May 7, 2014

Matt Answers: Will Backlinks Lose Their Importance in a Ranking Metric?

In the latest video published on Google’s Webmaster Help channel, Matt Cutts answers a question that come from Mr. Leah from New York.

"Google changed the search engine market in the '90s by evaluating a website's backlinks instead of just the content ... Updates like Panda and Penguin show a shift in importance towards content. Will backlinks lose their importance?"

The answer was? Ideally, overtime, yes. Matt states that links still have many years left in them, Google has made no secret that quality content and resource creation will be the way of the future. There is no doubting that back-links will still hold value as a metric of measurements for quality resources, but as Google shifts focus towards advancing it’s ability in understanding conversational language in search we may see their impact take a back chair as a ranking factor.

Matt Cutts has stated: "As we get better at understanding who wrote something and what the real meaning of that content is, inevitably over time, there will be little less emphasis on links. I would expect that for the next few years we will continue to use links to assess the basic reputation of pages and of sites."

He added that for the "Next Few Years" links are not going anyway and will still be used for determining reputation. But overtime, Google will rely a little bit less on links for reputation purposes.

So while back-links may be secure for now, it may be sensible to start getting a good resource and content strategy that will encourage organic linking and set your business as a resource, before the sort drops.

Here is the Original Video:

Hope that will help… Cheers...

April 14, 2014

Google Treats 404 & 410 Status Codes Differently: Matt Cutts

Here in a recently posted webmaster video, The Spam King Google’s Matt Cutts explains about the HTTP status code 404 (Not Found) and 410 (Gone).

Actually, the subject came up when another time Blind Five Years Old from California asked Matt, "Does Google do anything different when encountering a 404 versus a 410?"

Matt response as his word, "404 versus 410 refers to HTTP status code so whenever browser or Google bot asks for page the web server sends back a status code 200 might mean it everything went totally fine 404 means the page was not found and 410 typically means gone as in the page is not found and we do not expect it to come back." In a short answer Matt said, Google treats 404 and 410 differently and should not worry about it.

With a 404 along with 401 & 403 status codes, Google will protect that page for 24 hours in the crawling system. With a 410 status code, Google will mark the page Gone rather than protecting it for 24 hours.

Cutts added, although that is the case, GoogleBot will go returning and check both 404 and 410 responses later to ensure the page is really not there. Google is aware of bugs and server issues that happen and thus will come returning later, several times, other the course of years, to examine to see if the page is ever brought back.

Useful Tip:

The difference is only essential if you want to optimize a website that has a lot changing content. With 410 discarded contents will be removed quickly from the index, ie exactly 24 hours earlier. This really is hardly important, unless a website is operating on the edge of their crawl and index budgets.

Here is Original Video:

Hope that will help, send your suggestion through the comment box.

April 3, 2014

Matt Cutts Talks about Coming Algorithm Changes for Authorities

In a recently released webmaster help video, The Spam King Google's Matt Cutts talks on how does Google separate popularity from authority. He also gives the hint for upcoming changes to its algorithm by saying "looking forward to those rolling out" but not giving any specific dates or anything.

Actually, the subject came up when Blind Five Years Old from California asked Matt, "As Google continues to add social signals to the algorithm, how do you separate simple popularity from true authority?"

Matt answered that question quickly by saying that the first half is an "assumption" about social signals in ranking algorithm. The rest of time, he only talks about authority vs. popularity by saying, "We have actually thought about this quite a bit because from the earliest days it would get us really kind of frustrated when we would see reporters talk about PageRank, and say, 'PageRank is a measure of popularity of websites,' because that's not true."

He explaining it more generally by giving the example that porn sites are often way more popular than government or organization sites but government sites are often more authoritative than porn sites because a lot of people go to porn sites, but not a lot of people link to them, and the other side people link to government websites, but not as many go to them. They want the government sites to have authority, but porn sites not so much. So the two concepts are different.

How does Google decide which site is more appropriate or authoritative for a query, so by query or class of query. Matt said that Google is working on new algorithms. He said Google showing sites that actually have some evidence that is should rank for something related to queries. And that is something where we can enhance the quality of the algorithm even more.

Cyrus Shepard shares five assumptions from this Matt Cutt’s Video. Here they are mentioned below:

1. Google continuously tries to minimize the role of social signals in the algorithm. Now! Google is going with social signals is the idea of establishing identity.

2. Raw social signals are messy. Identity is a much more useful signal for determining authority than raw social signals, which can be gamed. Identity on the web is difficult to determine, but Google+ helps a lot. Matt does not clearly say this, but this and past statements support this assumption very well.

3. In the past, Google rewarded highly authoritative websites through traditional signals analogous to trust authority and domain authority, which were extremely reliant on raw PageRank and anchor text signals. This promoted sites with high domain authority scores even for long tail terms that they weren’t actually an expert on. He gives the example: New York Times ranking for a page on Justin Bieber, the reason is that they have the authority of the New York Times.

4. Going ahead, Google plans to integrate better authority and relevance signals (based on identity, semantic analysis and other aspects). The result of which is the impact of traditional Domain Authority signals will diminish.

5. How do we adapt and take benefits of Google’s new relevance signals? (Yet to be proven or released)

  • Become an authority.
  • Set up real as authors.
  • Publish regularly best-of-class authoritative content on particular topics.
  • Keep use good site architecture and best semantic methods to make the meaning of your content clear to Google.
  • Actively promote your content through influencers and influential channels (this not include in link building, it is focused distribution).

Hope that will helps. And Don't forget to comment your opinion...

March 2, 2014

How to Set Up the Perfect LinkedIn Profile?

An ideal LinkedIn profile is the essential to advertising yourself on LinkedIn – One of the most popular social media website. A profile which shows all your expertise and skills can help you stand out from the viewers and reach your potential audience. So here is a brief overview to maximize social business with some most important tips on how to set up the perfect LinkedIn profile.

1. Use Real Names Only:

LinkedIn means only business where individuals are looking for solutions not gimmicks!

2. Use Keywords:

Make sure your profile appears in search results by searching on search phrases, looking at the top results and nothing the location and frequency of keywords. Now, apply this to your own profile.

3. Use Your Real Photo:

Use a professional looking real image of yours as your profile picture. Adding a real profile picture makes your profile more likely to be views by others.

4. Optimize Your Location:

Indicate your location in the profile. So people find you with your specific locations. Be found and help LinkedIn find contacts close to you.

5. Place Professional Headline:

Write a professional headline to encourage your potential visitor to find out more about yourself. The headline should be approx 110 characters.

6. Customize Your Profile URL:

Use a customized URL like linkedin.com/in/******* rather than linkedin.com/pub/*****

7. Specify Your Industry

To be founded by the right people, specify your industry.

8. Be Active!

Update your status regularly. Share innovative information within your industry.

9. Get Connected!

Make enough number of connects by inviting people. It helps to spread your thoughts as many as possible.

10. Endorsements

Don’t ignore endorsements, but manage them. It might also impact how you appear in LinkedIn search results.

11. Recommendations:

Recommendations help to establish your credibility. Ask your colleagues or person who knows you to for recommendations.

12. Make Yourself Contactable:

Add contact details like email address or phone number into your profile, so people can contact you. You can also likes to other social media profile like facebook, twitter etc.

13. Join Relevant LinkedIn Groups:

Joint relevant groups and get start the valuable discussions. There are more than 200 conversations occurring each minute across LinkedIn Groups.

Want to add something else, pass the message in comment.

February 24, 2014

Google Reserves The Right to Use EXIF data in Image Search Ranking: Matt Cutts

Google image search

In a newly released webmaster help video, The Spam King, Matt Cutts answers a question about image search.

The question was asked, "Does Google use EXIF data from pictures as a ranking factor?"

Matt says Google reserves the right to use EXIF (Exchangeable Image File Format) data in order to help people find information about an image. In a previous version of image search, Google used to show this information in a sidebar when it was available.

He reconfirming that it is not currently a ranking factor but could be in the future. Google reserves the right to use this information in ranking as well. Matt adds you shouldn’t worry about adding EXIF data if it’s not there already.

Here is The Original Video:

February 10, 2014

Publishing the Same Content into Multiple Sites Still Active?

same content into multiple sites

While I was researching about the page layout algorithm, I have found out that Matt Cutts, “The Spam King” has posted the same content into insidesearch.blogspot.com that already been published into googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com with also the same title: “Page Layout Algorithm Improvement”

He also mentioned The Source:

“(Cross-posted on the Webmaster Central Blog)“

So I’m little confused, should publishing same content into multiple site is still active? Should it ethical or Matt is Doing Spam?

Webmasters please answer in comment.

January 30, 2014

Using Article Directories for Link Building is a Bad Idea: Matt Cutts

article directories

In a recently published webmaster help video, "The Spam King" Matt Cutts advices webmasters not to try build links through article directories.

The Question Was:

Links from relevant content in article directories – Seen as good or bad? Eg. I link my beauty website from a cosmetic surgery article on say, Ezine? Would you do that?

Matt answers short: "My personal recommendation would be probably not to upload an article." He also clears on twitter by saying "NO".

Here is the Original Video: