Efficient Keyword Research in 2014

The SEO industry keeps changing with each new Google's update. And, no doubt, these changes affect the very cornerstone of your SEO campaign — keywords. Are you keeping up?
Wave goodbye to the old-school ways, and learn the basic concepts of modern keyword research that you can't afford missing!
How to find the best traffic-rich keywords? How to discover the phrases your competition doesn't know about? And how can you do keyword research quicker with maximum results?

Here's what you'll learn in each part of the guide:
Part 1: The whole new way to brainstorm keyword ideas — See how the new niche-based approach to keyword ideas doubles and triples the list of profitable keywords in your SEO arsenal.
Part 2: New ample sources of keywords to go beyond Google Keyword Planner — Learn why Google Keyword Planner is not enough to get a powerful list of keywords and discover new tools you can use.
Part 3: New efficient metrics to hit only most money-making keywords — See why search volume can be a misleading metric and discover new factors to determine the quality of a keyword.
Part 4: The not-yet-used powers of competition analysis in keyword research — Boost your keyword strategy with a strategic approach to competition research
Before you dive into the guide, here are the tools you might want to install so to practice the how-to recommendations straight ahead:

best practicies for local rankings improvement

Though the changes in SERPs now seem to be quite considerable, the basic principles of local SEO are expected to remain the same. So here are some general recommendations for your local business to get better Google exposure.

1. Individual Google+ Local page for your business

Creating a Google+ Local page for your local business is the first step to being included in Google's local index. Your second step is to verify your ownership of the listing. This typically involves receiving a postcard/letter from Google containing a pin number which you must enter in order to complete verification.

2. Proper category for your Google+ Local page

If you wish to appear in the local results for a search like "dentists in denver", your business must be categorized as a dentist. If it is categorized as a certified public accountant, you have no hope of appearing for your important search terms.

3. Local area code on Google+ Local page

Using local area code phone number as a primary phone number on Google+ Local page is considered a best practice. The area code of the phone number should match the area code/codes traditionally associated with your city of location.

4. NAP on your website matching NAP on your Google+ Local page

Google will be looking at the website you've linked to from your Google Places/Google+ Local page and cross reference the name, address and phone number of your business. If all elements match, you're good to go.

5. NAP consistency in all your business listings

Make sure your business name, address and phone number are also consistent in all local directories where your business is listed. Different addresses listed for your business on Yelp and TripAdvisor, for instance, may put your rankings to nowhere.

6. Large number of positive customer reviews on Google+ Local page and on third-party sources

The number of positive reviews has a proven influence on local search rankings. So make sure to encourage happy customers to leave positive reviews of your biz.

7. City or state included into your website's title tags.

Another important factor for your "local" landing page is to have the city or state you're targeting included into its Title tag.

8. Product/service keyword in business title

It is also believed that having the name of a core product or service in your business name may give you some advantage over competitors who lack this.

GOOGLE LAUNCHES NEW PIGEON UPDATE — how does it affect your website?

A few days ago Google pushed out a new and major algo update for local search (which industry's leading SEO resource "Search Engine Land" called "Pigeon" update). There aren't many details disclosed about the so-called Pigeon yet, but webmasters report considerable changes in their local rankings over the past few days.

 Google had rolled out yet another update which is named as pigeon by marketing land and everyone follow suit. So how does that impact your site? It is believed that the update is focused on local site listings, map listings with Yelp taken into account. While checking out a couple of 100 local clients, the results are very encouraging.

To make sure you've got all the freshest information at your fingertips, we've put up this short compilation to explain what "Pigeon" is, how it affects your rankings and how to adapt your SEO strategy for the changes.

Now, to give you a better idea of the update, we've tried to outline all the changes going on (both those claimed by Google and noticed by webmasters) and give some advice for website owners who've been affected.

1. Local listing packs disappear for a huge number of keywords
2. Local rankings are expected to depend more on website authority
3. Ranking boost is seen for Yelp and other local directories.
4. Local carousel remains a way to gain extra exposure.

SEO Trends Every Entrepreneur Needs to Know for 2014

"Is SEO dead?" It's a common question within the online marketing world today.
If you're an entrepreneur relying on a strong online presence to connect with customers, you're right to pay attention. It's undeniable that the SEO landscape is changing.
For instance, Google is taking a hardline approach. Shady link-building tactics, poor quality content and bad design are just a few of the factors causing websites to get penalized. So what's worked for your business in the past may no longer work, and in fact, could actually hurt your business now.
Today, successful SEO strategies have to incorporate diverse components including brand building, mobile optimization, content marketing and social media integration. It's time to adapt your strategy to address these realities. Here's a closer look at five trends that will shape your SEO success in the year ahead.

1. Effective SEO has three pillars. A strong SEO strategy has three core components: links, content and social media. What's become more pronounced in the last year is the relationship between these elements. Content must be laser focused on your audience's needs and honed to drive specific profit-generating actions. Social media amplifies your reach, signaling to search engines that users find your content valuable. Links from high quality sites also reinforce that you're a solid, trustworthy site. A virtuous cycle is starting to emerge that all begins with writing great content.

2. The rise of content marketing moves toward digital maturity. Content marketing was the top marketing buzzword of 2013, and it's a trend that's here to stay. Brands need to become savvy about telling their own stories and creating content that resonates with audiences. As the initial fascination with content marketing wears off, marketers are now demanding more return on investment, or ROI. Content marketing is maturing, and as a result we're better able to effectively target content, measure performance and correct course to improve results.

3. Mobile optimization is no longer optional. With the release of Google's Hummingbird updates, it's getting harder for sites without a mobile strategy to rank well. This includes both a responsive design and a mobile content strategy. Realistically, it's time to invest in this anyway from a business perspective: Half of Americans own smartphones and more than a third own tablets according to Pew Internet. Responsive design ensures that your site looks great across a range of mobile devices. A mobile content strategy targets your content to the context, needs and behaviors of mobile users. To learn more about post-Hummingbird mobile optimization, read The Key Ingredients to a Winning Mobile Content-Marketing Strategy.

4. Building your brand is more important than building links. A strong brand is playing an increasingly important role in SEO. One tangible example is Google's introduction and emphasis of Google Authorship, a program that connects content to your author profile with recognized authors' content performing better in search engine results. Building your brand and thought leadership in your space are critical steps to ranking well over time. For help building and implement a branding strategy, see this collection of resources.

5. Social media, especially Google Plus, plays an integrated role with SEO. Google is relying more than ever on human signals in the form of shares and mentions on social media to help vet sites. If you don't have a strong social media marketing presence and a strategy that makes it easy for people to share your content, it's time to implement one (for help with that, I recommend "How to Determine Which Social Media Network Fits Your Business."

Social media has matured to the point where it's intersecting with SEO to help determine search rankings. Two easy places to start are building your Google Plus presence and ensuring that your website and blog have content sharing modules built in.
As you're developing your company's SEO plan, remember that all these trends add up to two things: integration and balance. Invest in all the key areas -- from writing good content, to building links and developing your social platforms -- with the understanding that they mutually support each other. Customize your plan by identifying your company's gaps and opportunity, and focus on the channels that bring you closer to your audience. Good search engines rankings will follow.

Google Penalty Reversal

Understanding Google Penalty

Google updates its algorithm on a regular basis to maintain the quality of its searches and to keep ahead of people who wants to game the system. Over the last years, Google has become very aggressive in terms of its quality of results. The rolling out of Google Panda and Penguin has drastically affected the traffic of a major percentage of websites that are dependent on organic traffic. The severity of these penalties depends on which penalty has hit you.

The most telltale sign that you’re hit by a Google penalty is, if your organic traffic takes a sudden beating, almost as if it fell off a cliff or if you’ve received a Google Webmaster tools warning against a manual action. However, an even bigger problem is that Google won’t inform you majority of the time. Even if you are hit by a minor flag, you have no way of knowing what has hit you. Moreover, some of the activities, which were once considered best practices or major movers of SERP ranks, are now the cause of penalty. This has left many site owners confused – What to do? How to remove the penalty? How to get back in the rankings?

We can help you over-come your worst nightmare. Following are the broad steps of our Google Penalty Reversal Service:

• Comprehensive Google Penalty Audit

1. Full on-page analysis for any sign of over-optimization
2. Complete Content analysis for both internal or external duplicate issues
3. Technical Audit of site for hidden content or doorway issues
4. Complete Inbound link analysis for any link building malpractices

• Non-organic Link Removal Service
  1. Non-organic links is the primary cause of Google Penguin penalty. We can help you reach-out to these sites and request for removal. We can help you file Disavow request and help you submit reconsideration or reinculsion request with proper detailed sheet of due diligence done, which helps in faster removal process.
• Branded & Non-branded Link Dilution Service
  1. The imbalance between branded and non-branded links can also lead to exact match keyword based penalization. We can help you dilute the link graph through ethical link building services.
• Link Reclamation Services
  1. Many quality links are lost over time due to many changes/updates that occurs in your sites, which results in a poorly linked profile. We can help you reclaim these quality links and get back to your best days.
• Professional Copywriting Service
  1. We have a team of excellent copywriters which can pitch in for your content needs from writing ethical title/meta tags to blog managements, product descriptions, etc.
• High Quality Link Building Service
  1. Panda and Penguin has made quality link building very painful but we are proud to mention that this is one of our greatest strength. We can help you create a very powerful and ethical portfolio of quality links, which will boost your website ranking in no time.

Blog Directories To Submit Your Blog

Gaining exposure for your blog is critical to building a following and revenue. After creating compelling copy, titles, descriptions and link strategies, it’s time to list your blog in one or more directories.
There are many paths to building links, such as link baiting or blogroll-link swapping, but few are as easy to implement and cost effective as submitting to blog directories. And good link juice makes for a growing blog.

Here are 24 directories you need to know about:
1. EatonWeb Blog Directory is a powerful list. The fee, currently $34.99, pays for a review of your blog.

2. Bloggeries is one of the most respected blog directories. The layout is clear and concise, and readers are able to find what they are looking for in a snap.

3.  Best of the Web Blog Search remains a powerful tool for sharing your blog, especially since this director’s very selective, listing only mature and valuable blogs. A link from here is majestic.

4. OnToplist.com is a free, manually-edited directory that reads the RSS feed of your blog. You can also use the site’s social features, article directory, and other great tools to build your blog.

5. Blogged.com is an interesting mix of a directory and a Google News type site that is fed by the blogs listed with Blogged. And it’s free to list your blog.


6. While the design and infrastructure have changed somewhat over the years, Blog Search Engine remains one of the most selective blog directories on the web. Membership has its privileges.

7. Blog Catalog features a vast number of categories, from “academic” to “writing”, while offering the ability to search by country, language or user. It has a no-frills design, but offers convenient access through a simple blog registration.

8. Globe of Blogs has too many features to list. Only non-commercial blogs are accepted. The site may be busy, but I like being able to narrow my search by title, author or subject.

9. The ultimate directory of British blogs isn’t focused on location, but on the culture. It is asked that bloggers be genuinely “Britished.”

10. Blog Universe has a layout that’s easy to navigate and, although the content is limited, it’s an all-around good directory worthy of submission.

11. Bigger Blogs is intertwined with a business directory and an article directory, giving you access to several powerful tools in one location.

12. Bloggernity is a crisp, clean and easily navigated site. It’s low ad-to-content ratio has helped solidify its reputation as a quality directory.

13. Bloggapedia has an interesting and eye-catching homepage. Readers are easily connected to top blogs and new posts. Innovative categories, a colorful design and its blogger tool kit make this directory a hit.

14. Spillbean is a well-designed directory with categories such as “health,” “society,” “Internet,” and “personal.”

15. Blogging Fusion boasts over 60 categories, including family-focused blogs. Blogging Fusion has an good number of listings, and it also has visitor stats.

16. Blogflux is organized and clear with a strong social element.

17. The blogs at the top of Bloglisting are fun, colorful and catch the attention of the reader. Bloglisting displays the page-ranking blogs, which is a helpful tool when determining with whom you want to exchange links.

18. Blogio stores plenty of quality blogs, and it sports solid on-site search.

19. Blog Digger is a strong search tool, especially for local blog listings.

20. Blog Pulse features a powerful community element, on-site analytics, and a clean design. The “submit” page is a bit tricky to find, so here’s the quick link.

21. Technorati’s blog directory is well-respected and spans more than 30 categories.

22. Blogarama has a strong base of blogs and a solid text-ad system for its front page.

23. Blog Hints features over 100 categories. The site is very picky about which blogs are included, and those that are listed are presented via a visual interface that shows the site’s design and page rank. This makes Blog Hints the perfect site for finding link-swapping partners.

The above listings are a glimpse inside the large and vast world of blog directories and the valuable inbound links that your can build for your blog and your business

Google Is Sending Notifications About Duplicate Listings Issues In Google Places

Google has been sending notifications via email to business owners about issues related to duplicate Google Places listings. I received such an email a few days ago, but thought it may have been an isolated occurrence until I saw more business owners and SEOs saying they received the same thing. The email being sent out reads:

Hello,
We’d like to inform you that Google Places no longer accommodates more than one authorised owner per business location. Your account contains one or more listings that have been identified as duplicates of other listings and as a result, some of the information that you provide will not be shown to Google users any more.
To get more information or request access to the other listings, please log into your Google Places account.
Yours sincerely,
The Google Places Team

It turns out the issue stems from Google upgrading business listings to the new Google Places For Business local listings. If your business had one of the older listing types on Google you’ll run into a similar issue.
The email invites users to log into their Google Places account, and upon doing Google immediately points out which of your listings is causing the issue. In order to keep the listing live you’re asked to review your information, make any necessary changes and then submit them.
If you have a Google Places listing but haven’t received this email, it’s best to log in and check if there are any issues just to be sure. As these listings are paramount for local search, it would be a shame to have your listing removed without knowing there was even a problem.