September 23, 2013 was not a good day for those of us who toil in building digital presence. While there had been a steady rise in “not provided” [keywords] for some time, that was the day that Google virtually eliminated keyword capture from the GA dashboard. Fortunately, there is still a way to dig out …more
I spoke at the annual CIPRA conference last month in Beijing. Think of CIPRA (Chinese International Public Relations Association) as China’s version of PRSA with a government relations dimension. Special thanks to Mr. Zhao Dali, CIPRA’s vice chairman and secretary general, who extended the invitation to me to share my perspective. The title of my …more
This not-so-little recent tweak to Google’s treatment of link schemes certainly caught the attention of the PR industry: “Creating links that weren’t editorially placed or vouched for by the site’s owner on a page, otherwise known as unnatural links, can be considered a violation of our guidelines.” Google goes on to call out “links with …more
Everyone wants stronger #SEO and more qualified traffic coming to their digital properties. Everyone agrees that backlinks play a huge role in achieving this objective. But generating those backlinks can open the door to the murky world of link bazaars. That’s why I shared a case study on natural link building earlier this week, bringing …more
For those who don’t live, eat and inhale #SEO, the terminology can be perplexing. Like the emphasis on natural or organic link building. It’s easy enough to understand that you shouldn’t buy a bunch of links from a guy named Borislav with a site in Bulgaria. The price point, 100 links for $9.99, also tips …more
Anyone who writes a book called “Outsmarting Google” has my attention. Combine this technical expertise with a gift for storytelling and we move to a Q&A. Meet Evan Bailyn, founder of First Page Sage. I thought this passage on Evan from a Forbes feature was particularly revealing: All I do is I’m able to get …more
I espoused the virtues of the humble news release as a link-building tool to Mashable some time ago and continue to believe in this tactic. We apply this thinking in cultivating our own brand. For example, we distributed a news release on our new U.S. general manager last week that generated syndicated pickup in a …more
We believe today’s public relations programs must reflect a basic understanding of search engine optimization. The connections between content, online presence and organic search traffic are too strong to ignore. We were reminded of this dynamic during a check-in on one of our SEO experiments from over two years ago. When the Toyota recall and …more
Bloggers can face what appears to be conflicting objectives. They want to tell fresh stories. At the same time, they can feel like a slave to the SEO master in the quest to bring in more readers through search engines. My three cents – Keep it simple. No one expects you to be an SEO guru. Who wants to …more
