Think about it, they typically have a huge workforce (via volunteers), a social media presence that could choke a horse, and enough freebies to make the chip and dip sample lady at the grocery store envious.

All this is possible because, ironically enough, they generally don’t have enough money to throw towards solutions. However, this also makes them resourceful and dangerous to businesses in the same industries.

That said, with great leveraging, elbow grease, and out-of-the-box thinking link building for non profits can be unimaginably effective.

The Techniques

Because of the unique business model, non profits find themselves with an excess of helpful people at their fingertips, but not necessarily knowing (or realizing) that they can/should leverage those people. For example…

.Edu and .Gov

Yummy, yummy, yummy. Colleges and government sites gobble up NPO and their noteworthy news like it’s Thanksgiving dinner. Sometimes all it takes is a little outreach and name recognition to get a cause noticed and linked to from such a trusted source. While edu’s and gov’s aren’t necessarily more valuable than regular links, the domain authority is worth the effort by far. Natural links+Long Term Effort=Win

 Deals and Offers

It’s not the norm, but when a NPO has products that they offer, they can marry a typical press release with specials on said products to make for a one-shot-one-kill marketing bullet.

Since the NPO will likely have a fair amount of general notoriety, coupled with clout in it’s own contacts and followers, a PR can be spread quickly and effectively throughout targeted users. As long as these types of blitz’s aren’t poorly planned, the non profit has much to gain from such fast traction.

Tapping Social Goldmines

It’s rare for a non profit to lack a significant social presence. In fact, because of many NPO’s strong Facebook and Twitter presence, they are able to tap these resources in times of need.

Since these non profits are followed closely by very targeted users, leveraging social mediums can be an extremely useful tool in providing more traffic, and ultimately more links to the site as a whole.

Almost Endless Potential

Just these three techniques should be enough to get your creative juices flowing and help you start thinking on how a non profit builds links. Whether press releases, linkbait, or social avenues are your proposed road to link popularity freedom, all of us can learn from the ever so nimble non profits.

It’s no secret that over the last couple years Google has put a heavy emphasis on user based metrics when calculating rankings. From old twitter real time results, to indexing Facebook data, and personalized SERPs, Google has long wanted to make the transition from heavy content and link based metrics to morphing (at least a little bit) to a user-specific metric index.

It’s clear that in the last year Google has kicked social into high gear, and there’s no sign of the Mountain View giant slowing down their social driven indexation initiative. And why should they, from the early days of accounting for link algorithmic data, to having a larger than life index, Google has set the tone in all search engine best practices.

Last week Google released the updates that went live in the month of April. Among these was an update that focusus solely on user based metrics.

“More authoritative results. We’ve tweaked a signal we use to surface more authoritative content.”

Like the Venice update, it’s my belief that this one will pass under the radar as well…at least for the time being.

In the next year to year and half, Google will likely be taking into account author markup in the algorithms. This update could be the first building block in implementing these changes. It’s no secret that author markup increases traffic and background trust-ability, but until now there’s never been a significant change to the algorithms that suggests that power has been given to the individual and the domain.

When you combine author markup with “behavioral metrics” such as bounce rate and indexation speed via social signals, you are left with significant factors that all but tell you what to do for future SERP domination.

Whether we agree with the current algo updates or not, Google still has 60% market share, so we probably have to play the hand that the big G deals us.

Update 5-10-12: David Angotti, business/SEM heavy hitter, mentioned on SEJ that Google seems to be testing the Knowledge Graph that it mentioned would be coming to a SERP near you earlier this year. If so, this represents a large change to the search world, and the internet as a whole. The knowledge graph uses a significant amount of semantic data to help populate the SERPs as opposed to relying so heavily on keyword data.

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.

I saw a recent post where several sites were asking about their search rankings. The short explanation is that it turns out that our classifier for parked domains was reading from a couple files which mistakenly were empty. As a result, we classified some sites as parked when they weren’t.

I apologize for this; it looks like the issue is fixed now, and we’ll look into how to prevent this from happening again.

Google has made it no secret they target parked domains and promise to drop them in rankings. The mistake by Google is fixed, at least for our clients, and our Page 1 rankings have returned. The “over-optimization penalty” still may be coming this year but we do not anticipate this causing such a stir for us or our clients as Advice Interactive Group prides itself on adhering to best practices and working alongside Google to provide the best results possible.

Stop Spam

This is the change that Matt Cutts from Google warned us all about.  This new change will penalize sites that “over optimize”, use unnatural link building tactics and those who buy links. Now, normally when Google updates their algorithm, we hold our breath and watch the SERPs for our clients hoping that we don’t lose any ground as a result of the updates. I’m not saying we are nervous at all about our national & local SEO tactics for our clients. I’m just saying that Google’s intentions are not always clear.

Today was a bit more hair-raising than most Google updates. Today, during the updates, our own site dropped from our #1/#2 spot for our favorite keyword terms to Page 12 and bounced around the SERPS all day. I’m saying we went from the top of page 1 to the middle of page 12 and everywhere in between before the day was done…that’s terrible for an Internet marketing company! Just yesterday, we told a potential client not to even consider a SEO company that doesn’t show up at the top of the search results for their local area and keywords, and here we were a day later completely off the map. Not only were we hurt, but the update affected a few of our clients’ ratings, as well.

As you might imagine, we were not about to stand for this! We have always prided ourselves on our own refusal to even consider SEO tactics that are not in the spirit of Google Best Practices. We knew that this momentary drop in the rankings would be very short term and, after working all day to find a way back to our normal position of prominence, we, and our clients who were affected by the change, were back at the top of page 1 and stronger than ever.

The moral of this story is that Advice Interactive Group, while just as vulnerable to Google’s whims as everyone else, is dedicated to getting searchers the best results they can get. Whether they need a local plumber, an attorney, gutters for their home or the best SEO Company to represent their business online, we know we’re doing it right for our clients and for Google.

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.

Google Hangout Gives Advice

Insider Track Direct From Google Hangout

On April 4^th 2012, leaders of Advice Interactive Group joined the main Google Places Team, at a Google Hangout streamed LIVE from Google headquarters. Joining us from Google were Joel Headley and Vanessa Scheider via real time live video discussion.

The discussion allowed us to ask Google direct questions about Google, Google Places, and the Google Places search strategy that was very informative. Being able to join these types of sessions keeps us at Advice ahead of the game and you ahead of the competition.

Even though there were dozens of lessons to be learned, some “Insider Information” we took away from this Hangout is as follows:

• We believe that Google’s contractors or phone call check up staff is using Google’s own Google Earth product to view the type of area where you have your business address. If the address looks like it’s in a residential location, the recommendation is to hide the address. No questions.
• We believe that Google+ Profile Pages and Google+ for Business Pages are becoming a very authoritative social signal to Google, especially if you have you have multiple business locations.

Here is an example of our Advice Interactive Google+ Page.

What do you need to do?

• Look up your Google Places listing. This is  exactly what the Google representative sees when they look at your address. Go to Google Maps and enter your address, then zoom in to the place marker. Here is a quick tutorial on Google Maps (tell people to mute sound if possible) . As you can see, this random example shows you how a business location can look to any user that uses Google Maps or Google Earth to find a particular business.

Search engines are all about connecting their user to the most relevant search results. As the Google Places algorithm evolves, it seems as though search engines are shifting to rely more on “social signals” rather than “backlinking signals.” Recently Google de-indexed 100,000,000 million private blog networks that were known for poor content and were part of a paid linking “scheme.” The point is social aspects help build quality Places rankings.

We recently posted a blog on how Google+ Page posts are showing ranking on Page 1. If you do not already have an optimized Google+ for Business Page, you need one now. Here is a link to create your own Google+ Business Page or we can do it for you.

We know that Google is trying to tie in all their products into 1 hub and we firmly believe that in order to truly capture the “new” type of local rankings, each business needs to have a Google+ Profile Page and a Google+ Business Page. The profile page is for the owner and +Business Page is for the business brand.

Also, Google suggested the types of images you upload to your Google Places page be actual pictures of your business location, inside and out.  Even though it does not seem to have any ranking reward, it was mentioned on the Google Hangout by Google representatives. If your Places page ever passes through the filter and draws a flag, when a Google rep does the actual “spot check” and sees your actual business photos, you are more than likely going to pass the test and will not risk having your listing removed. It was also suggested you have actual business photos posted to one of their photo tagging sites, like Panoramio, as this reinforces the importance of “social signals.”

We at Advice Interactive believe in going the extra mile – especially when the internal product is part of the bigger picture. Everyone knows Google has the lion share of searches and if they give us “signals” on how to prove your relevancy and legitimacy in a user search, we should comply. 

On March 22^nd 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

1. 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.
2. 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
Local Site Submit
Local Search Tool

Internet Sources:

SEOMoz

Google Support

Google Groups

Inside Search

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!