We predict that the use of Search will only continue to grow in 2012. Search On!

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How the World Googled in 2011 is a post from: SEO Ottawa | Search Engine Optimization and Internet Marketing Agency | WebFuel

As the Search Strategist for WebFuel, I respond to the company’s SEO inquires and unfortunately hear many horror stories. As a result, I work more and more on resolving serious Search issues on behalf of newly acquired clients. Most of the time, what has been done from a SEO perspective (previous to hiring us) is a mystery. So…. like a Search Detective, I work to solve the case.

Here are the top most startling Search issues.

1. Not in the Google Index (at all)
   This sadly happens too often. We have had to resolve this type of Search issue more than any other – and it is serious. The most common reason is that the client did not have a Search Engine Friendly website built. In other words, the Search Engines cannot crawl their site. This means no indexation – and they will NOT show up in a Google SERP (Search Engine Results Page). You should hear the client’s blood curdling scream when this is brought to light.

2. Disappearing from Organic Search
   This is horrifying!!! One day key high-ranking web pages, or even worse, an entire website, no longer appears in Google SERPs. And… even more terrifying, this is often not noticed for quite a while as no one is even monitoring this.

3. Wrong Geographic Area (not your target location)
   Yikes!!! We see many variations of this frightening issue. Canadian businesses targeting the United States – Google.com but appearing in Google Canada (Google.ca). This requires lots of expertise to resolve (not simply hiring an American SEO Agency). Or… equally disastrous, Canadian companies whereby the target location is Canada – and Google displays their search results in the USA on Google.com. At the local level, Search Engine repositioning is required due to wrong city (i.e. Nepean Search rather than an Ottawa Search) or not entire geo-graphic region (i.e. province).

4. Stolen Web Traffic(that should belong to you)
   This issue is rarely known by the website owner (how chilling) – and only discovered when we audit the account. The most popular perpetrators are the client’s competitors (or the agency that was hired by the competitor), the business themselves (due to a poor online strategy) – and the worst violation, in my opinion, a third party supplier for the client. We have seen a huge increase in this type of scenario over the past year. The 3^rdparty vendor steals (and some are big well-known brands) your web traffic in order to improve their results on your behalf.

5. Bad SEO (Black Hat Techniques)
   Call it bad SEO practices or unethical standards it’s quickly becoming the norm (now that is scary). In our SEO Audits, we have discovered keyword stuffing, hidden text, duplicate content, cloaking, doorway pages, improper use of redirects and extremely questionable linking strategies – including invisible links on a page and inbound links from bad neighbourhoods (how creepy!!!).
   This is mostly due to the inexperience of the Search Engine Optimizer and simply not understanding the complexly of SEO.  But we also see many cases whereby the SEO strategy is based on intentionally “tricking” the Search Engines. This is known as “Black Hat” techniques. The real horrifying story here is businesses most don’t know that they have hired a Black Hat SEO Agency.

6. Keywords Scams, Myths & Issues
   This list is endless… SEOs selling organic keywords “you can buy these two”, rank for keywords that no one searches for, translating researched keywords from English into French (this doesn’t work) or hiring an agency that also works for your keyword competitors (no non-compete clause or they don’t honour it).

7. Google Ban (Organic & Paid)
   This is the worst horror story from our perspective. Not adhering to, or in compliance with AdWords policies resulting in a permanently suspended account. Yes – this means no Ads on Google. Or likely an even worse nightmare, violating Google Webmaster Guidelines – and getting banned from Organic Search. As a result, your website no longer appears for branded & non-branded keywords. You are now invisible in a Search!

Got your own SEO horror stories? Please share your chilling tales.

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SEO Horror Stories: From a Canadian Perspective is a post from: SEO Ottawa | Search Engine Optimization and Internet Marketing Agency | WebFuel

What is a Google Places Page?

 Formally known as Google Local Business Center, Google Places is like the Yellow Pages of the Internet. Think of it like a Google local web page or an online listing of your business. This local listing can display information about your business in text, image & video format and is tied into Google Maps. According to Google, 97% of consumers search for local businesses online. And… over the past year, the Search Engine’s local algorithm in Canada has resulted in more visibility for local organic search results on Google.ca.

Google Places and Google Maps appear in a Google SERP in the organic section. It’s important to understand the placement. In a previous blog post, we addressed the layout of a Canadian Google Search Engine Results Page in terms of Organic Search vs. Paid Search as well as where the engine displays Google Maps and Places. It is very prominent. Check it out if you require better understanding.

With Halloween just around the corner, and people searching for pumpkin picking farms in Ottawa, we decided to feature a local Places page.

Here is an example of a Local Ottawa Google Places Listing:

Google Canada Place Profile for a Pumpkin Farm in Ottawa

Business Information Section
This section is ideally provided by the business owner. It includes the name of the business, relevant categories, a short description, address, website and photo number. A web visitor can phone you, visit your website for more information and get directions via Google Maps (Canada).

Photo Section
Business owners and Google users can upload photos. These photos generally include storefront, products sold and people behind the business. They must, of course, follow Google’s guidelines. Videos can also be uploaded.

Review Section
“What people are saying” about your business in a review format falls under this section. Reviewers must have a Google account to post. Owners have the ability to respond to positive as well as negative reviews.

Related Content Section
Related places that appear in this area of your profile are generated by Google. It’s based on the Google Places algorithm. Google displays other related Places pages in your geographic area. If you are positioned properly in Local Search, you will also appear on your competitor page in this section.

Google Maps Section
This section is also generated by the Search Engine based on your Places listing. Google displays a street view with a map icon to indicate your location. Web visitors can click on the map for a large view and get directions by car, bus, walking or by bike (if applicable).

Google Ads Section
Unlike your listing that is free, this section is for paid ads. This is where Google Ads (known as AdWords) are displayed. While you cannot remove these ads, you can certainly place your text ads on Places Pages.

How does this relate to SEO?
From a SEO perspective, your Google Places profile page can give you visibility in the SERPs beyond your website. Think of it as an additional web property. Depending on your industry, and relevancy from a Google perspective, your Places listing can even outrank your website based on a local branded geo-search. You can also rank in Places for generic searches based on related local non-branded keyword queries. And… your business listing can send you qualified web traffic via the inbound link on your page (SEOs’ love this!).

Your business can also appear on other Places pages under related places and/or in the ads section. From our perspective, this means more visibility in local search!

At least 20% of Canadian searches are local. People search Google.ca and Google Maps to find local businesses. Claim it, optimize it, monitor it -and measure it!

Can you get found?

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SEO & The Anatomy of a Google Places: From a Canadian Perspective is a post from: SEO Ottawa | Search Engine Optimization and Internet Marketing Agency | WebFuel

According to Matt, there are plenty of good SEOs out there (also known as White Hat SEO). He explains that Search Engine Optimization basically means trying to make sure that “your pages are well represented within Search Engines”. He also acknowledges that are plenty of “White Hat” SEO strategies that can be implemented. They include helping out with the initial site architecture, URL structure, making sure the website is crawlable, finding the right keywords, ensuring fast website speed and optimizing content to convert.

He did add that there are bad SEOs out there, known as Black Hat SEOs that can produce web spam. Unfortunately for our industry, this is true.

Here is Google’s first video on the topic: Does Google Consider SEO to be spam?

And… just in case you are wondering, WebFuel is an ethical SEO agency.
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Google Says Ethical SEO is Not Spam is a post from: SEO Ottawa | Search Engine Optimization and Internet Marketing Agency | WebFuel

Last night marked the inaugural SEMPO Ottawa Meetup at The Hard Rock Cafe in the Byward Market. Dozens of Ottawa area marketing professionals and students gathered for a night of networking, education and discussion. WebFuel in association with McGill Buckley and SEMPO Ottawa hosted Google Canada’s Agency Lead Nectarios Economakis who spoke about the emergence of Mobile Marketing and why it’s still not too late to be early. Working the registration table I got a chance to see a lot of familiar faces, as well as meet many new people. Thank you to everyone who made it out, and for those who couldn’t attend, here is my recap of last night’s event.

Mobile Marketing: it’s still not too late to be early

The event’s MC Steven McGill of McGill Buckley took the stage at 7:00 pm sharp to welcome everyone to the event and to introduce our speaker, Nectar Economakis. Dressed in a sharp suit, he exuded confidence. Despite some minor microphone problems, Nectar captivated the crowd with his calm nature and strong voice. Nectar began by asking the crowd “Who owns a smartphone?”. Pretty much everyone. The majority had iPhones. Another sizeable chunk were BlackBerry users and one or two people used Android. But remember, this crowd is unique – we are mostly marketing nerds and geeks (sorry, but it’s true). Look at our entire population as a country – by the end of 2014, half of Canadians will own smartphones. That’s pretty incredible. Furthermore, mobile is expected to exceed desktop usage in the next 3-5 years.

“Mobile is ramping up faster than any other technology we have seen in the past” – Mary Meeker, Kleiner Perkins

He goes on to explain that in past years, the trend with desktop usage is that it drops during the holidays – people are busier, they are out shopping, at family events, etc… But so is not the case with mobile. In fact, Mobile usage actually increases during the holidays. People’s mobile device have become their own personal shopper to help them find stores, items, best prices, reviews, etc. Also, how easy is it to pull out your mobile device at the table and show everyone a funny Christmas commercial on YouTube? Very easy. The thing with mobile is that it is always on, and is always on us. It allows constant connectivity.

So how is Google adapting to this shift?

Google operates under the assumption that people carry their mobile device with them everywhere. Based on that assumption, Google wants to build applications that will allow people to be more productive and entertained. Bottom line is that mobile should always come first. The mobile device has become an extension of the body. The camera is it’s sight, the microphone enables hearing, the speakers enable voice and the screen allows touch.

Nectar went on to show us a few video examples of how people are being both productive, and entertained using some of Google’s mobile applications. My favourite example was a video that featured a group of kids playing the classic game “Chubby Bunny” using Google Voice as the referee. Not only did this video make us laugh, but it showed the power of Google’s apps.

Key Mobile Trends Moving Forward

What does Google see for the future of mobile? The first has got to be entertainment. People don’t stand in lines anymore. They stand in lines and browse their smartphones. Here are a few stats for you – 125 years of Angry Birds is played everyday and there are 200 million mobile playbacks a day on YouTube. Wow!

Mobile is also immediate. At any point in time we can pull out our phones and make a call, write a review, send an email, book a hotel. We have so much immediate power at our fingertips.

Mobile compliments other media. During the SuperBowl in February, mobile searches on GoDaddy.com increased 315 times compared to 38 times on desktop. Why? People saw the ads and were intrigued. But when you’re sitting in the living room with your buddies watching the game, you’re not going to get up and go to your desktop – you’re going to pull out your smartphone.

Mobile is local. In fact, 1 in 3 mobile searches are local. After looking up a local business on a smartphone, 61% of users called and 59% visited. That is pretty amazing.

Last but not least, mobile is the ultimate shopping companion. 74% of users have purchased due to using their smartphone while shopping and 79% of smartphone users use their smartphone to help them shop. Whether it’s reading reviews, finding directions to a store or comparing prices, your mobile device is hands down your best shopping companion.

Three purposes for accessing the mobile web

1. Entertainment – make the brand experience fun with a game or engaging video content
2. Information – provide consumers with information about brands and product categories
3. Transaction – help consumers get what they want, faster and easier

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SEMPO Ottawa Google Event: Mobile Marketing Recap is a post from: SEO Ottawa | Search Engine Optimization and Internet Marketing Agency | WebFuel

SEMPO Canada / SEMPO Ottawa Meetup

Date: Thursday, October 13, 2011

Time: 6:00 – 9:00PM

Location: Hard Rock Café in the Byward Market (Map & Directions)
The bar will be open (and food orders can be placed)

Presenter: Nectarios Economakis
Agency Lead at Google |  Montréal, Canada

Mobile: It’s not too late to be early
Mobile is ramping up faster than any other technology we have seen in the past. Your mobile device is a better shopping companion because it is personal, interactive, local and dynamic. Come learn about what is driving the growth of mobile, the key trends and how you can take advantage of mobile right now. We will look at Canadian mobile trends as well as Canadian Search habits on mobile devices.

Agenda

6:00PM - Event Registration & Networking

7:00PM - Nectarios Economakis Presentation (and Q & A session)

8:00PM - SEMPO Ottawa Meetup & Networking

Cost: $10.00/per person

SEMPO Members (free)
Just pay in advance and we will reimburse you at the event. You must be listed on the SEMPO Member Directory.

If you are not a member, join SEMPO now and attend for free. Plus receive all the benefits of a SEMPO membership for 12 months! Be sure to select the Canada Chapter when you sign up.

Student Admission (free)
Calling all students! We want you at our upcoming event featuring Google Canada’s Nectar Economakis. So much so that we will pay your way in. That’s right. We know that money can be tight. We were all students once. And besides, we don’t want you to miss out on this great event!

Just pay in advance and we will reimburse your money at the door – with a valid student ID that is. Courtesy of your friends at WebFuel & McGill Buckley.

Hashtag: #sempoottawa

Space is limited. Register for this event now!

Online registration is available until: Tuesday, October 11th (or until all tickets are sold out).

About SEMPO Canada
SEMPO Canada is a working group of the Search Engine Marketing Professionals Organization (SEMPO). We have meet-ups across the country, in Ottawa, Toronto, Edmonton and Vancouver. To learn more, please visit the SEMPO Canada website – and join our group on LinkedIn (English & French).

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SEMPO Ottawa, Google & Mobile Event: From a Canadian Perspective is a post from: SEO Ottawa | Search Engine Optimization and Internet Marketing Agency | WebFuel

What are Sitelinks?

Sitelinks are the additional links that appear underneath the first search result. They allow Google searchers to go directly to specific pages that are deeper within the website. They appear in organic search results based on search queries on branded terms.

Here is an example of sitelinks in a Google SERP (Search Engine Results Page) that have not yet been expanded. You will note that there is a single row of links. In this case, a total of four links to key web pages within the site appear.

Here is an example of the new sitelinks layout. The first search result listing remains the top domain and the same in terms of format (title, URL and short description). The new additions relates to the extended listings in this full two-column sitelinks layout. Rather than just a link, it now includes a title, URL and one line of the text snippet. The maximum number of individual sitelinks that can appear per query are now 12 (up from 8).

How does it work?

Google determines sitelinks based on their algorithms. They are generated and ranked based on link structure of your website. Yes – site architecture has just become even more important if you are serious about Search.

Why sitelinks?

This addresses the issue that some web searchers still use broad queries such as “government of canada” rather than more specific search keyword phrases in terms of what they are attempting to find. This can also be very valuable for improving the visibility of unique sections of large and complex websites. In addition, a link could send traffic to directly to their portfolio of photos (IE sites with image galleries such as a wedding photographer). As you can see, this goes far beyond the regular results from a few years ago. And… it will, of course, help you understand your web traffic from a Google Analytics perspective.

Like all things Search-related, generating good sitelinks, and optimization thereof can improve your website conversions.

Got Sitelinks? Are they optimized?

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Google Canada Expanded Sitelinks is a post from: SEO Ottawa | Search Engine Optimization and Internet Marketing Agency | WebFuel

What is a SERP?
A SERP, which is an acronym for Search Engine Results Page, refers to the web pages displayed by the Search Engines as a result of a search query. Each major Search Engine shows the results in a slightly different format.

Here is an example of a Google Canada (Google.ca) SERP.

Vertical Navigation
There are now two vertical navigation menus that gives the Google user the option to search different verticals, such as images, videos, news, places, maps etc… A Vertical Search will result in a more limited index. The default is “Everything”.

Search Query Box
The search query box is designed for the web searcher to enter keywords or keyword phrases based on their Search. It is displayed on the SERP for reference. Next to the search query box is the option to perform an Advanced Search or a Search via Google.com (rather than Google.ca).

Results Information
This section displays the estimated total number of search results for the search query along with the time it took Google to return these results. This number should be used as a rough estimate only as it is not highly accurate.

Organic Search Results
Organic algorithmic results or natural listings (also known as unpaid) appear in the left section of the SERP with a white background. This section also includes Google Places (formerly Google Local Business Center), which has become very visible in local search queries. It corresponds with Google Maps now displayed in the top right section are also organic results. These results are generated from the primary indexes of the web. In this case, Pages from Canada. Ranking is based on relevancy determined by the search engine – which is based on their complex (and constantly changing) algorithms.

Paid Search Results
Typically the paid search results will be found to the right of the SERP page (under Google Maps if displayed) and often above the unpaid results. Paid search advertising is identified simply as “Ads” (formerly Sponsored Links) by Google. These text ads are generated by Google’s search ad platform – AdWords. Ranking depends on a number of factors including relevancy, bid amount and quality score.

Google is forever testing new formats and changing their SERP’s layouts. Generally beta testing occurs via Google.com – and then is rolled out to the other English language versions such a Google Canada.

How are you appearing and ranking in the SERPs?

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Anatomy of a Google Canada SERP (Search Engine Results Page) is a post from: SEO Ottawa | Search Engine Optimization and Internet Marketing Agency | WebFuel

Impressive Growth

So now that Google+ has been around for a month, users have begun to wrap their head around the new tool. After just 16 days, Google+ had reached the 10 million member mark, much faster than both Twitter and Facebook had (780 days and 852 days respectively.) Today Google+ has surpassed the 20 million member mark, but growth is slowing down.

So how has Google+ been able to gain users at such an impressive rate? I believe the answer is two fold. First, Google is already an extremely well-established and trusted brand on the web. Millions of people worldwide already have Gmail accounts and use Google Search daily. Secondly, Facebook and Twitter have already broken the Social Media mold. Back in the mid 2000′s Social Media was much newer to society. Facebook and Twitter were forced to prove the usefulness of Social Media to the world. Because of their efforts and popularity, Google+ is finding it much easier to break into the market. Furthermore, many people used Facebook and Twitter to share the news about their newest competitor with others. In fact, Hitwise reported that within the first 2 weeks of Google+’s launch, there were almost 2 millions Tweets on the subject.

Who is using Google+?

According to Hitwise, in the early stages Google+ has been dominated by young adults with almost 40% of all visits coming from the 25-34 age bracket. Initially Google+ was primarily male, with over 85% of the visits in the first two weeks coming from men, but that number has since dropped to 57%. Where in the World are these users coming from? Not surprisingly, the United States boasts the most amount of Google+ users as far as countries go with 5.31 million. India comes in second with 2.85 million and the U.K. in third with 0.88 million with Canada (Yes, Canada) slightly behind at 0.87 million. This should not be a surprise as Canadians are among the most engaged and connected individuals in the World.

What Differentiates Google+?

So really, what makes Google+ different from other Social Networks such as Facebook and Twitter? While many people have questioned why Google has entered this extremely saturated and competitive market, Google feels as if they have developed a competitive advantage by learning from others’ mistakes.

Google believes that most Social Networks have failed at making it easy to find friends, whereas Google+’s Circles feature is fun and addictive. Google says that by making Circles visual, personal and video game like, users will enjoy and even crave to find friends on Google+.

Secondly, while other sites have tried to integrate video chat, Google+ has perfected it with Hangouts. This feature was designed to be less formal than traditional one-on-one video chats with the goal of creating a more relaxed environment where friends can literally hang out with each from anywhere around the world. The Google+ team envisions people having virtual parties and playing games over Hangouts, instead of the traditional two-person conversation that so many people engage in.

Over the past few years we have all seen Twitter and Facebook battle with never ending privacy issues. However, Google+ claims that they have privacy settings are second to none. ”We want to appeal to the mainstream user who has a low tolerance for complexity,” Google+ designer Andy Hertzfeld says, “and at the same time we have to respect privacy as strongly as possible. So every feature has privacy implications that we thought out.”

Finally, Google+’s Instant Upload feature allows users to share content with their friends faster than ever before. True to its name, Instant Upload automatically uploads content such as photos literally instantly.

Moving Forward

With the introduction of the Google+ iPhone app last week, Google continues it’s pursuit of Social Media supremacy. The app, which is very clean and intuitive, soared to the top of Apple’s most downloaded list within 24 hours of it’s launch.

But what does all this mean for your business? While Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn are used by millions of businesses worldwide, Google+ had asked that businesses refrain from creating profiles – for the time being. Google+ has begun disabling accounts created by businesses while they work on developing a platform that will allow businesses to use Google+ to interact with customers on the Social Network. Google+ product manager Christian Oestlien provided users with this update on business profiles last week.

So for now, businesses must play the waiting game. While this main seem like a pain, here at WebFuel we think it will be worth the wait. Expect for the business profiles to be designed not only aesthetically pleasing, but also with fully integrated analytics and highly sophisticated sharing options. And knowing Google, it will be fully integrated with Search. It promises to be worth the wait.

In the meantime, get yourself a personal profile on Google+. Play around with it – familiarize yourself with the interface, its functionality and features such as Circles, Hangouts and Instant Upload. The more comfortable you become with Google+ now, the easier it will to incorporate your business profile later this fall.

Are you on Google+? What are your initial thoughts? Does it really have what it takes to overtake Facebook and Twitter?

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Google+: Initial Reaction and Moving Forward is a post from: SEO Ottawa | Search Engine Optimization and Internet Marketing Agency | WebFuel

Here at WebFuel we are extremely proud to be 100% Canadian. But when it comes to the online space, what does being Canadian mean? We believe that the best way to brand yourself as Canadian online is by using the “Dot Ca”. What do we mean by that? Well let us tell you…no…let us SHOW you!

Enjoy!

Do you use a .ca?

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WebFuel Celebrates Canada Day: Why a Dot Ca? is a post from: SEO Ottawa | Search Engine Optimization and Internet Marketing Agency | WebFuel