Are You Ready for the New Generation Penguin 2.0?

Penguin 2.0 is coming! Webmasters who have used spammy link building strategies or used link building software should get beware and clean up their link profiles as soon as possible. A cleaner and natural link profile would help to keep your site in good terms with Google.

Penguin 2.0- Discussions Have Started to Happen!

Here are a few quick updates on what discussions are going around in the web marketing community -

Penguin 2.0 - How Guest Blogging will be affected?
Google Penguin to go War with SENuke Style Link Building
What to Expect from Google's Next Search Update?
Google Penguin Update Gets Ready to Bite Webmaster Noses
Google Webspam Team is Working on Penguin 2.0
Penguin 2.0 will Penalize Spammers and Reward Subject Matter Experts
The Google Perspective on Links
Seomoz Discussion on Penguin 2.0
Seochat Discussion

Lots of discussion!! With Google directly saying that it will be a comprehensive update, let's see what impacts it has on the search results. But, here are a few precautions that you must take before this update happens.

Precautions to Take

Clean Up Your Link Profile - You must check all your backlinks using Google Webmasters Tools and remove the bad links pointing to your website. This work would take time so start today! First prepare a list of links to be removed, then send link removal requests to the webmasters. Wait for days and re-check how many spammy links still point to your site then use the disavow links tool for link removal of the remaining backlinks.

Don't Stop Earning Backlinks!

Just because Penguin 2.0 is coming, do not lose your focus and stop earning backlinks to your website. Keep on building trusted and high authority links as this will help your site gain authority.

Also See:-

Seo After Panda and Penguin Update
Google Penguin Update
Google Penguin 1.1 released on 26th May 2012 
Google releases Penguin Update 3
Anchor Text Variation and Seo
5 Points Every Seo Must Follow
Importance of Backlinks in Seo
Site Wide Links
Are You Making Your Website Vulnerable to Future Google Updates?
Seo Checklist
Seo Strategies For 2013
Why Brand Matters in Seo
Making Your Seo Roots Strong
Battle of Ranking
Seo Secrets
Local Seo and Citations 

Google Webspam Team is Working on Penguin 2.0

Penguin 2.0 or Penguin 4.0 whichever way you call the webspam update Google is preparing for, but it is surely going to shuffle the search results in the same manner as the first Penguin update did. The first Google Penguin Update was launched on Apr 24th, 2012 and affected around 3% of the search queries. Keep in mind, 3% although seems a less percentage but compared to the large volume of queries Google receives per day, this percentage is enough to experience a major shuffle on the search engine ranking positions of the websites.

Now, here is the video by Matt Cutts, head of Google's web spam team where he discusses about the possibility of a new Penguin update version Penguin 2.0 to be launched within a few months.


The main points discussed in this video are shared below-

How Should You Plan Your Website?

Your site should be created keeping in mind your users. Try to make a site that users love and want to share, tell friends, bookmark, visit often and all of the things that make a site compelling. If this is your goal i.e. to serve the users, then Google is also working hard to show genuine sites that serve the user well, higher up on the search results.

What Kind of Things Google is Working On ?

Matt says - "The plans can change", timings can change, when we launch things can change, therefore Google does not talks about the things they are working on much. Then he comes to the point -

"We are relatively close to the next generation of Penguin" . The Penguin is an update dedicated to target black hat web spam. This update is more comprehensive than Penguin 1.0 and he probably feels that it will have a deeper impact on the search results.

Sites Engaged in Buying and Selling PR will get Penalized

Matt also clarifies that sites that are paying for advertorials and violate Google's quality guidelines or sites that are selling links will both get penalized.

A Different System for Link Analysis

A different system for link analysis is being prepared but that has been kept a secret as it is still in its early days.

More Information on Hacked Sites

Google will be providing more information to the webmasters regarding hacked sites. For example, malicious url would be listed in the Webmasters tools where the webmaster can check and identify the links where the malicious code can be found.

Panda will Re- Evaluate Itself

The Panda update will soften on sites where some additional quality signals can be gained instead of penalizing the whole site altogether. This is a good news for the webmasters who have been penalized strongly by the Panda update.

Results from the Same Domain Would Decrease As we Move Deeper in Search Results

Many webmasters have notified the issue of seeing majority of search results from the same domain.Hence, Google will be working on removing too many results from the same domain as we move deeper in search results.

This is what we expect in this summer. So, watch out!

Also See:-

Seo Tips
Creating Google Friendly Sites
Authority and Relevance in Seo
Anchor Text Variation While Building Links
How to Plan Your Link Building Strategy?
Seo Secrets
How to rank in Google
Google Disavow Links Tool

Google's Take on Site Wide Backlinks
Battle of Ranking Continues

Deeper Understanding of Knowledge Graph
Seo Misconception

5 Most Important Link Building Factors in 2013

Webmasters are busy looking for ways to build organic traffic to their website. But, in order to gain traffic from search engines like Google, it is necessary to understand the basic factors Google counts while ranking a webpage. Google divides its core ranking algorithm into two parts- content relevancy and popularity. Content relevancy depends on how well your site is related to the search keyword while popularity depends solely on link building. This post will explore the 5 most important link building factors for ranking higher in Google-

1- Quality of Backlinks - The quality of the website linking back to your site matters the most. If you are receiving a backlink from high quality and trusted websites then your chances of gaining authority is higher.

2- Relevancy of Backlinks - It is important to get thematic and relevant links to your site. If your site is related to music then get links from sites that talks about music, songs, albums, films etc.

3- Naturality - Links gained by your site should come in a natural way and must not look spammy. No similar anchor text backlinks, reciprocal links, purchased links etc.

4- Frequency - The frequency with which links are build to a website also matters. If you are building too many backlinks within a short period of time then your site can come under the scanner.

5- Quantity- The more high quality links you site is having, the higher are your chances for ranking better in the SERPS.

Now, have a look at this amazing infographic which shares the link building basics you must follow in 2013.

Link Building in 2013 Infographic

Also See:- 

How to Plan Your Link Building Strategy?
Link Building 2013
How to Create Backlinks that Google Loves
Seo Secrets
How to rank in Google
Google Disavow Links Tool

Google's Take on Site Wide Backlinks
Battle of Ranking Continues
Seo Tips
How to rank in Google
Ontolo - the Complete Link Building Solution

Google's Take on Site Wide Backlinks

Are You Making Your Website Vulnerable To Future Google Updates
Battle of Ranking Continues
Best Seo Tips

A Deeper Understanding of Google Knowledge Graph

Google Knowledge Graph was launched on May 16th 2012 and is considered as one of the major discoveries that was made to enhance the existing model of Google search engine enabling it to find the relationship between searched entities and provide the user with the best possible results without having them to navigate to a different website in order to find the answers. It has been referred to as the "Future of Search" by Google. It enables us to find information about people, places and things. Google is not the first to research in this regard, similar model has been applied before by computational search engine Wolfram Alpha. But, certainly Google's attempt to categorize people, places and things together is more enhanced and valuable. As such, it becomes important for all of us to have a deeper and better understanding of what the Knowledge Graph holds for us in future?

The future search engine must have the capability to understand the user's intent when searches are made. The Knowledge Graph is an extension towards this possibility. As for example, if any user types the query "Taj Mahal", then he finds information about the monument displayed on the right hand side of the search results along with some other links under "People also searched for" which Google thinks to be relevant and associated with the main object "Taj Mahal". At the bottom of the associated entities, we can find another object under "See results about" which is semantically related to the main search query. However, Knowledge Graph doesn't displays results for all queries. It is still building and soon more and more entities and their relationship would be added in this massive database of semantic world.

How Does it Works?

It works by understanding the users intent with respect to the search query. People are looking for answers or explore more on a particular topic. Knowledge Graph predicts this behavior of the user and presents the most relevant entitities and their relationships in the form of Graph.

If we move deeper then there are two types of queries processed by the search engines, namely navigational queries and research queries. Navigational queries corresponds to direct queries where people want to quickly navigate to a particular page and they already have information about the searched query. An example would be "Facebook". As opposed to navigational queries, research queries are much wider and the users do not know where to navigate as they are still searching for information. Knowledge Graph works for research queries and helps users quickly resolve their questions.





Predicting Knowledge Panels with Search Results

The knowledge panels that goes along with the search results are different. Google provides summaries related to the objects identified by the program. This information is displayed in the Knowledge panel. The process is explained below:-

1- Google predicts the factual entity referred by the search query.
2- The Factual entity is searched in the database alongwith semantically related entities.
3- Content is identified based on algorithms and displayed in the knowledge panel.
4- Content includes two items, first referenced from the first resource and second, referenced from the second resource which is different from the first resource. (Source- Providing Knowledge Panels with Search Results)

What Are It's Sources?

Google makes use of several sources while presenting the data before the user. Some sources are Wikipedia, Freebase, CIA World Factbook (For General Data) and National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, US Food and Drug Administration etc. for data related to medicines and drugs.

How Big is it?

Currently the Knowledge Graph contains over 570 million objects and over 18 billion facts semantically related with those objects which helps to predict the relationship between objects and facts as per the search query.

Google Will Become An Answer Engine With the Power of the Knowledge Graph

Google is making tremendous improvements in its existing model of Knowledge Graph and is moving towards it's main aim of becoming an answer engine. The graph model of search enables the user to get instant answers to their queries and also discover some new questions which they never thought to ask before. It gives them the power to explore the search insights that most people ask Google. (Apple's Siri is far ahead of Google in this race)

The Monetization Part

Like every other business, Google also explores sources of revenue with every new research and model it launches for the benefit of the users. Knowledge Graph is no exception to that. Google's head honcho, Larry Page had said "Knowledge Graph does run on the right hand side where the ads also run". Now you get where all this stuff is going? This was reported by Wordtream's Elisa Gabbert. (See - Knowledge Graph Conspiracy Confirmed). It was basically done to navigate users to the right hand side of the search result page where the ads run. This makes organic results less countable and provides the big G with more options of increased revenue.

Corporate Semantic Web Applications

Ever thought of having a customized knowledge graph for your own company? Yes, that's possible. Customized semantic web applications can be created using platforms like Poolparty. An interesting insight towards this possibility has been made by Andreas Blumauer here:- How to set up a customized Knowledge Graph for a certain company?

SEO Community and Knowledge Graph

What will happen when more and more people will find answers to their queries directly on Google's result page without navigating to another website? What will happen when organic results would loose its current importance due to larger emphasis on Knowledge Graph? These are some of the questions which are being put forward by the Seo community. Google says - only the most accurate content is presented through the Knowledge Graph making it hard to crack into by Black Hat SEO's. (Source:- memeburn).

Search engine optimizers will need to optimize the content and increase the presence of the content on social websites. Content should be connected to one other in order to form relationship between entities. Google Authorship must be used in order to make it more authoritative in the eyes of Google. The quality of the content now matters much more than the quantity of the content.

Here are some points which the search engine optimizers must follow in order to optimize their presence on Google after the launch of Knowledge Graph:-

1- Optimize your landing page.
2- Study metrics like Clickthrough Rate and Bounce Rate. Optimize your web pages so that it has a high clickthrough rate and a low bounce rate.
3- Make use of Google Authorship as it is the best way to find relationships.
4- Use microdata reviews and stars in order to make content more user interactive.
5- Use Schema markup for local Seo.
6- Use Rich Snippets for local search.

Moreover, Knowledge graph still uses a tiny portion of the search queries and organic search results are still the way for users to find the best results. There is much more for search engine optimizers to explore and change.

Latest Updates

As per the latest updates, Google has added Medications to its database (See Google Adds Detailed Information on Medications) and has expanded the graph into movies on Android tablets where it will display information regarding the actors whenever the movie is paused. It will do so by making use of facial recognition technology. (Source- The verge). Recently, Google bought the startup Wavii which uses natural language processing technology to present filtered results across the web on topics which the users care the most. (Source:- Google Buys Strartup Wavii)

Also See:-

Google Introduces the Knowledge Graph
How Does Google Applies Semantic Search?
Latent Semantic Indexing
Facebook Graph Search Optimization
Getting Listed on Search Engines
Universal Analytics
Learn Seo Step by Step

Companies are Looking for Innovative SEO's

Search Engine Optimization is a field that stands on innovation and most of the companies today are demanding 

innovative Seo's who can do something different than what the rest of the players are doing. So, what exactly is 

innovative Seo?

The Innovative Search Engine Optimizer 

(Innovative SEO Image credit- Property118.com)

You need to change yourself if you want to remain in the competition. Change and adapt yourself the way Google is changing. Remain updated about the latest happenings going around Google and plan your strategies accordingly. Time has gone when only 1-2 tasks were associated with the search engine optimizer's role. The new Seo must be skilled in many tasks as he has to play several roles together.

Plan a Customized Seo Strategy for Every Project

Every project is different in itself and each of the project has its own set of competitors so planning the same 

old strategy for each and every website sounds boring and predictable. So be aware and do something different. It is important not to follow the same strategy for every site.

Find New Sources of Backlinks

You must keep on finding new sources of backlinks. Some of the best ways of building links to your site are shared below:- 

How to Plan Your Link Building Strategy?

Secret to Link Building

Link Building 2013

How to Create Backlinks that Google Loves

Think Creative

Every search engine optimizer must think creatively and plan a link bait strategy separately for every website. Read some lessons shared below:- 

How to Make Seo Work For You

Making Your Seo Roots Strong

Be a Social Guru

Spend time on social media sites, study the behaviour of the audience and try to get referral traffic. The time has 

come for us to shift our attention from Google to other sources from where we can get referral traffic to our site. 

Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, Scoop.it all can play a bigger role here. Some useful lessons are shared below:- 

How to Measure Your Social Media Influence

Measure Social Media ROI

How to Start a Social Media Campaign

List of Social Media Sites

Facebook Marketing Strategy

Twitter Marketing Strategy

YouTube Marketing Strategy

Pinterest Marketing Strategy

Be an Analytics Expert

Metrics do matter and just getting traffic without conversions is like creating a mirage. You cannot expect profits 

just by getting visits to a website. Traffic that converts well is what the companies demand and a successful 

search engine optimizer must analyze these metrics properly and optimize them in order to get conversions. Here are some useful lessons on Analytics:- 

Universal Analytics

How to Create a New Dashboard in Google Analytics

Google Makes Improvements in Real Time Reports

Difference Between Clicks and Visits

Multi Channel Funnels in Google Analytics

Google Tag Manager

Internal Site Search Analysis

Understanding Goal Flow in Google Analytics
Google Tag Manager
Multi Channel Funnel in Google Analytics
Regular Expressions on Google Analytics

Prepare Yourself for Facebook Graph Search Optimization

Sooner Graph search optimizers would be in demand so prepare yourself for this changing role. To learn more about Facebook Graph Search Optimization, please visit:- 

Facebook Graph Search Optimization

Facebook Graph Search Vs Google Search

Prepare Yourself for App Store Optimization

Apps are breaking all records in terms of downloads. The SmartPhone generation relies heavily on apps and this becomes the next source of revenue for the companies. Hence, having knowledge of app store optimization becomes necessary. Read the complete guide given below:-

App Store Optimization Guide

Also See:- 

Analyzing your competitor backlinks

Importance of backlinks

Seo Job Interview Questions

Broken Links

Top ways to get natural backlinks

Backlink Watch and Competitor backlinks

Content Analysis Tools

Learn Seo

Seo Tools

Top 5 Social Media Tools

Site Analysis Tools

Content Curation

Image Optimization