Highly Authorative Backlinks Are More Important Than Ever for SEO

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Authoritative backlinks are a high priority when it comes to any SEO strategy. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you look at it, the same link building techniques that used to work well back in the day don’t work as well as they used to and may even penalize you. Google is constantly changing their algorithm, and getting highly ranked in the search engines means you need to adjust your strategy accordingly.

So, what are these changes and how do you earn authority backlinks with Google and other search engines today? I learned a number of them while working at ClickMinded, an online SEO training course. Here are some tips to help you understand what has changed and what you can do to earn high quality links.

One of the common ways used to build backlinks was submitting your website to every directory you could find. Now that Google is much more stringent in evaluating the quality of links and not just the quantity, doing this not only fails to be as effective as it once was, it can actually hurt you by making it appear that you are collecting artificial links to raise your page ranking. However, directories aren’t completely off limits. Getting your website listed in a quality directory, such as the Better Business Bureau directory or a high quality geo or niche-specific portal might still be an effective way to earn a link, but they’re generally not that valuable.

Another popular method for building backlinks was article marketing. With the development of a wide variety of article marketing websites, using these sites to build backlinks to other websites also exploded in popularity. While not obsolete, article marketing is not as effective as it once was because Google and other search engines have begun to realize those sites were being used and abused by web developers seeking as many links as possible without concern for their quality. A better way to earn high quality backlinks through article writing is to write guest posts for other very reputable websites who are known for being selective and for producing high quality content (look at what you’re reading right now! tongue). Being invited to write for one of those sites not only provides you with a quality link, it improves your reputation as a quality content producer.

Finally, the newest and best way to generate high quality backlinks is through social networking, something that was still in its infancy just a few years ago. Building a solid presence on popular social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Google+ not only allows you to communicate effectively with your vertical, it also allows you to build relationships with other businesses in your field and provides good quality backlinks to your website. It also opens the door for testimonial links from clients and other businesses that have positive experiences with you.

While Google changes on a regular basis, the main focus behind ranking in the search engines is and always will be quality. If you focus on building a solid, good quality website, develop good relationships through social networking sites, and provide quality content everywhere you go, authority backlinks will happen naturally. Always focus on quality!

Author: Lorena Rudha is an Internet Marketing Analyst at ClickMinded, an online SEO training course for startups.

Google update impacts sites with poor page layouts

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In the past couple of weeks there have been a number of significant algorithm updates announced by Google, including a complete Penguin data refresh and a change to Panda, along with the exact match domain alterations implemented slightly earlier.

Now yet another change has been announced by Google’s Matt Cutts, this time relating to the perceived quality of the way that the on site content is laid out on a given page. Mr Cutts tweeted about the update, stating that about 0.7% of English language search queries would be tangibly impacted as a result.

The Page Layout update is not something that Google has been keeping quiet about; in fact it announced its intentions to improve its ability to rank pages based on this variable, right back in January of 2012.

Mr Cutts wrote a blog post at the beginning of the year, in which he explained that Google regularly received complaints from users, who were sick of visiting pages on which the content that is relevant to their search is hidden beneath a flood of advertising or other elements, requiring a lot of scrolling.

Mr Cutts also said that sites which sacrifice large portions of the page space to advertising rather than content, would come under scrutiny as part of the Page Layout update.

While Google appreciates that above the fold advertising can be effective and helps sites to generate revenue through clicks, it wants to penalise sites which take this beyond acceptable limits.

It is unclear precisely what Google deems as acceptable above the fold advertising, under the rules of the new update, although this will no doubt become clearer, as webmasters report back on site performance following its implementation.

While it may seem like Google is really hammering site owners with its updates at the moment, some observers have suggested that it is, in fact, getting a large number of algorithmic changes out of the way now, so that the dust can settle in time for the christmas shopping period.

Many people will be looking to optimise their sites as thoroughly as possible, ahead of the festive rush, so that they can improve their organic page rank and generate more revenue as a result.

This does mean that strategizing for SEO in the wake of the updates is going to require plenty of hard work and planning, but hopefully, it will pay off for those who put in the hours and adapt their sites to avoid the wrath of Google’s algorithms.
The changes required by the Page Layout update may seem obvious and, like the EMD update, it is only going to impact a very small percentage of queries. However, it should prove to be a wakeup call for sites that may have been going overboard on above the fold advertising, which can be detrimental to the user experience if it is not used in moderation. Webmasters will doubtlessly be following Mr Cutts’ Twitter account with interest to see if any other major updates surface this month.

Author Bio: Blogger who talks about all things SEO for Integrity SEO

Edu Backlinks are still effective even after latest updates

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Edu backlinks are one of the type of backlinks that will help to improve the ranking of your site in quick time. After panda and now penguin updates, Google keep on pressing to accept only quality and trustworthy backlinks.

There are many type of backlinks, but one which is tougher to find are the edu backlinks, because most of the universities won’t allow external link in their site. Each link from those universities are considered a healthy and authority to google and other search engines too.

Finding edu backlinks is a tougher task than anything, because you need to find a university page, where you can place a backlink with your anchor text and which have to be stay alive for long time.

There are many ways you can create backlinks on edu sites:

Forums: You can find the edu forum using the search string: “edu forum”. After creating accounts you can place link in the signature section or in the profile section.

for ex: http://forums.saa.edu/register.php

http://knsz.prz.edu.pl/forum/member.php?action=profile

You can find edu backlinks from many other countries as well. Those backlinks are also handy by giving a link variety and diversity.

Blog comments:  You can find many edu sites by searching ” edu blogs post a comment” “site:.edu register to post a comment” like that,  you can scrape the link using scrapebox as well to find the best auto approved comments.

Wiki pages: There are many search strings available especially Site:.edu “mediaWiki” and other related query strings to find the wiki pages and add the content with your url.

Some samples are:

http://einspem.upm.edu.my/hpcss/index.php/User_talk:yourusername

http://raskar.scripts.mit.edu/future3dimage/index.php?title=User_talk:yourusername

You can also create backlinks from edu blogs as well. For that you need to have a extensive searching to find the edu sites, which hosted the blogs, that have an option to create account and post your own content in it.

Check backlinks forum for link building services such as edu backlinks and other backlinks creation services .

Does your Business Need its own blog?

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blog for traffic

A business blog is an essential and flexible online marketing platform nowadays. With one click, you can have tons of business opportunities while saving thousands of dollars in promoting your company. Because of this, many business leaders in different industries engage in business blogging to have an edge over their competitors. In this article, we will discuss why a blog is a necessity in doing online marketing for your business.

Here are 5 Reasons why your business needs a blog:

1. Funnel of Traffic

According to recent online surveys, 14 million blogs exist in the web and there are 90,000 more being added every day. Out of over 50 million online surfers, 30 percent of them are blog readers and followers. So if you have a blog, just imagine how much you can take advantage of this traffic! Information spreads too fast through the Internet and advertising your products online will be able to source a great funnel of traffic if done effectively. Your blog serves as a bait to drive readers and possible customers to your business. If your blog has great content as a way of marketing your offerings, you will go a long way.

2. Opportunity to Engage

The Internet makes it possible for you to reach customers who are across the globe. Moreover, it’s only for a low cost or in some cases free. As the administrator and moderator of your business blog, you will have the golden opportunity to engage and interact with your readers following your niche by guest posting, blog commenting, etc. Aside from popular social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and the like, you can utilize your own business website to exhibit more professionalism and specify your services to your target market. It can be a sole and directed channel for product reviews, testimonies and research. As well, it can serve as a feedback medium for addressing your customers’ concerns in real time.

3. Chance to Claim Authority

online-web-authorityAs your business blog tells and reveals more about your expertise, you’ll eventually become the authority in that area. Claim to be an expert and people would come to you. Remember, there are many results from search engines from various keywords. Your website is as good as a physical business card. So make sure that you provide all the good things about your company and answer all frequently asked questions. Build an impression of prominence and significance.

4. 24/7 Service and Presence

Customers feel valued when their voices are heard and when you respond or do something about their problems, comments or suggestions. When you have a business blog, you open a line of communication for them to send their queries anytime and anywhere. Especially for people who have busy lifestyles, as they won’t be able to visit and search for your store physically, they can go to your business site at their convenience in their own time. The key here though is to ensure that your website follows good search engine optimization and keeping good content management with regular updates to keep readers stay tuned.

5. Lead Generation

With a business blog, you will be able to get a record, listing and contact information of both existing and potential customers. This data adds on to your business value as you can use this information as sales assets that can help boost sales in the future. With the initial set of contacts, you can start getting referrals and extending your network to a lot more online communities to market your offerings. Overall, your blog can give further growth as it increases in scope.

Conclusion

People are becoming more social online and they are talking about everything under the sun all over the web. Because of this, having an online presence through a business blog would have a huge impact on you as a business. To succeed, you must embrace the blogosphere, proactively publish interesting posts and keep your blog optimized. Online marketing possibilities are in just about every corner of the web. The door can be opened to hit sale scales up, when you have a business blog.

Author bio:

Celina Conner is a Yoga Instructor, an alumna of Business Management at Martin College Australia and a mother of a beautiful daughter, Krizia. She has a passion in cooking and formulating vegan recipes.Follow her adventures on her Twitter.

5 Imperative Facebook Marketing Resources You May Not Be Using

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The advent of the World Wide Web has given us all the ease of obtaining information and doing other things. Likewise, social media also help us a lot not only in communication but also in connecting with other people. Nowadays, the internet has been helping any business in advertising and marketing process through social media marketing. However, before trying this technique make sure to know some reliable advice on how to get started as well as the useful tools that you can use.

How does social media marketing works?

Social media marketing is an effective technique in promoting products and services. There are some social media sites that you can use as well as strategies that can help your business to make an edge among your competitors. Likewise, optimizing your site can give you the opportunity to drive traffic to your site. This is a great help especially for those starting businesses with small capital. Facebook is one of the social media sites that are ideal for promoting and marketing your business virtually throughout the world.

Facebook Marketing Resources

  1. Facebook Studio – This is a good site where you can implement social marketing. Aside from providing a wide range of marketing efforts, they also offer awards to exceptional campaigns. In this sense, make sure to create a unique campaign that can attract attention.
  2. Success Stories – This site highlights innovative campaigns and provides the results of every campaign. Likewise, they also add stunning images that can boost your marketing plans.
  3. Brand Resource and Permission Center – If you intend to use this site for social media marketing you will be required to follow its provisions regarding the content. Otherwise, if you are found violating the rules your Facebook page will be suspended.
  4. Facebook Demo Tool – If you want to obtain Sponsored or Premium ad placements you can utilize the demo tool so that you can preview the appearance of your advertisements. This tool uses a template that will display the content of your post.
  5. Facebook Marketing Page – This social media marketing site offers tips and resources that can help businesses in becoming marketing-savvy. Likewise, the page also posts updates and events about Facebook marketing. In order to obtain wider audience you should watch out for the webinar.

Useful effect of Facebook marketing

Online marketing is not only an effective way of promoting your business but it can help in becoming successful. The good thing about social media marketing is that you can obtain wider audience and drive more traffic to your site through Facebook and other social media sites. In the same manner, by using social media marketing you can deal and interact with your clients and customers anywhere in the world. In this way, you can build trust and a stronger bond among your customers. On the other hand, you should also be careful in using social media in advertising and promoting your business in order to avoid some mistakes and pitfalls that can lead to failure. Through social media marketing you can establish online visibility.

Author’s Bio          

Kady Babs is a Certified Professional and freelance writer. At present attached with Test4Prep. This is Best Source for Cisco 350-040. You can try free demos of all certifications with 100% Risk Free and Guaranteed success. Babs has creative writing skills and helping people to get certified on first try.

 

social signals and importance to improve ranking

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Social signals are becoming major factor in ranking of search engines, After panda and penguin updates, many things have changed. Backlinks from low quality sites are become invaluable and many sites got affected because of not having link diversity.The new trend to increase the ranking depends on social signals.

What are social signals and how to get them

Social signals are nothing but google+1, facebook likes and shares, Pinterest pin board and twitter with some bookmarking sites like stumbleupon.

New search results are showing in google with a +1 button at the end of each result. When a user +1 the result, which is relevant to his search, that site gets some authority. When that result get hundreds of +1 then it will be taken by google as more relevant link, so it will be promoted to top of the result.

Even matt cuts confirmed in this video, check this out

 

Same goes to facebook like and facebook shares. The more likes a link will get, it will be considered authority page and it will be promoted.

Pinterest also becoming more and more popular, so pin your image of your site there. It will get you traffic and authority.

Same goes to twitter, more your pages have been tweeted and retweeted, more internal linking will be automatically happened and your page will become popular, it will get more traffic as well.

After the latest updates, these metrics are giving more and more importance by search engines, not only google, also yahoo and bing.

So, get more and more social signals and improve your ranking by making your site as a authority site.

 

Should Brands Listen To What Customers Say Online?

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The increasing popularity of social media marketing over the internet has exposed a lot of brands to a mixed wave of after-effects.

The most noticeable of these is that ad-campaigns are now no more simply made and launched into the world. There is a lot of reconnaissance that goes into all activities and updates that are released, for the simple reason that the audience is now interactive. To every update on a brand’s social page, whether it is on a Facebook page, in the form of a tweet on Twitter or a new board on Pinterest, everybody who sees it has a positive or negative reaction to it and in some cases, these views are shared. But how relevant is what your followers are saying about your brand on a social network?

Should you encourage these fans to talk?

One of the main changes that social media has got to the world of branding is that feedback, whether welcome or unwelcome, is always being given. More specifically, previously, a lot of resources used to be spent on evaluating the effects a certain advertisement or campaign had had on the target audience. When this is done on the web, the companies do not even need to try anymore, let alone spend resources. This is considered a great advantage as brands get to know what people think about them. While this could be great news for some if the marketing campaign becomes a huge success and has people impressed, it could also lead to a lot of bubbles being burst for companies taking their followers for granted. Either way, you should encourage your subscribers and followers to talk to you on your social pages. Whether it is genuine feedback or just some ranting, all of it can be put to good use.

Should you pay attention to the feedback?

On a brand’s social page, there will always be a percentage of the subscribers or fans who would not contribute directly in a genuine way, in terms of feedback. The fact that they are unknown to you and not face-to-face often brings out the best and worst, almost reckless attitude of the people. But nestled among all the less important talk, you will often find some genuine feedback and suggestions that you would not have thought of, due to the inability of looking at it from a customer’s point of view. More than that, this will come in the form of a self-motivated, an unsupported and an unbiased view. This makes it priceless, and more often than not, represents what a larger portion of your followers feel. Some of these changes, if incorporated, make valuable additions to any marketing strategy. Identifying which ones are worth actually incorporating is the part that takes up most of the attention.

Engagement is Necessary

Interacting with your followership is as important as having them respond to your updates. While having a very large number of fans will make it extremely difficult to get back to every individual, in case you notice an important and substantial point being made, it is extremely important to respond. Not only is this reassuring and pleasing for the user you are responding to, numerous people could be going through the particular conversation and could be impressed by your committed engagement.

Smith writes on topics related to social media. He has years of experience in writing about such topics. His team helps you increase the number of Facebook Fans by spreading the fan page to their wide audience.

Does your hosting influence the SEO of your site?

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Once you start thinking about Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) you start to realize that it all starts with where you host your site. There are some really cheap, but very seedy hosts out there. Yes, you’ll save a bit of money on hosting costs, but chances are that you will find your SEO dropping if you compared your sites to pricier hosts. The reasons for it are numerous.

 Reliability: The most obvious one is the reliability of your site. Unreliable sites will perform worse in Google. So if your host is down when for instance Google checks up on it you will, through no fault of your own, see a drop in traffic. So consider that when looking for a place to host your website and try to pick one with little to no downtime.

Speed: If you have a slow host, people are less likely to spend time on your site. Surfers have got to the point where they know what to expect in terms of load times for websites. If they find themselves on a site that takes an age to load they’ll get off it as quick as they got on.

Location: The location of your host will influence speed as well. As much as we like to think that the internet is completely global and location doesn’t matter, the fact of the matter is, if your main target audience is in the United Kingdom and your host is in Uruguay, the load speed for your site is going to be significantly slower than it would be if you actually hosted in the UK Getting the data from Uruguay to the UK does take longer than sending data from a UK based host to a UK computer. Another reason for hosting in the country you are aimed at is that you will receive a higher page ranking in that country if you are actually being hosted there. So yes, hosting on a .tk domain from Tokelau is generally cheaper than getting a host in the UK, but you will also instantly see les traffic in the UK because of it.

Bad Neighbourhoods

Generally speaking, the seedier the host, the more dubious the content on it. Now, I can imagine you thinking, ‘so what? I never link to the other sites on my host and have nothing to do with them.’ Unfortunately, if you happen to have the same IP address as a lot of spam and malware sites, search engines will give you a lower page ranking as well. In fact, you might find your site blacklisted because of it. Search-engines do blacklist IPs known for hosting spamlinks. If you just happen to have the same IP, you’ll find yourself blacklisted as well.

Conclusion: Yes, your host does influence your SEO. Choose carefully, the cheapest option might just not be good enough for your purposes. Try to find a balance between price and quality of the host. Think of what you are trying to accomplish with your site and plan accordingly.

Author Bio Jess Collins likes nothing better than sharing her experiences of online marketing with her fellow marketers and comparing notes on experiences. In this article she considers the often overlooked issue of how your website hosting can impact on your performance in search.

5 Ways Brands Utilize Instagram to Increase Engagement

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If you are a regular internet user, you must have come across or at least heard about the popular photo tool known as Instagram. It is a smartphone app that makes it possible for users to incorporate visual effects to their photographs, before sharing them with their friends and followers on the various social media websites. In recent times, Instagram has proven to be an effective tool for engaging and conducting business. This is because it has an incredible digital PR potential, which helps in giving your business the much needed exposure. The following are five of the most significant ways brands and other businesses in general can utilize the Instagram app to boost their engagements:

Photo Contests

One of the most excellent ways brands can make use of Instagram is by setting up photo contests, and encouraging users to participate in them. Since the app is very simple to use and millions of people across the globe have access to it, there is always a great chance that a good number of people will show interest in participating in your photo contest. To heighten their interest further, promise to offer attractive rewards for the winning contestants. Such competitions greatly assist in giving your brand better coverage, especially if you are able to attract a huge number of participants to the competition and they share their photos on various social media pages.

Brand Marketing

Business enterprises can also make use of Instagram photographs for the purposes of marketing their brands. For instance, apart from seeking the services of a SEO (Search Engine Optimization) organization to make certain that your brand can be seen and ranks as high as possible in search engine results such as Google, a business enterprise could also spice up their marketing campaigns by posting and sharing attractive Instagram photographs of the products they are trying to promote. This vital form of social media strategy enhances engagement because using it guarantees that a larger number of audiences will get to see your brand and the range of products that you specialize in.

Event Promotion

Another practicable method of enhancing engagement via the use of Instagram, is by exploiting people’s influence surrounding forthcoming events. By attaching pre-labeled and branded hashtags to their posts on Instagram, business enterprises can encourage other users to upload their own photographs of the particular event, with the related hashtags attached to them. By doing this, you will be able to generate a number of interesting topics which relate to your brand for your target audiences to share and discuss amongst themselves.

User Photographs

In the beginning of the year 2012, Instagram was reported to have 15 million users. These numbers are growing each and everyday, and the current figure is reported to be 50 million users. This rapid increase in users over such a short period of time, coupled with the fact that most social media enthusiasts love to post and share their photos online, makes Instagram one of the most well known forms of social media that internet users subscribe to. On a similar wavelength, business enterprises can popularize their brands by posting and sharing eye-catching Instagram photographs on social sites such as Facebook and Twitter. This way, they not only get to engage and interact with new people, but they get the opportunity to show them that they value their cooperation as well. For example, in addition to setting up the more conventional photograph contests as outlined above, you could invite people to send you their own cool and favorite photographs on agreement that you only will share the most exciting ones. Publicizing your followers’ photographs goes a long way in selling your brand because in most cases, they will return the favor and share your content with others too.

Behind-the-Scenes-Information

Lastly, some brands are now making use of Instagram to share the behind-the-scenes photographs of their workplaces; to inform prospective clients what they deal in, and to help promote a more personalized representation of their brand.

More and more social media agencies are now actively using Instagram to popularize their brands. This upsurge in prominence makes it a business tool worth trying out – for you to experience first hand the potential benefits it will bring to your business organization.

Steve writes for Buyinstagramfollowers.co.uk, if you are looking for additional followers for marketing purposes, check out their prices here.

Tips on how to use YouTube to drive traffic to your website

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YouTube is a popular video sharing site that provides bloggers, website owners, Internet marketers, online writers and entrepreneurs alike with a unique opportunity to use videos as part of their marketing campaign.

With over 300 million YouTube accounts and an estimated 124 million unique monthly visitors from the United States alone, YouTube is a huge asset for website owners wanting to drive traffic for their websites.

Unfortunately, not everyone is enlightened when it comes to the effective us of YouTube to drive traffic to you website. Below are five simple tips on how to do so.

Tip 1: Shoot your YouTube videos like a pro, try slideshows

The quality of your YouTube videos is a must if you really want to use the said video sharing site to drive traffic to your website. It’s necessary that you have the right equipment when shooting YouTube videos. Proper lighting must also be observed.

On the other hand, if you’re not comfortable appearing in your videos, you might want to try uploading slideshows. Another factor to consider is the length of your YouTube video. Effective YouTube videos usually range from 1-3 minutes only.

Tip 2: Brand your YouTube account just like how you brand your website

Branding is essential in almost all aspects of online and offline marketing – YouTube included. A brand is what people will look for; it’s your YouTube account’s trademark. Effective YouTube brands are consistent with the way the promoted website is branded.

Clarity is also important. You should be clear on what kind of brand you are trying to portray.

Tip 3: Promote your YouTube videos with the help of social media

Uploading YouTube videos is in itself promotion and the best way to get the most out of such promotion is to promote it. With the help of social media sites particularly Facebook and Twitter, you can easily promote your YouTube videos.

Start by creating a Facebook page for your YouTube account and sign up with Twitter. Use Twitter to drive traffic not just to the YouTube video itself but as well as the YouTube account’s Facebook page.

Tip 4: SEO for YouTube – title, tags, description etc.

Contrary to what most website owners know, Search Engine Optimization or SEO is not limited to writing articles. SEO is also vital when it comes to YouTube. You can easily optimize your YouTube videos by including keywords on its title, tags and descriptions.

It’s also imperative that you write a compelling description in order to attract more viewers and eventually convert them to loyal readers of your blog.

Tip 5: The three E’s of effective YouTube videos

When it comes to YouTube videos, there are three elements that should spell the difference between success and failure – the YouTube’s ability to entertain, educate and engage its audience.

The ability to entertain refers to the way the ideas are presented – the more fun it is, the better while the ability to educate refers to the knowledge and information the viewers will get from the said video.Lastly, the ability to engage refers to converting viewers to loyal readers and/or visitors of your website.

Peter Lawlor is a regular contributor for www.websitetemplatereviews.com where he reviews popular WordPress Templates