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Penguin 2.0 Initial Findings – A Deeper Update, But Not Broader [Analysis]

Penguin 2.0 launched on Wednesday, May 22nd, and it’s an update that most SEOs have been eagerly awaiting.  Leading up to the rollout, all signs pointed to a nasty algorithm update that was going to be bigger and badder than the Penguin 1.0.  There was a lot of speculation about how aggressive it would be, … Read more

SEO Findings From Google’s Phantom Update on May 8th, 2013 | Was It Penguin 2.0 in the Wild?

In early May there was a lot of chatter in the webmaster forums about a major Google update.  Google wouldn’t confirm that it occurred (big shock), but the level of chatter was significant.  Not long after that, Matt Cutts announced that Penguin 2.0 would be rolling out within the next few weeks, and that it … Read more

Robots.txt and Invisible Characters – How One Hidden Character Could Cause SEO Problems

If you’ve read some of my blog posts in the past, then you know I perform a lot of SEO technical audits.  As one of the checks during SEO audits, I always analyze a client’s robots.txt file to ensure it’s not blocking important directories or files.  If you’re not familiar with robots.txt, it’s a text … Read more

Facebook Graph Search Update: Facebook Now Passing Keywords to Destination Websites, Can Track in Google Analytics

Facebook Graph Search launched in January, and I was fortunate to have early access.  Upon gaining access, I began heavily testing Facebook’s new social search capabilities.  That research led to my first post covering my initial thoughts about Graph Search, including its impact on local search, privacy, reputation management, etc.  You should check out that … Read more

How To Properly Demote Sitelinks in Google Search Console (GSC)

{Important Update on 10/13/16: Demote sitelinks has been removed from GSC.} Google just announced that they have REMOVED the demote sitelinks setting from Google Search Console (GSC). The announcement on Google+, which is now shut down, explained that Google has gotten much better at surfacing the correct sitelinks, so they believe the functionality isn’t necessary anymore in … Read more

Enhanced Campaigns and Local Search | How To Use Bid Adjustments with Radius Targeting to Customize Bids Per Location [Tutorial]

On February 6th, Google AdWords released a major update to its platform called Enhanced Campaigns.  Advertisers can upgrade to enhanced campaigns now (as an option), but all campaigns will be upgraded by mid-2013.  Enhanced campaigns provide a radically different way to target by device, adjust bids for various targeting options, set up versatile ad extensions, … Read more

Facebook Graph Search – My Initial Thoughts on Speed, Privacy, Reputation Management, Not Provided, and more

Last week, Facebook unveiled Facebook Graph Search, which is an important step forward for the social network.  Many in digital marketing, including myself, wondered why Facebook had never added a serious search feature to its platform.  It made no sense…  Until now, Facebook’s search functionality has been horrible.  I often joked that you couldn’t find yourself via Facebook … Read more

Faulty Redirects, Duplicate Content, and SEO – How a Redirect Glitch Created Hundreds of Thousands of Duplicate Pages

With the release of index status in Google Webmaster Tools, many webmasters are now questioning why their “not selected” numbers are high.  They wonder if those numbers are good, bad, normal, etc?  Unfortunately, there’s not an easy answer to that question, since it depends on the site at hand.  But, you can definitely look at … Read more

Introducing SEO Bootcamp Princeton, A Hands-On SEO Training Course in Princeton NJ

I absolutely love getting in front of a group of people to speak about SEO (and always have).  Over the past several years, I’ve led SEO training classes for clients covering a wide range of topics, from technical SEO to keyword research to content optimization to linkbuilding strategy.  Although I’ve really enjoyed leading classes like … Read more

How Google Analytics *Really* Handles Referring Traffic Sources [Experiment] – Why Clicks and Visits Might Not Match Up

Let me walk you through a common scenario in web marketing.  You have a website, and some people visit your site by clicking through links on other websites.  In your web analytics reporting, those visits are categorized as referring visits.  In Google Analytics specifically, those visits show up in your “Referrals” report under “Traffic Sources”.  … Read more

Hunting False Negatives – How To Avoid False Negatives When Checking Redirects After a Website Redesign or Migration [Screaming Frog Tutorial]

Every webmaster has to deal with a website redesign or migration at some point.  And redesigns and migrations often mean that your URL structure will be impacted.  From an SEO perspective, when URL’s need to change, it’s critically important that you have a solid 301 redirection plan in place.  If you don’t, you can pay … Read more