Important Google News

I wanted to share some current and important Google news.

Google Updates:

On August 21st and September 4th there were large spikes in chatter amongst the SEO and webmaster community about the Google search results shifting.  Primarily it was complaints about sites taking a hit (getting less organic Google traffic).

Google was asked about these updates and they said they had "nothing to announce."   They didn't confirm or deny.

Various search results monitoring tools (like Mozcast, SERPs.com, SERP Metrics and Algoroo) all showed volatility on August 21st.

While we all know that Google does not always confirm updates, sometimes we have to just take our best guess based on the data out there and in this case, it definitely seems like two updates happened.

The reason this is noteworthy is twofold: One because it's good to know what's going on with the engines because we can often learn from past updates and secondly, it's important to remember that Google is volatile and staying on top of your optimization is the best thing you can do to ensure you stay as consistent as you can in the rankings. 

Not sure if your site is properly optimized?  Not sure how you will fare in future updates?  Request a consultation or proposal - there is no obligation.

Already know you have a problem and want to dig a little deeper?  Request for more info on SEO Audit. 

The best thing you can do is be sure your site is in shape now and prepared for the future.

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Google+ Brings Automatic Authorship to Some Blogs:

A partnership with WordPress and Typepad means that people using both platforms can now sign in to their respective platforms using their Google+ accounts, automatically tying their accounts together without having to go through all the previous steps.

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Disavow Tool:

Google confirms that the disavow backlink tool can be harmful if not used properly. When Google released the disavow links tool about one year ago, Google's Matt Cutts said that you should be careful with the tool:

"It's something where it is possible, in the process of telling Google to ignore links to your site, to make mistakes. So I would approach it with caution. I wouldn't just jump in."

Last week, Eric Kuan, member of Google's web spam team, confirmed that the link disavow tool can hurt the rankings of your website:

"The disavow backlinks tool should be used with caution since it can potentially harm your site's performance."

Some people say that using the tool is an admission of guilt to Google.  I am not buying that.  There are so many reasons you may have links associated with your site that you don't want there.  As long as you do an in-depth analysis and are sure you are carefully removing only the bad links in small batches, you should be fine.

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No-Follow Links:

Many SEOs think that no-follow links carry no SEO value at all.  That is not technically true and here is why:

In order to make a link profile look natural, one thing that you should always focus on is a 'variety' of links from different sources, achieved at a natural pace.  Some of the natural sources of links are directories, forums, wiki links and more.  Many of those are no-follow links, so if you ignore them because you assume they aren't going to help, then your link profile is not natural and it could end up hurting you.  So while these don't provide great value on their own, they should be part of the whole package and not be neglected.

That covers the news for today.  Don't forget to reach out and let us know how we may be able to help you.  It may or may not make sense for us to work together in some capacity but since there is no obligation and you already know you trust the info I provide, it probably makes sense for us to at least explore the possibility!