This Penguin update has been rolled out across all Google data centres, including Australia, and will affect around 3.1% of English Google queries. Further to this, the update will also have an impact on around 3% of German, Chinese and Arabic search queries and 5% of Polish search queries.

Based on initial analyses and reports, sites affected by the Penguin update tend to show the following patterns:

• They possess high traffic, keyword matching domains;
• They have a high proportion of links with the same anchor text;
• They have a lower number of site pages; and
• They generally have higher keyword density throughout the site.

This update has been targeted at reducing the the prominence of less reputable websites in the search engine results. However, as with all Google updates, some genuine sites have also been affected. Google often makes changes in the following weeks to correct any obvious adverse algorithmic side effects.

So what is the purpose of the Penguin update?

This seemingly harmless penguin has been released into the wild with the sole purpose of penalising any site which it believes is involved in ‘Over Optimisation’.

The general consensus within the SEO industry is that this crafty Penguin is actually hitting some websites harder than its black and white cousin – last year’s Panda update.

The sites that have seen significant drops for a majority of their keywords (drops of between 50 – 100 places for major keywords) are those sites that have been marked as receiving too much obvious over optimisation. However, sites that have only dropped a few positions appear to have only had a few of their search signal factors  over optimised.

Have you been affected by Penguin?

Here are a few quick tips to discover if the Penguin has waddled through your site:

• Check keyword rankings for your high rankings terms and compare now with dates prior to April 24;
• Check your webpage analytics to see if there has been an obvious traffic drop after April 24.  Another way to confirm this would be to compare weekly traffic from April 24, with previous traffic;
• You should also note that, if your rankings and traffic have increased since April 24th, you might have actually benefited from the update!

How to recover?

The Penguin update targets sites, which they believe have been involved in over optimisation.  If you are one of those affected by Penguin, we recommend following these tips:

Vary your anchor text: Penguin hates optimised anchor texts.  For example, if you’re targeting the keyword ‘Hotels Sydney’, and you’re building links using the exact keyword, Penguin may penalise your website. We recommend building links to your site with varied anchor texts.  For example, use anchor texts like ‘Hotel Accommodation Sydney’, ‘Your Brand name’,  ‘Accommodation Sydney’ etc.

Get Social:  Google plus has changed the way Google ranks organic results. Social Media should be an integral part of any SEO strategy.  We recommend promoting your site on Facebook, Twitter and especially Google Plus.

Usability:  Redesign your website to ensure visitors find what they are looking for. Follow Google’s guidelines to ensure, you are not affected by any search algorithm updates.  For more information visit http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=35769

Content:   There is a saying in SEO Land ‘Content is King’. Quality content provides value to users, which make them stay longer and hopefully recommend it to their friends through social media.   This in turn will generate more backlinks to your site, without any link building!

And on a final note, stay away from keyword spamming, high keyword density and remember to write content which provides that extra value to your users.

If you find that your site has been penalised by mistake, Google has provided form to submit reconsideration request.

Let us know in the comments section below how the Penguin has affected you. Was the Penguin warm and cuddly or did you get a flipper slap?

As marketers, we obviously love working with exciting products but we particularly enjoy being given the opportunity (and creative freedom) to transform a traditionally unremarkable product into a remarkable one.

This week, Reload Media are excited to launch National Storage’s “Nate Story” social media campaign – an adventure into the world of product differentiation through social media.

How did we pull it off? Read on…

The Brief

National Storage is more than just a bunch of storage sheds.

Firstly, they offer:

• Climate-controlled storage (for important things like wine and art);
• Moving supplies and support;
• Storage insurance and security;
• Packaging supplies;
• Records management and much more.

However, awareness of these augmented product offerings was not high amongst National Storage’s target markets.

Secondly, storage is not a frequently purchased product (you only move house as often as you can bear). Therefore, developing top of mind brand awareness was a critical factor towards increasing the lifetime value of each National Storage customer.

Finally, National Storage possesses industry-leading customer service; a competency that the company was keen to transition into the social sphere.

The Campaign and Execution

Led by Reload’s Head of ROI, Paul Goldston and chief Creative Consultant Jonathan Peck, the Reload team set about creating a campaign that engaged with National Storage’s target audience and communicated the company’s key messages in a fun and entertaining way.

This resulted in the creation of Nate Story, National Storage’s new Social Media Community Manager. Nate works day to day inside his very own office/storage unit, responding to customer queries, joining relevant social media conversations and uploading engaging, relevant content to National Storage’s social media channels.

A key factor in this campaign was the production of a number of “webisodes” featuring Nate that set out to educate the audience about National Storage’s product offerings in an interactive and engaging way (you can see  ’Webisode 1′ and ‘Behind the Scenes’ of this video series below).

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Furthermore, the Facebook page was re-designed (twice… thanks Timeline!) to showcase the brand’s services and to create a platform for fan engagement through ongoing conversation and interactive promotions… including the popular ‘Store a Memory’ promotion.

The “webisodes” were firstly scripted and storyboarded, with Nate himself then recruited. Filming took place over two days before the episodes were edited and completed.

The social media assets of Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and YouTube were meticulously scoped and wire-framed, with a clear plan for each channel, before being designed and built.

Ongoing Engagement

The success of any social media campaign is all about the long-term. The key is, as Facebook continually spruik, ‘lightweight interactions over a long period of time’. That’s why National Storage now have Nate responding as quickly as possible to all tweets, Facebook messages and comments that occur across National Storage’s social media channels.

Further to this, Nate will be responding according to the jovial character and tone developed for him within the social media strategy (which was also reinforced throughout webisode series).

This was a critical factor in transferring the company’s commitment to customer service into the social media sphere.

Finally, a comprehensive Social Media content strategy and schedule was produced, meaning ongoing tweets, posts and videos could be structured to ensure the social campaign remains engaging over an extended period of time.

This campaign is just in its infancy, with plenty more cool elements still to come…

You can check out what Nate is up to over on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and YouTube.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

By now, you may have discovered some of your friend’s faces (and some less familiar faces as well) appearing right alongside your Google search results. This is not Google Search Plus Your World but rather, Google’s first steps towards integrating Google+ social signals into their search results.

So, What is Google Search Plus Your World Then?

In essence, Google Search Plus Your World is just the addition of a new toggle button to the right hand side of your Google search page. However, with this simple toggle button comes two almost parallel universes in search engine results.

Along with the current personalised search features already appearing in your search engine results, Google Search Plus Your World includes three major search additions:

1.       Personal Results:  enabling you to find information just for you, such as Google+ photos and posts—both your own and those shared specifically with you, that only you will be able to see on your results page.

2.       Google+ Profiles in Search: both in autocomplete and results, which enable you to immediately find people you’re close to or might be interested in following.

3.       People and Pages: which help you find people profiles and Google+ pages related to a specific topic or area of interest, and enable you to follow them with just a few clicks. Because behind most every query is a community.

      (Official Google Blog)

How Does Google Search Plus Your World Work?

In a nutshell, ‘Google Search Plus Your World’ is just a pseudonym for ‘personalised search results’, which are search results based on a user-centric search algorithm, drawn from Google Plus profiles and activity.

This means that, if you visit a particular website often or if you ‘+1′ a page or article, these personal elements will contribute to creating your ‘public stamp of approval’, thus encouraging ranking increases in Google for not only you but people who follow you as well. When you log into any Google account, ‘Search Plus My World’ is enabled by default, tailoring your search results to just you based on what Google knows about you.

As Google+ is an instantaneous, open graph social media platform, your interactions, +1s and follows will have an impact on not only your own search results, but that of your Google+ followers as well. Your influence will be felt, as people are more likely to follow a trail from their dependable and reliable friends.

Why Are Google Doing This?

Ask yourself this – if you saw your friend’s Google Plus profile in your search results, would you be more inclined to click on that website? I know I would be tempted.

Even though Facebook pioneered the ability to harness the power of word of mouth marketing through their open graph social sharing platform, social approval was generally limited to the website with the open graph functionality installed or within the Facebook platform itself.

Google on the other hand have taken the concept of online social approval and are attempting to apply it to the entire internet – starting with your search results!

How Will Google Search Plus Your World Affect SEO?

A critical task for anyone performing SEO in the future will be to not only consider their standard organic results, but also the user’s personalised results.

“But how do you do that?!”  You may ask.

Firstly, if you don’t already have a Google Plus profile, I would strongly encourage you to jump on the bandwagon now. At the very least, you will become a bigger blip on Google’s ever-present radar.

Google are using G+ pages linked to website domains as a signal of ‘proof of life’ for both people and brands. You can bet your bottom dollar that Google will be looking more favourably at domains that have a linked G+ profile than those that don’t in the future.

Further to this, it is also likely that low quality link building will be further penalised and higher quality link building will provide better organic results. This means that links should come from relevant, evergreen websites that are seen as reputable in Google’s eyes.

Some approaches to consider when developing a Google+ strategy:

1.       Increase your following

Your Google+ strategy should be focussed on increasing your G+ following as much as possible. A quick way to kick this off would be a targeted EDM to your current database announcing your presence and the benefits your customers will get from following you on Google+.

 2.       Develop a unique, engaging and strategic content schedule

Content is still king. Start slow and build momentum by creating compelling content to drive a community engagement. The key is to update content as often as possible and encourage sharing of your content frequently via Google Plus. When your Google Plus connections interact with you and share your content, you have the potential to influence their search results for keywords related to your business and position yourself as an industry leader.

3.       Sort your circles out

If you are planning on building a huge following, it would be worth setting up your circles now so that they are scalable. A few ideas for some circles might be:

• All followers
• Industry thought leaders
• Competitors
• Partners

When is Google Search Plus Your World Coming to Australia?

Although already launched in the US back in January, speculation is that Google Search Plus Your World will be in Australia within the next 2-3 months. Is your business ready?

Follow Reload Media on Google plus by clicking the link below!

https://plus.google.com/118148715747815315896

We expect Bing to increase its global market share over coming next few years. Hence, it is very much essential to target your business on Bing, to gain that 15% traffic. As Bing powers Yahoo, who has another 15 % market share, there is a possibility to attract 30% visitors.

One can easily track their site performance through Bing webmasters tool. Some of their main features are:

Traffic Summary

Traffic summary displays 6 month history of traffic and search query performance. It provides great insight into top performing keywords for your site. The data is drilled down into impressions, clicks, CTR’s. Average Search Position & Average Click Position. Bing has also included Yahoo traffic stats, into this.

Page Traffic Report

The Page Traffic report shows the same charts as the Traffic Summary page with the exception of the bottom chart, which shows page level metrics.

Index Explorer

There is a great feature called Index Explorer, where we can block specific pages or directories from the Bing index. You can block the cache of pages or entire directories with ease.

Submit URLS:

This feature allows webmasters to submit url’s previously not indexed. However, there is a limit of 50 URL’s submission per month.

Inbound links:

This section displays inbound links to your website. It details inbound links for specific page along with their anchor text. This is one of the most important tools to check site authority and see how your keywords are linked. They also provide an export functionality to download the data.

Deep Links:

These Deep Links are assigned to websites which are seen by Bing to be “authoritative” on the topic which they target. They are similar to Google site links.

URL Normalization:

It allows you to specify query parameters for Bing to ignore. This is useful when urls encounter parameter issues, which can lead to duplicate content issues.

Crawl Summary:

It shows total number of pages crawled, along with crawl error of the landing page for this category. You can review data for past 6 months.

Sitemap:

This is where you’d submit your sitemap to Bing. This is very useful to inform Bing about your site’s structure and discover pages not indexed.

User Management:

It allows webmasters to grant admin, read/write or read only access to other users for their site.

If you checked your Google account this morning I’m sure you were greeted with a nice little surprise. That’s right, Google have redesigned their social networking platform Google+, allowing users to create a more customised, user-friendly experience on the network.

From the ability to tailor apps and the navigation bar to more flexibility with profile pages and pictures, this update comes as a very welcome injection of sleek design and superb usability – A winning combination in my books.

They say a picture tells a thousand words, so in this vein of thought, I’m going to leave you with this introduction video backed with a very sweet, very Google-ish song.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

p.s. If you’d like to chat with me about how Google+ (or any other social media network) can help your business, please add me into your circles today using this link http://bit.ly/HysbPJ 

The patent reads “A web browser or search engine located at the user’s site may obtain information on the environment (e.g., temperature, humidity, light, sound, air composition) from sensors. Advertisers may specify that the ads are shown to users whose environmental conditions meet certain criteria.”

This opens up a huge range of super specific targeting for advertisers. Imagine being able to target a user who is browsing the internet during a heatwave? Based on the high temperature, Google could target users with weather specific air-conditioning ads:

What’s interesting however is how well this feature could possibly combine with the new mobile targeting options (currently in BETA) that allows advertisers to serve up mobile ads based on whenever a user is nearby a particular point of interest. For example:

However, this new patent isn’t just limited to weather. American users who can search by dialling the dedicated Google search number (GOOG-411) will potentially be targeted based on the background noise picked up during the call. This may also apply to users using voice search within the Google phone apps. Imagine a mother who is at home looking after her crying baby, and she is voice searching. Google will be able to identify a baby crying and display maternity related ads.

Google has said they will respect the privacy of their users by allowing them to turn off the feature.

It may be a while before Google actually implements any of this patented technology, so until then we’re left imagining about some of the targeting possibilities!

Got an idea for a creative application of this patent? Let us know in the comments section below.

What is a landing page, you ask?

A landing page is an entry point to your brand’s website that is typically not the home page. It is usually tied to a special promotion or unique service offering. Landing pages should appear when a consumer clicks on your ad with the primary purpose of creating a relevant, targeted and conversion orientated destination for your target audience.

Using a landing page has a number of benefits. Firstly, it shortens the overall conversion process, which is a critical part of reaching today’s time-poor consumers and businesses.

Furthermore, your landing page creates a ‘first impression’ of your brand. Many customers will judge decide within the first 8 seconds of clicking through from your ad if they are going to bail or stick around!

Finally, a landing page can make your website more relevant to a specific search query, thus boosting your quality score, ad rank and overall position on the search network (while lowering your cost per click).

Now that you understand the importance of landing pages, you are probably asking how you go about creating one that maximises your conversion opportunities and recoups your investment.

Here are 7 landing page tips that are sure to help increase your conversion rate and ROI.

“K.I.S.S”

Everyone at one point or another has heard the expression “K.I.S.S”. If you haven’t, this is a simple acronym for term “Keep It Simple Stupid.”  It implies that most systems work best if they are kept simple rather than made complex. The same principal should be applied when creating your landing page.

Be a minimalist! Don’t include excessive content in the form of information, links, interactive games, non-specific pictures or video that will over crowd your page. The sole focus of your landing page is to get your target audience to commit to your desired action (i.e. purchase or sign-up). Be sure to get straight to the point. Use simple headlines and use bullet points to detail how your offering can benefit the visitor.

Keep them on the page

Don’t give visitors the opportunity to become distracted and leave your landing page. You’ve put the time and effort into carefully crafting your keywords and ad copy to get them there, now you need to keep them there!

Ensure to limit the number of ‘exit points’ from your landing page so your visitors remain focused on completing the overall goal. Do not offer links back to the home page, additional information or other products (at least not yet)! Your goal is to sell your offer, and the only thing these links can do is reduce your conversions. Everything the visitor needs to know about your service or product should be succinctly summarised on your landing page. There should be no need for them to exit into your main site. If you need to include additional links, such as privacy or terms and conditions, use a Lightbox to overlay your text on the current page.

Use multiple and clear calls to action

Be sure to make your desired behaviour very clear to visitors from the outset, as they may not know what to do once they arrive at your page. Your conversion buttons (e.g. buy now, book now, enquire now, sign-up) should be large enough to stand out. You should also add multiple calls to action throughout the page. This is particularly important if you have paragraphs of detailed text. Don’t leave your visitors with the need to scroll up and down the page in order to take action. Instead, constantly remind them no matter where they are on your landing page.

Don’t promise more than you can deliver

When a visitor clicks on your pay-per-click ad, they expect whatever the ad has promised will be delivered on the next page (i.e. the landing page). If you promised free shipping, a promotional code, a sign-up form or downloadable content, then be sure to follow through with this promise in a prominent position. If you fail to meet these expectations, your landing page will not resonate with your visitor, resulting in a high bounce rate and fewer conversions.

Build credibility and trust

Be sure that your landing page builds credibility and trust with your prospective customers. This can be accomplished in a few ways, including the use of a privacy statement, an SSL certificate, contact information, logos of trusted partner or product service guarantees and customer testimonials.

Include a ‘Thank-You Page’

If you are not including a ‘Thank-You Page’ as part of your landing page strategy (or even worse, you don’t have a Thank-You Page at all!), then you are going to miss out on some great opportunities. A Thank-You Page ensures that your new customer is not left with nowhere to go once they have completed their transaction. The last thing you want is to send your customer back to into the world of search engines, where they can navigate directly to a competitor’s site and make another purchase.

Adding more elements to your Thank-You Page, such as a link back to your home page, online store or a recommended product, can extend the site visit and result in further conversions.

More importantly, a Thank-You Page is the easiest way to track conversions and measure your ROI. Just because a user clicks on your pay-per-click ad and views your landing page, it is not a sure sign that they have successfully converted. Setting up your Thank-You Page as a URL destination goal in Google Analytics however, will allow you to accurately track how many of your visitors purchased your product or submitted an enquiry.

Test, experiment and have fun!

As with any best practice in marketing, your landing page needs to be continually tested and improved throughout your campaign. Experiment by trying different headings, layouts, text fields, content length and even styles until you find the execution that proves most effective in converting your visitors.

The big takeaway is that we can now automatically send PDF reports in the new Google Analytics for both standard and custom reports.

If you haven’t checked it out yet, we’ve provided a brief walkthrough on the new feature.

Check it out:

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

In case you missed it last week, the iPad 3, now known simply as ‘the new iPad’, was announced during the Apple keynote conference (and has now been released). There was much speculation and rumour about what upgrades would be included in the latest version.

What hasn’t been included are USB ports and flash support, and let’s be honest, it’s never going to happen. However, there are a bunch of great new features that are sure to make iPad 1 and 2 owners envious.

For each feature I will give a brief overview of what is included and then explain how this will affect advertisers.

Retina Display

The biggest update to the iPad is the inclusion of the Retina display, which provides four times more pixels than the iPad 2. What this means is the resolution is much higher (2048 x 1536) and provides a more crisp and beautiful experience. Some of you might have an iPhone 4 or 4S, these have the retina display too.

Increased resolution means display ads will be crisper and more visually appealing. This once again brings up the issue of flash support with the iPad. If you’re targeting mobile and tablet users, be sure to make your display ads in an image format, rather than in flash. If you have the budget for two sets of ads, creating a display campaign targeting the Apple operating system, iOS, will allow you to only display image ads for Apple products. On this flip side of this, creating campaigns for Android and other operating systems will still allow you to show flash ads on these devices.

Another thing for advertisers is to think about is how their mobile/tablet landing pages will display on higher resolutions.

Updated Hardware

The updated A5X chip with quad-core graphics provides more power to the iPad than ever before. The extra power is needed due to the increased screen resolution, but is this extra power going to drain the battery faster? Well not according to Apple, in their promotional material it states that you can now get 10 hours battery usage. This will still depend greatly on what your primary usage of the iPad is.

The increased processing power will allow advertisers to create more hardware demanding landing pages.

iSight Camera

The updated camera can shoot 5-megapixel still images and record video in 1080p. As with most cameras, a higher megapixel count is good, but it isn’t the defining factor of a quality camera. The lenses of cameras play a big part in the quality of pictures and videos. The iPad lens has had an overhaul and now features five elements and the hybrid infrared filter.

With higher quality of cameras on phones and tablets and the increasing demand for better quality customer service, including video to video, this face-to-face customer support could improve your customer satisfaction levels.

4G LTE Support

What does 4G LTE mean to the average iPad user? Faster download and upload speeds! That is if you live in a country which supports 4G LTE, are on a phone network which supports it AND have the 4G version of the iPad. If you meet all these criteria, then this feature is great for you!

With increased download speeds, the new iPad will allow users to view websites faster. This means mobile/tablet sites can include larger files and videos, allowing advertisers to experiment with larger landing pages.

Dictation

Many had speculated that the new iPad would feature Siri.  Instead, we get dictation. This feature allows you to write an email, send a text or search the web with voice commands. There are a number of apps out there which already allow voice dictation, but this feature now fully integrates with the phone.

The impact of this on advertisers isn’t as obvious as it may first appear. With the addition of voice searching, it will be more important than ever to have a brand name which is easy to pronounce and easily picked up by the voice recognition software. Whilst it may be too late for some businesses, this is definitely something to consider when introducing a new brand or product.

AirPlay

AirPlay allows you to stream what is on your iPad straight to your speakers and TV. This feature lets you view photos you’ve taken, or movies you’ve downloaded from iTunes and view it in the comfort of your living room. The other feature is ‘mirror’, which allows you to display exactly what’s on the iPad screen on your TV, including apps and other such things.  In order to do this you will need to purchase the ‘Apple TV’ hardware for your home entertainment system.

We now have to worry about how ads appear not only on tablets, mobile devices and computer but on TV! Depending on what devices you’re targeting, it might be valuable seeing what your display ads and website look like when ‘mirrored’ on TVs from the iPad.

So that brings us to the end of the new iPad features and how it can affect advertising. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see an iPhone 5 come out this year with more updated features. And as always, the advertisers will then need to reconsider their mobile advertising strategy.

With people liking more pages, connecting with more friends and with an ever-growing Open Graph network, Facebook’s News Feed has become a rather crowded place. In fact, many users have great difficulty navigating through their News Feed and are made to trawl through an irrelevant sea of irrelevancy to get to the information they want.

With the launch of ‘Interest Lists’, however, Facebook is hoping to reduce News Feed clutter by presenting users with the information they are most interested in.

Users on Facebook will have the opportunity to subscribe to broader interest feeds such as ‘cooking’, or more specific lists, such as ‘vegetarian recipes’ . Users can also create lists comprised of celebrities, public figures and brand pages and more – the list is endless

As soon as a list is created, an ‘Interests’ tab will appear in the left hand column of the user’s Facebook landing page. The idea in all of this is that by displaying top stories from each Interest group in that users’ News Feed, the whole site will feel customised and, more importantly, much less cluttered.

If by now you’re thinking this all sounds a little similar to how Google+ and Twitter are running their show, you’re not alone. According to TechCrunch, ”The release continues Facebook’s battle to usurp Twitter’s control of the interest graph. The feature combined with Subscribe could be good enough to jeopardize Twitter’s long term growth.”

As for my thoughts, I’m not too sure. But I can say with some confidence that I don’t think we’ll be seeing the demise of the little blue bird any time soon. Well, not while Justin Bieber is still tweeting his little teenage heart (throb) out. To be honest, I’d say the player to watch for the real social media uprising is Google+. But that’s for another blog post.