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When it comes to client’s websites – some are better than others. At Goddard SEO we review sites and submit seo recommendations to make the most of any site we are working on to give it a fighting chance in the searches this can cover UI, Code, Copy, Tags, Structure and so on. Now while we would never want to name any names – some clients sites look a lot better than others.

When you have a clients website that stands out from the rest you can make the most of it. There are design and css gallery websites that will look at your website, and if the design is considered of a high enough quality they will do things like, add it to their own design database, give it a dedicated page, write a blog post about it, feature it on their site. In most cases these websites are great PR (Theres some great PR3-5 websites) and in nearly all cases the link you get is followed link.

You also tend to get a dedicated URL with the website name. This is a great bonus as it will take up space in the SERPs for your clients brand name and as we all know brand links are worth more and more these days and make up the basis of a well rounded link profile.

Oh and hey – look at that, some websites even let you add the developer urls. If you are working on the websites yourself, supplying site changes, customising sites etc, have a word with your client and see if they mind you being listed as the developer. In most cases they will be 100% fine with this. This is great for companies that neglect their own link building or let it fall behind. Not only are you getting yourself a high quality link, you are attaching yourself to clients who are getting the correct kind of attention.

Now some of the sites have guidelines about screenshot sizes that you need to submit and it can be a pain resizing your screenshot, but it’s always worth putting in a little extra time for a great link.

The other great thing about these links is that they are really picky. I have had clients I thought looked great who got rejected, I’ve tried submitting generic designs and they’ve been rejected too, so if you do use this method make sure to only submit outstanding or unique client designs.

I have seen clients competitors ranking with only a backlink profile of featured design galleries so these links are pretty powerful even on their own, but mixed with a great linkbuilding a social media strategy your clients should be way ahead.

To get you started here are 3 great galleries to submit your website to. But more can be found with a simple Google search.

This also works great if you have a mobile site. Mobile site galleries are practically GIVING away high quality links and even driving great quality traffic.

• http://www.colorgorize.com/suggest/
• http://cssgal.com
• http://www.cssvilla.com/submit-site/

With Google now clearly the way to find businesses and services online, businesses are adjusting their methods to make sure they are being found when you are looking for anything they offer.  Employing an seo company is a great way to get your business to the top of these searches, but another way that seems to give you a boost in the rankings is to have a keyword rich domain.

In the olden days! When people used to look through their local Yellow Pages, businesses would want to be the first business you called up. The options in yellow pages were a small text ad, a highlighted advert, larger banner style ads of various sizes up to full page adverts, or a cheap option was to just take a listing and your business would fall naturally based on its alphabetical name. Businesses quickly figured out the best way to get to the top was to have a business beginning with an “a” or a number. So “Al’s pest control ltd” would appear before “Pest Solutions ltd”, just like marketers today some people took this to the extreme, so often you would open your yellow pages and turn to pest control and the top listing would be “aaaaa pest control ltd” or if they were being slightly more creative “aadvark pest control services”.

Search engines as we all know don’t rank you based on alphabetical order, so once the internet gained popularity your aaaa business name no longer gave you an instant advantage. Over the years SEO has grown up too, you used to be able to get away with listing hundreds of towns on your site and stuffing your tags and images with towns and services, now these will quickly get your noted as spam and won’t help you at all. One technique that has worked for a good few years and continues to work (or help) despite Google insiting it is adjusting its bias, is having a keyword enriched domain. So, “pest control london” for example brings up this

Keyword Rich Domains Work. Now I’m not saying they haven’t done plenty of SEO work, but they seem to be doing pretty well. If you look at varations on “pest control london” if we look at domains that are variations on “pest control” then its nearly all of them. Now in the following video from Matt Cutts he says they are trying to give them less weight.

To be clear I’m not complaining that it helps businesses, its nice when a business is clear on what they do, and so on. What I am complaining about is the lack of great business names. Businesses are now being called “pest control in wherever ltd” “carpet cleaners in this town ltd”. Where are all the fun and punny names we love seeing in town. No longer will we get “Best Little Hair House” “Ali Barber” and “short chat and sides” we’ll have a highstreet of “hairdressers in surrey” and “barbers in london”. When we became a LTD company ourselves part of our consideration was having some keywords in the name in the end we only stuck with one, but it shouldn’t be like that. Years ago I worked in a bathroom store and we weren’t called “bathrooms in this town” we didn’t even have bathroom in our name, infact our name came from the road we were on and the type of tree on that street. Not only did this give us a great business name, it resonated with people that lived in that area and knew that street and saw our shop. If I was coming up with a new business or brand and settled on “getting your website to number one on google ltd” or something that boring it’s just disappointing more than anyway and yes it could be argued using my name is just as boring, but it gives a name and a brand to work with and build up. I guess the point of this article is to say that when forming a company name, don’t do it for the search engines, do it for a brand and reputation you want to build up. Don’t name your company after a search term, build up and your name and become the search term.

I’ve not noticed this before, but I was doing a search for the 3D Blu Ray of Pixar’s Up. If you look at the 4th result down you’ll see that there is a result just called Up: 3D which contains a description of Up, which has been pulled from Amazon which is the first result listed and then 3 store links and their prices for the product.

I have seen listings from the merchant feed in results before, usually at the side with a little picture and a slightly different layout that make it more obvious that is isn’t a natural website. This is the first time I’ve seen looking more like a natural search listing with links inside the result(which occasionally happens too). These link out to the top merchants and give you the option to view more results from the shopping results.

Is this the new style of google shopping results in main search or just a random result?

Japanese courts have ordered Google to stop and shut down the autocomplete or predictive feature in Japan due to privacy complaints after a man took them to court due for violating his privacy and claiming it has hampered his career. His claim is based around the fact that when you enter his first name into Google it comes up with over 10,000 defaming or disparaging words about him.

His lawyer Hiroyuki Tomita, says

It could lead to irretrievable damage such as a loss of job or bankruptcy just by showing search results that constitute defamation or a violation of the privacy of an individual person or small and medium-sized companies.

The man contacted Google and asked for them to be removed, but as they are generated mechanically rather than by person this was not possible, and claimed it did not violate his privacy.

From Google:

Autocomplete is a feature of Google search that offers predicted searches to help you more quickly find what you’re looking for. These searches are produced by a number of objective factors including popularity of search terms. Google does not determine these terms manually–all of the queries shown in Autocomplete have been typed previously by other Google users.

Do you Avoid Links on wordpress/blogger websites?

After a conversation with a fellow SEO about picking appropriate domains for Guest blog posts and links we came to a slight disagreement about whether it was a good idea to go after guest blog posts on .blogspot and .wordpress domains. Initially I had rejected and ignored these sites straight away even when they were relevant and had decent page rank and good quality content. But after thinking about it for a little longer I realised I was missing out on some great links for the following reasons.

• The websites were highly relevant, on topic and full of good quality unique content

Surely these are the quality factors we are looking for on a website worth posting on or partnering with, infact I would say these are some of the most important. We want links from websites that are relevant to ours, who’s users would be interested in the link to your website, and on a website with good quality unique content. If these happen to fall on a .blogspot or .wordpress is that necessarily a bad thing or something we should avoid?

• These domains had a history and age

These domains had a history, they had content going back 3 or 4 years or more in some cases, along with this comes trust, page rank, a userbase and a reputation for quality.  Again this is the exact place I want my link to be seen or my guest post to be read. If it was a .com domain I would be tripping over myself trying to get a link on a similar site.

• These links won’t disappear

What happens when a person’s domain expires on a site that, while great quality, isn’t making them any money, is a pain to maintain for no reward etc – they let the domain expire and may move on to other projects. How many sites have you started and abandoned, while you may maintain these sites for a while and just leave them up, after a while renewing a domain you’re not really using, at some point you will probably just let it expire. WordPress and Blogspot domains don’t drop. Sites from 6 or 7 years back still exist even though they aren’t updated, while the site may not be updated, your link will still be there sitting with good quality, highly relevant content. now it would be ideal if the site was updated,but it would be the same with an old .com domain too, and there’s a chance that might not exist after its renewal date.

• WordPress and Blogspot are getting better at spam control

Unless you have been hiding under a rock the past few months, you are probably aware of the new social networking site, Pinterest.  This unique social bookmarking site allows users to share and curate images onto different “boards.”  Growing up, you may remember your mother cutting images from magazines and arranging them as a way to gain inspiration for decorating or fashion. Pinterest is the online equivalent of this practice, and that’s why fashion and interior design are two of the most popular categories on the site.

Pinterest has gained hoards of followers as well. In fact, from December 2011 and January 2012, the number of unique visitors to the Pinterest, grew by 155%. Recent research has also revealed that Pinterest outperforms Twitter in referral traffic.  You currently need an invitation to join, but once you have attained one you can quickly reap the rewards of generating high volume traffic toward your business’ website. Just keep the following pro tips in mind:

1. Only pin striking images. Pinterest, like Tumblr, is an image-focused social networking site. You should have visually unique and interesting images if you want anyone to take notice or follow you. Otherwise you look like spam, and will be ignored as such.  Now, if you work in the home decorating sector, or in fashion, this will be easy. But if your business is not directly related to the visual, there are things you can do to create potential Pinterest content. An infographic, for example, makes a great pin. If you put out interesting and unique content, you will be amazed at the snowball effect “repining” amongst Pinterest followers will have on generating traffic to your site.

2. Pin relevant content. If you work for a company that specializes in computer monitors or something completely unrelated to fashion, interior design or the other popular categories of Pinterest, then the social networking site may not be the right fit for you. If you do decide to go the way of infographics, make sure that you post them to a board that has a topic relevant to the infographic. Posting unrelated material is one of the top ways to lose Pinterest followers.

3. Get involved. If you only post images of products from your own site, people will take notice. In order to avoid coming across as too self-promoting, limit yourself to one promotional pin per every ten. So what are you going to pin the rest of the time? Repin other pins, of course. It shows your followers that you are engaged with what they care about. Remember, Pinterest is a community, much like Twitter. You need to invest some time in it if you want to see real results.

4. Be organized. Each of your boards should have a specific theme, such as home design, fashion, etc. Make sure to keep everything organized, and don’t feel like you have to stay within the category that directly relates to your business. Having eclectic range of different boards shows other users that you are an interesting person with discerning taste and opinions, and this will likely garner you more respect amongst the Pinterest community.

Author Bio: Jenni Sunde is a freelance fashion and travel writer. She specializes in all things lifestyle-related from home and design to health and beauty. Her official work title pegs her as an editor at a website that specializes in providing people with quality online collegeand education resources; however, with her love of art and all things beautiful, she delights in sharing her sense of style from her life to your computer monitor.

As always, apple are a little cryptic with their launches, something is coming from apple today, there have been reports of new ios devices visiting websites on higher resolutions. With their press conference due today, later today we should know the full details. I will update this post as we find out more details.

Modern teachers know how beneficial and important social networking can be. For older students, social networking, especially Facebook, is already a part of their daily lives. This very reason makes Facebook an incredibly useful tool for connecting with students and extending learning outside the traditional classroom. Teachers who take advantage of social networking find lots of interesting new academic opportunities and ways to get creative with learning. The new major social network Google+ is another tool for teachers that’s unlike any other.

Facebook vs. Google+
Google+ has a lot of similarities with Facebook, so in many ways teachers can use Google+ in the same way they already use Facebook. They can communicate with students and engage in virtual discussions. But Google+ offers more. As a teacher, after you ask your students to sign up, you’ll find Google+ allows for an even richer experience. There are two main things that contribute to the excellence of Google+: Circles and Hangouts.

Circles
With Google+, it’s very easy to manage different groups of people and friends. You must categorize everyone into a Circle. For teachers, you can use Circles in many different ways. You can have a different Circle for each class you teach. You can also create separate Circles for the parents of students, if applicable to your grade level, and Circles for fellow faculty. Finally, you can separate your friends and family from your professional contacts. Circles make it incredibly easy to share specific information with only the relevant parties. Conversely, you can view your friends’ posts in separate newsfeeds. The sheer organization alone can be very helpful to teachers, especially if you’re managing multiple classes at once.

Hangouts
Hangouts give you the ability to video chat with a total of 10 people at one time. In addition, there are web conferencing tools such as screen sharing, document collaboration with Google Docs, and a shared whiteboard. These tools, all free, have the best implications and uses for teaching. In a Hangout, you can connect with your students outside of the classroom for further instruction and review. You can hold discussions just for the heck of it, or even for extra credit. Hangouts can allow groups to work collaboratively on a project together with ease, unhindered by physical location. You can even use them to connect with other schools, students and teachers all over the country.

With Hangouts, you can also teach in an informal sense. If you have a particular expertise, you can offer to share it with other interested parties. You can start a Hangout, for example, and invite people to attend in order to see a demonstration, hear a lecture, or ask questions. You can even record your Hangouts to show to people who weren’t able to attend. And even though Hangouts are limited to 10 active participants, an unlimited number of people can listen in, which increases your potential reach.

The Bottom Line
As social networking is such an integral part of our society, it’s a good idea to incorporate it into teaching. Those who do so usually only have positive things to say about it. With Google+, your teaching capabilities are even greater as compared to social networks like Facebook or Twitter. Give it a try in your classroom today.  

Lisa Sharp built a reputation as a classroom innovator.  Now she puts her research and writing skills to the test with help from the #1 grammar checker on the web. Another tip she gives entrepreneurs is “Never stop networking!”

I get a lot of questions about what, if any seo software we use here at our SEO company, and while very little is automated when it comes to linkbuilding itself, we do use Advanced Web Ranking to generate our reports and track the keywords of both our keywords, and our clients keywords. Well as always they have launched a brand new version of their software which adds in some more features and a new layout. While the layout took a little getting used to and didn’t fit my screen initially (I contacted support and this was fixed by changing the font size option in settings which shrunk everything down so I could view it on my screen resolution). They have also added a new feature where you can link the software up with Google Analytics data and this allows you to see the traffic and conversions and it can then be put into customised reports. Its a really nice additional feature and its great to see them adding new features in each version and this addition works really nicely.

You can also get and check links through SEOmoz and then it allows you to compare your websites link profile with your competition’s websites getting you a better insight in to your link profile.

It also now allows you to make reports which include analytics, links and rankings.

This software is still great and works really well. It would be nice if it was a little cheaper but isn’t that the case with most things. It can still generate reports, both white label reports, custom tracking and stats, and branded reports. You can also set it to check for rankings automatically. A nice feature I’ve found is that you can set it to search for subdomains and variations of your domain, as well as other domains you might want to check for. I don’t know if that is a feature that existed before, but it is one I have found myself using more and more often.

I also plan to use the ftp function soon to allow monthly reports to be uploaded to our servers so that clients can check their own reports without needing to be sent them every month. As soon as I’ve got some experience in using this feature I’ll let you guys know how its working. The reports run really smoothly, my only gripe is that it can take a while on longer keyword lists, but this is necessary so that you don’t get banned from search engines, I guess proxies would fix this.

Anyway in answer to the question I get asked all the time “can you track your keyword positions in Google” yes you can, and you don’t have to do it by hand, which makes it one less end of month task and eliminates some of the risk of missing websites when glancing through pages of search engine results pages. It is a little expensive for tracking person projects, but on a mass scale or for business its a great solution.

According to Mashable facebook are set to launch the timeline for brand pages later this month.