Orange County SEO™ Blog

Google Changes Algorithm to Include More Domains

The chatter about Google’s recent algorithm update might have been apocryphal, but the company finally confirmed that it has indeed made changes meant to allow for more domain results in its SERPs.  The changes were initially confirmed when spam fighter Matt Cutts tweeted:

“Just fyi, we rolled out a small algo change this week that improves the diversity of search results in terms of different domains returned.”

From this seemingly simple explanation, a host of question have arisen as to exactly what the algorithm change means for Google users and SEO managers in particular. Read More »

Blogging Your Way To Fortune – Successful Tips For Business Owners

Blogging has never been easy, but with the surge in popularity of blogs, it has become a competitive game.  According to Pingdom, at the end of 2011 there were 70 million WordPress blogs, 39 million Tumblr blogs, and 555 million total websites.

Even assuming that half of these blogs are microsites or network-specific, that means that eight percent of the United States population is now blogging.  This number is only going to increase. Read More »

Google Becoming Competitive in Social Media

The social media playground is being run by the big kids now.

With SM playing an ever-larger role in consumer sight, companies are scurrying to install innovation to draw new users.  Recent numbers tell the story:  Tumblr, Instagram, and Pinterest, all one-time “small fry,” now draw 55 million, 50 million, and 12 million users, respectively.  Pinterest now beats Twitter, Bing, Google non-organic traffic, and Bing in sheer volume. If SMM marketers aren’t members of these communities already, these numbers are sure to attract the top social media marketing companies who are out of touch.

This means that some of the seasoned veterans are losing ground.  Facebook once averaged 9.25 external referrals a day, but since the advent of Google+, this number is down to 4.52—a 51 percent drop in volume.  Critics of the new Facebook page format argue that this is not just because of Google’s release but customer dissatisfaction with the unwanted “timeline” Facebook foisted on members. Read More »

Getting More Comments on Your Posts

We all know we need high-quality content and a “call to action” to inspire readers.  What if you still do not get the number of responses to your blog or articles that you would like?  User comments are a great way to add content to your pages and may help you with your freshness score.  Obviously, getting more comments is important.

SEOmoz shares some ideas that may help you get more comments on your pages, raise your ranking, and refresh your posts.

Orange County SEO can also help you with website design and development on all levels by giving you the tools you need to maximize the potential of your web presence. Read More »

Google Algorithm Updates for Penguin

Just talking about Penguin updates gives some people a frightened look these days, ever since the one-two shot with Panda and Penguin updates in 2011 and 2012.  Nobody knows for sure exactly which algorithms Google changed, but the effects are clear for anyone who cares to look.  Like Pluto, we establish the existence of Penguin’s new algorithms not because we have seen them but because of the effect on the “orbits” of certain types of sites.  Study the sites that were slapped by Penguin and you have the basis for the new algorithm, right?

To a certain extent, this is true.  We know that Penguin targets websites that have overused anchor text or overused sitewide links.  On the other hand, there are things about Penguin that remain undiscovered.  How does it value content?  Does it have the capability to recognize semantic relationships?  These questions are still being bandied about.  In the meantime, there are things you can do to Penguin-proof your website. Read More »