map Data, Image/Transit/Street View Partner, YouTube, Video Search, Product Search.
10. Google Simplifies URL Removal in Webmster Tools
Google announced an update to the Remove URL Tool this week. You can now make the request directly in Google’s webmaster tool. Once Google receives the request, it will no longer display the URL in SERPs.