Internet Marketing
Google Search Engine Algorithm Update “Penguin” Will Target Webspam
April 26, 2012 | 
Author 
The most common search spam tactics are keyword-stuffing web content, having intentional duplicate content throughout a site, and using black-hat linking schemes. The fight against such tactics is not new as Google has fought these spamming methods for years. The update is more of a roll-out of new and improved ways of detecting such practices for those who continue to try and find ways around the best practices.
To clarify even further, the “over-optimization” update which set the SEO companies abuzz is in fact this “webspam algorithm update.” A quote by Matt Cutts, head of Google’s Webspam team, where he described the update as targeting “over-optimization” was admittedly a poor description of the now live spam update. The update encourages the white-hat efforts of SEO firms like Advice Interactive Group and our clients need not pay heed to any other negative buzz about over-optimization and how it might affect their sites.
As always, we at Advice Interactive are committed to the best practices Google and the other search engines require and we keep up-to-date with current quality guidelines. If you have any questions, feel free to contact our Dallas SEO firm at 877-692-7250.
Posted in Internet Marketing, Jeffrey Powell, SEO | 
Tags: algorithm update, google update, over optimization penalty, panda, penguin update, webspam | 
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Google Places SERP Showing Different Results – New Changes?
Late on April 16th and continuing on today, Google Places is showing a new display format on the SERP (search engine result page) for Places searches solely across all niches of businesses.
Here is a screenshot of how the Places SERP looked just yesterday.
You will notice at the bottom, you can see more than 1 page to the SERP.
Today, that same search returns this SERP.
If you scroll down to the bottom you will see NO other organic rankings that lead to page 2 and 3 and so on. It looks as though they have just vanished into thin air.
We do not currently know if it’s a bug or a new design. Personally, I think it’s just an error but time will tell.
If you are not staying on top of what’s happening with Google Places and your business listings, let Dallas SEO firm, Advice Interactive Group, manage your Places page and your local visibility.
Important Google Places Announcement for Clients and Resellers
Attention: All Clients and Resellers!
On March 22nd Google updated their guidelines for Google Places:
In short, the guidelines now state, “If you do not receive customers at your physical location, you must select the “Do not show my business address on my Maps listing” option within your Google Places dashboard. If you do not hide your address, your Google Places listing may be removed from Google Maps.”
It is essential that your business adhere to these guidelines, as Google reserves the right to suspend access to Google Places and or all Google Products for businesses that violate these terms. Hiding your address in Google Places only hides it from the public. Google will still show your Places page in the appropriate search results and hiding the address will not affect your placement. The recent Venice update (January 26) reduced the impact on rankings for businesses that hide their address. Venice improves the triggering of local universal results by relying more on the ranking of your main organic search results. The organic results “signal” Google Places to bring about the most realistic and appropriate rankings.
PLEASE TAKE NOTE: Google has a team of telephone operators calling businesses and asking for their address and whether they take customers at their address. THIS IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT! Be sure that your employees and/or call center personnel understand that they may receive a call and the caller will ONLY ask for their address.
Our Recommendation:
- Be honest when Google calls
- If you rent a shared office, be sure they know that. If you have multiple businesses at your address, be sure you are both talking about the same business.
- If you have multiple addresses for your business, be sure you tell them and find out which location they are calling about. With multiple locations, you have no idea which Google Places page they are trying to verify. The wrong address might cause them to de-list a page at a different address. This is especially difficult when you have tracking numbers that all lead to one, central call center. You MUST confirm which number the caller dialed, so you can give them the proper address. Otherwise, you may lose a listing for your satellite office.
Finally, it is extremely important that you follow these guidelines to the letter. You have worked very hard to reach the search ranking you currently enjoy, and it would be a travesty to lose your position due to a miscommunication.
If you are paying for us to manage your Google Places, you do not need to change anything in your account. Our team will make the appropriate changes for you. If you are managing yours or your clients Google Places yourself or your business has another SEO firm managing this for you, please take the appropriate action.
As always we are standing by to help.
Bernadette Coleman
Managing Director & CEO
Advice Interactive Group
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What The Hunger Games Can Teach Us About SEO: Part 2
In my previous post, What The Hunger Games Can Teach Us About SEO: Part 1, I discussed the age-old dilemma of book-to-screen adaptations. The movie adaptation usually leaves “details and story elements” out from the book leaving you with a less than stellar experience much like black hat SEO companies can only offer you a quick-fix Page Rank instead of the long-tail success that an above-the-fold company like Advice Interactive Group can offer.
In Part 2, I want to examine the choices of the young adult heroine in The Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen, and how they can be object lessons for choosing a high caliber Internet marketing and SEO company.
Object Lesson 1: Find A Bow and Arrows
Does your SEO firm know what they’re good at and does it play to those strengths? Katniss Everdeen is a dead shot with a bow and arrow. Upon entering the fight-to-the-death arena with nothing and acting against the advice of her mentor, she runs to the center of the starting circle after a bow and arrow and almost loses her life in the opening seconds of the battle. Katniss knows the bow is her only chance of survival.
In my previous post, I stated that search engine optimization cannot be sold in a box. On the surface, standing on a single strength sounds contradictory and much like selling one thing in a box. However, my point about SEO-in-a-Box is that good SEO is not a one size fits all formula. Search engine ranking isn’t a checklist of services (wrapped up and sold in a box) resulting in magical Page 1 rankings.
A company should know what it is good at and much like Katniss and her bow, do everything it can to use its strengths as an advantage. It may be the difference between success and failure. Advice Interactive Group’s “bow and arrows” are web design and original optimized content. These two things set our Dallas SEO Firm above the competition where “Content is King.”
Object Lesson 2: Form Smart Alliances
Does your SEO service form quantity alliances or quality alliances? Katniss forms an alliance with the smallest player in the game because the skills and information this player possesses is of great advantage to her. Together they use their complementary strengths to distract the larger (in numbers, size, and experience) group of players to pull off a devastating blow (literally) to their supply stash.
Over the last year, Advice Interactive has formed quality alliances with exceptional local directory submission professionals, Google Places optimization experts, and developed the Local Search Tool which gives existing businesses a local visibility snapshot of their online presence. These tools and experts are Advice Interactive properties formed with the customer and quality service in mind. Advice forms strategic alliances to better improve our product so that yours improves in turn.
Object Lesson 3: Don’t Let the Capitol Change You
Does your SEO company stand steady in their work and best practices? Miss Everdeen and her male counterpart from District 12 discuss not letting the ominous few (those in the Capitol) who ultimately decide the course of their lives change who they are no matter what is imposed upon them.
Despite what best practices Google promises will rank, there is a tipping point where SEO is ultimately in the search engine’s hands. To extrapolate further, even if you Page 1 Rank, the decision to click on a link ultimately falls to the end-user. Google can act as the Capitol at times and often makes decisions affecting the course of our searches and SEO efforts. The algorithm is constantly changing giving more weight to fresh blog content one month and quality on-page links the next. How does an SEO firm keep up without changing who they are or what they do well?
There is a difference between changing your company strategy and adapting to the changing environment. Advice Interactive Group offers on-going SEO services to help keep your business’s online presence cutting edge. On-going SEO allows Advice to stay true to the core values of quality original content and individualized design and strategy while allowing us to adapt to the changes in search engine policies. Internet marketing is a multi-pronged approach and a simple website from your ISP or a free service can promise ranking results; but the truth is without on-going SEO, your site will fall into search result oblivion fast.
A Compelling Story
Advice Interactive Group is the original story or book that doesn’t leave out the nuances or details and doesn’t cut important plot points or sell characters short. Advice Interactive is a full-service Internet marketing firm that takes pride in its core competencies, smart alliances and partnerships, and offers on-going services to stay on top of the ever changing landscape of search engine optimization with steady balance. Contact Advice for web design, internet marketing, on-going SEO, local directory submissions, reputation management, and more at 214-310-1356.
Happy Search Engine Optimization! And may the search results be ever in your favor!
What The Hunger Games Can Teach Us About SEO: Part 1
If you’re a reader like me, I’m sure you’ve experienced the book-to-movie adaptation dilemma. I read The Hunger Games after my wife devoured the whole trilogy. I knew there was a movie in the works and I waited until closer to the release date before I read the young adult phenomenon. After all, this is no Twilight. The Hunger Games is a story about a dystopian society who yearly turns teenagers into murderers by forcing them into a closed arena in a winner (read survivor) takes all situation. Having read the book, I was among the many who saw the movie this past opening weekend. So what does The Hunger Games have to do with search engine optimization companies?
As I left the theater thinking about all the differences, good and bad, between the film adaptation and the book, I was faced with the book-to-movie dilemma. Conclusions in these situations always seem to be that the book was better as I hear statements such as, “The book had so many more details and story elements that the movie left out,” or “They took so many shortcuts that the book didn’t take.” Oddly enough on the drive home, my brain wanted to draw a loose comparison from this dilemma to what I know Advice Interactive Group does well compared to other SEO companies. Advice Interactive is the book. The quick-fix SEO companies are the book-to-movie adaptation.
Since Advice is an Internet marketing company, I often come across these quick-rank SEO sites when doing quality keyword research for our clients. The most recent instance I found was last week when researching the hail damage in an area of Texas for a roofing company. This is why my mind was so quick to think about different types of SEO companies and the image below shows the quick-rank site. As you can tell, this is pretty much directory listing spam.
Do these sites rank? Yes. If it didn’t rank, I wouldn’t have come across it. However, it won’t rank for long as quality content will always outlast black hat SEO. There are no shortcuts to SEO that produce long-tail results. While sites like the above spam-laden directory listing seem to make liars out of above-grade SEO companies, there is truth to what the large search engines tell us about this content being pushed down in favor of quality content when you examine results over the long haul. The SEO approach in the image above is the movie adaptation that leaves “details and story elements” out from the book you so dearly love. The movie can be entertaining, but it will never have the long-lasting appeal of the story as you read it the first time.
Advice Interactive doesn’t take shortcuts when it comes to SEO and does not believe Page Rank can be sold in a box. Advice also does not believe search engine optimization is finished upon launch of a new website. Our Dallas SEO Firm works with our clients on an individual basis to determine what each company needs and what can be done for Page Rank improvement. Our success is dependent on our detailed, individualized, and multi-level approach to on-going SEO. Trust Advice Interactive Group for your business’s web design, internet marketing, local search engine optimization, reputation management, and local directory listing services. Call us at 214-310-1356 for more information.
**In Part 2 of What The Hunger Games Can Teach Us About SEO, I will take a closer look at the heroine, Katniss Everdeen, and how her choices in the arena compare to choosing an above-the-fold local SEO company. Keep watching.
Irving TX Personal Injury Attorney Launches New Website with Dallas SEO Firm
The Dashner Law Firm, local Irving TX personal injury attorneys, has teamed with ever-growing Dallas SEO firm Advice Interactive Group to announce the launch of their new website, built in order to expand their online presence and effectively present their services offered. A recent press release from the lawyer states:
The Dashner Law Firm specializes in personal injury accident cases involving automobiles, motorcycles, trucks, pedestrians, construction environments, mesothelioma exposure and work-related injuries. The Irving TX personal injury attorney also provides legal assistance for claims involving premise liability, product liability, social security disability, and immigration and or visa citizenship.
The personal injury law firm provides free consultations and filling out a case evaluation form online makes setting up your initial appointment easy. Personal injury cases are not to be handled by victims or their families. The Dashner Law Firm promises no payments until a settlement is reached.
Portland OR Electrician Launches New Website with Dallas SEO Firm
The Portland OR electricians with Mister Sparky have unveiled a newly designed website, which was built by teaming with Dallas SEO firm Advice Interactive Group. The new website features detailed descriptions of the electrical repair and installation services offered by the company, and aims to increase the online presence in order to better serve their numerous customers. A recent press release from the company states:
For the past 43 years, the Beaverton OR electrical repair experts at Mister Sparky have delivered prompt professional electrical service. The licensed electricians provide electrical work for lighting, attic fans, sub panels, generators, landscape lighting, and security and safety lighting among others. Mister Sparky provides electrical maintenance plans recommended by the National Fire Protection Agency and U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The Power Club is the electrical maintenance agreement providing customers with regular system checks to keep all of your home or businesses electrical systems performing at optimum levels.
The Beaverton OR electricians employ only experienced technicians who use state-of-the-art equipment and have the most current certifications and education.
New Website Launched from Fort Worth TX Air Conditioning Expert
The Fort Worth TX air conditioning experts at Brown Service Company have announced the launch of a new website, which was built in partnership with well-known Dallas SEO firm Advice Interactive Group. The site was built to expand the company’s online presence and detail the company’s services to potential customers. A recent press release from the company states:
Brown Service Company is a family-owned operation and has been offering professional and courteous service to Texas residents since 1952. Additionally, the company provides a number of other HVAC services, including heating system repair, duct cleaning, thermostat installation and more. Customers in need of electrical service can also count on the professionals at Brown Service Company to repair and maintain complex electrical systems in a home or business.
In addition to air conditioning services, Brown Service Company offers heating, duct cleaning and electrical service. Brown Service Company carries a wide variety of standard replacement parts for virtually all makes and models of HVAC systems. Texas residents who are unable to complete installations or replacements of parts themselves can also rely on Brown Service Company’s licensed and experienced technicians to complete these tasks quickly and affordably.
Built by teaming with the Dallas Internet marketing firm, the new website for Brown Service Company features detailed walk-throughs of the services offered by the company, including air conditioning, heating, duct cleaning, and various electrical services, among others. The website also features easily accessible links to the company across social media, as well as a blog and online contact forms. For additional information, visit the Brown Service Company website today. For the best in Search Engine Optimization, Internet marketing, Pay per Click Marketing, and web design, find your solution with Advice Interactive Group by calling 214-310-1356, or find out how your business is performing across the web with our Local Search Tool.
Posted in Internet Marketing, Local Search Tools, Press Release, Search Engine Optimization, Website Publishing | Tags: dallas internet marketing, dallas seo firm, dallas web design, internet marketing, local search tool, pay per click, public relations, search engine marketing, search engine optimization | No Comments »
Grocery Store Advertising Company Launches New Website
StarKart, the national grocery store advertiser, has partnered with Dallas SEO firm Advice Interactive Group to launch a new website, in order to increase their online presence and display their targeted advertisements. One of the company’s recent press releases states:
StarKart boasts exposure to over 15,000 shoppers per week, per store, and the company’s clients are able to target a demographic by zip code, city, state, average income and more. One of the keys to StarKart’s success, even during tough economic times, is that it realizes that consumers will continue to visit grocery stores, regardless of the economy. As a result, it’s able to offer its clients the ability to have a targeted message in front of thousands of potential new clients, each and every day. StarKart’s new website, managed by Advice Interactive Group, gives potential clients the ability to see more of what the company has to offer, as well as see more about its flexible ad campaigns.
Posted in Internet Marketing, Press Release, Search Engine Optimization, Website Publishing | Tags: dallas internet marketing, dallas seo, dallas seo firm, dallas web design, Google Places, google places ranking, internet marketing, local search tool, pay per click, public relations, search engine optimization | No Comments »
McKinney TX Lawn Care Company Launches New Website with Dallas SEO Firm
McKinney TX lawn care company Knight Lawn & Landscape has teamed with Dallas SEO firm Advice Interactive Group to debut a newly revamped website, in order to better their online presence and display their work. A recent press release from the company states:
Knight Lawn & Landscape Management is McKinney’s premier lawn and landscape service. The McKinney landscape management company offers turf and landscape maintenance, irrigation repair, and hardscape installation services. Knight Lawn & Landscape Management has served the local McKinney community for just over 15 years. The professional lawn care service in McKinney is a family business priding itself on providing a quality product, attention to detail, and lasting customer relations.
Knight Lawn & Landscape Management in McKinney specializes in weed control, fertilization, mowing, landscape installation and maintenance, irrigation installation and repair, as well as exterior hardscape installation and design. Knight Lawn & Landscape Management offers residential and commercial customers full-service lawn care and landscaping packages.
Posted in Internet Marketing, Press Release, Search Engine Optimization, Website Publishing | Tags: dallas, dallas internet marketing, dallas web design, Google Places, google places ranking, internet marketing, local search tool, pay per click, public relations, search engine marketing, search engine optimization | No Comments »