4 techniques to reduce duplicate site content
Although we still hear a lot of recommendations on how to optimise pages and the importance of links from other sites to improve rankings, we don't hear so many recommendations about reducing the amount of duplicate content. This seems to be a neglected area of SEO advice, so this refresher highlights some of the techniques to avoid duplicate content.
What is duplicate content?
Duplicate content is where different pages on a site are interpreted as similar by Google. As a result, pages can be discarded or down-weighted in Google's index so that they won't rank. In its webmaster tools guidance, Google says:
Duplicate content generally refers to substantive blocks of content within or across domains that either completely match other content or are appreciably similar. Mostly, this is not deceptive in origin. Examples of non-malicious duplicate content could include: discussion forums that can generate both regular and stripped-down…
Bing Updates Webmaster Tools & Brings Back Site Explorer
Value/Importance: [rating=4]
Recommended link: Bing Webmaster Tools
Bing have made a huge number of updates to their webmaster platform in an update they have called Phoenix (original). The changes cover the following areas of their platform:
New : Link Explorer
New: User Experience
New: SEO Reports
New: SEO Analyzer
New: Fetch as Bingbot
New: Canonical Alerts
Updated: URL Removal Tool
Updated: Keyword Research Tool
Updated: URL Normalization
Safe to say the Bing Search team have been busy. The highlights for me, from an SEO perspective are the SEO Analyser & Link Explorer which I look into more below.
The new look interface, displayed below makes using the platform much easier and makes great use of simple data to create the powerful dashboards.
Marketing implications
Great insights at no cost
A lot of SEO…
Our summary of the new advice from Google on SEO for startups and small sites
You've probably heard of the Penguin series of updates that have negatively affected rankings for many companies. It's worth being aware that last week we had the release of Penguin 3.8 which impacts 1% of global searches. You can learn more about this Penguin update here.
SEO basics in 10 minutes
The main purpose of this post is to alert you to this new video guide from Google. It's from Maile Oyhe who has worked with Google for 7 years. The advice covers the basics needed for SEO for sites with less than 50 pages, she says that doesn't include more complex Ecommerce sites.
While most online marketers will already know most of the advice, you may find it useful to share in these situations:
Friends / family just starting their own site / business who are asking you for advice…
4 issues to consider for successful link-building
There are many parallels in digital marketing where the knowledge we acquire and learn can be transferred and applied to other online marketing tools and tactics.
Over the past eights years, I have managed affiliate programs for start-up companies operating in different market sectors and have been fortunate enough to have gained experience with a "hands-on" approach rather than outsourcing the management of the affiliate programs.
More recently, I have been focusing my online skillset in learning the art of SEO campaigns - and my current employers have provided me with a platform to deliver and implement a strategy for the organisation. What I quickly began to find is there are a number of common similarities in affiliate marketing and devising a link-building campaign.
purpose being to provide similarities between running an affiliate marketing program and a link building campaign.
1. What's your USP?
Before you commence an affiliate/link building strategy it's…
New Research Shows Key Ranking Factors for the UK
Value/Importance: [rating=4]
Recommended link: Search Metrics 2012 Ranking Factor Report
The volume of data and number crunching to form this guide is remarkable. It's based on analysis of 10,000 selected top-keywords, 300,000 websites and millions of links, shares and tweets from within the Searchmetrics database.
It has been condensed well for a quick summary on SEO in the UK. The guide looks at the 6 trends / changes the research highlighted which are summarised in the diagram below.
Marketing implications
While the report probably won't show anything that most people will not have heard already it may hopefully spur you into action or debunk some of the SEO myths. I have summarised the 3 I believe are most important below, but you can see the full…
Analysing link effectiveness using web analytics tools
This is part 2 of a post advising on how to identify quality domains for SEO Link-building. In Part 1, I introduced an approach for identifying domains using specific link analysis tools. In part 2, I'll look specifically at using Google Analytics. Since it’s also important to turn your eye inwards and use your web analytics data to identify which domains are providing valuable links.
If you aren’t already, consider start using campaign tracking codes to ensure that you are measuring the impact of each link and not just reliant on domain level information. If you rely on the referral data, you can only see landing page level detail, not individual links.
Use a taxonomy for your campaign tracking (and make sure everyone in the team knows about it) so you get consistent data. For example, consider the following:
utm_medium = seo
utm_source= links
utm_campaign = domain name
utm_content =…
Using SEO analysis tools to identify linking opportunities
In the latest article in this series on how to use analytics techniques for better SEO we look at the importance of targeting relevant domains for your link building.
I'll start by introducing what you should look for in quality link sources and then in Part 1 of this two part article, I'll cover how to select domains to target through link-building tools. In Part 2 I'll drill down to cover how to analyse existing links using web analytics tools.
Not all links are born equal
You'll know this! The impact of a link rests on several factors, not least the reputation of the website it resides on. Search engines place a great deal of importance on quality, relevance and trust. This is a deliberately simplified explanation, but the three signals combined make a heady cocktail of link love. My advice is that if you focus on these…
"The first major update since 2007"
Well, that's what Google say, so it's an indication of how important this could be for digital marketers. It was 2007 when Google launched Universal Search, how time flies. 2012 sees the launch of a new upgrade called Knowledge Graph. In this alert we've summarised what it is and why it matters to marketers.
Value/Importance: [rating=5]
The feature is rolling out now for some users in the US, it's expected that other countries will get it in a matter of weeks. We'll update when it becomes live elsewhere. It could be a while since Google+ integration in Google.com is still a different experience for non US users since several months.
Recommended link: Google’s official introduction to the Knowledge Graph
What is Knowledge Graph?
Knowledge Graph is a set of semantic tools which aim to make your search results more relevant and informative - Google sees this as the first step…
2 examples of a technique to use for retail SEO
Advice to create quality content is a recurring theme from Google. It’s the recommendation every time someone raises a complaint about their latest algorithm. It’s also what Matt Cutts recommends in response to almost any question from the broad brush, like ‘What’s the best way to rank higher” to narrow focus such as ‘how do we avoid duplicate content’.
If you have already created well-written content on your site describing your products and services, and cracked the keyword conundrum, (appropriate use in page titles and headings, not too many, not too few, plus a smattering of synonyms) you may be wondering what else you can do. One approach is to look carefully at your product pages; earlier this week on Smart Insights, Jimmy McCann showed 5 tips for optimising product…
Aimed at capturing a greater share of higher converting ‘long tail' traffic
Ecommerce websites can inadvertently fall short of SEO best practice because, for example, the site may be accidentally riddled with crawler and duplicate content issues. Such issues are inherently linked to product optimisation, an oft-neglected aspect of SEO which is the focus of my post.
It’s surprising how often ecommerce sites neglect this dimension of SEO.
People tend to be distracted by the high volume head and middle keyword terms and forget to pay attention to the crucial keywords pertaining to the long tail.
Many sites succeed in capturing a fair amount of long tail traffic without paying particular attention to it. Nevertheless, it’s still important to capture as much of long tail traffic as possible because long tail traffic converts better than head term traffic.
Tip 1 - Duplicate…
