QUESTION: I have 3 blogs with the same content, is that a problem?

GOOGLE ANSWER: If the content is identical, it’s likely only one of the blogs will rank for it. Also, with this scattered of an effort chances are your incoming links will be distributed across the different blogs, instead of pointing to one source. Therefore you’re running the risk of both users and search engines not knowing which of your blogs is the definitive source.

OUR COMMENT: No, Virginia, you cannot put your identical content on many different sites and expect to get an SEO benefit from it. Please stop asking me this question!

QUESTION: Should I believe SEO agencies that promise to make my site rank first in Google in a few months and with a precise number of links?

GOOGLE ANSWER: No one can make that promise; therefore the short answer is no, you should not. However, we have some great tips on how to find a trustworthy SEO in our Help Center.

OUR COMMENT: Customer’s ask us about this a lot. There are so many “quick fix” guys out there promising the sun, moon and starts. Remember: if it seems too good to be true it probably is. Click here to get our free SEO White Paper and learn the basics of SEO.

QUESTION: Is there any preference between Top Level Domains like .com and .info in ranking?

GOOGLE ANSWER: No, there is none. Our focus is on the content of the site.

OUR COMMENT: YES! Content is king! Content is what separates the winners from the wannabes. It takes some time and thought to write compelling, fresh content for your website. And then do it again next week or next month. Most site owner’s won’t do it. That’s one of the reasons the search engines place such a heavy emphasis on content.

Webmaster Level: Intermediate

Editors Note: As used below, ‘we’ means Google.

Did you know that a majority of users surveyed feel that having information in their own language was more important than a low price? Some users explicitly look for and use local and localized websites—properly localized sites definitely have an advantage with users. Google works hard to show users the best possible search results. Many times those are going to be pages that are localized, for the user’s location and/or in the user’s language.

If you’re planning to take the time to create and maintain a localized version of your website, making it easy to recognize and find is a logical part of that process. A multi-regional website is one that explicitly targets users in various regions (generally different countries); we call it multilingual when it is available in multiple languages, and sometimes, the website targets both multiple regions and is in multiple languages. Let’s start with some general preparations and then look at websites that target multiple regions.

Preparing for Global Websites

Expanding a website to cover multiple regions and/or languages can be challenging. By creating multiple versions of your website, any issues with the base version will be multiplied; make sure that you have everything working properly before you start. Given that this generally means you’ll suddenly be working with a multiplied number of URLs, don’t forget that you’ll need appropriate infrastructure to support the website.

When planning sites for multiple regions (usually countries), don’t forget to research legal or administrative requirements that might come into play first. These requirements may determine how you proceed, for instance whether or not you would be eligible to use a country-specific domain name.

All websites start with domain names; when it comes to domain names, Google differentiates between two types of domain names:

• ccTLDs (country-code top level domain names): These are tied to a specific country (for example .de for Germany, .cn for China). Users and search engines use this as a strong sign that your website is explicitly for a certain country.
• gTLDs (generic top level domain names): These are not tied to a specific country. Examples of gTLds are .com, .net, .org, .museum. Google sees regional top level domain names such as .eu and .asia as gTLDs, since they cannot be tied to a specific country. We also treat some vanity ccTLDs (such as .tv, .me, etc.) as gTLDs as we’ve found that users and webmasters frequently see these as being more generic than country-targeted (we don’t have a complete list of such vanity ccTLDs that we treat as gTLDs as it may change over time). You can set geotargeting for websites with gTLDs using the Webmaster Tools Geographic Target setting.

Geotargeting Factors

Google generally uses the following elements to determine the geotargeting of a website (or a part of a website):

1. Use of a ccTLD is generally a strong signal for users since it explicitly specifies a single country in an unmistakable way.

or

Webmaster Tools’ manual geotargeting for gTLDs (this can be on a domain, subdomain or subdirectory level); more information on this can be found in our blog post and in the Help Center. With region tags from geotargeting being shown in search results, this method is also very clear to users. Please keep in mind that it generally does not make sense to set a geographic target if the same pages on your site target more than a single country (say, all German-speaking countries) — just write in that language and do not use the geotargeting setting (more on writing in other languages will follow soon!).

2. Server location (through the IP address of the server) is frequently near your users. However, some websites use distributed content delivery networks (CDNs) or are hosted in a country with better webserver infrastructure, so we try not to rely on the server location alone.

3. Other signals can give us hints. This could be from local addresses & phone numbers on the pages, use of local language and currency, links from other local sites, and/or the use of Google’s Local Business Center (where available).

Note that we do not use locational meta tags (like “geo.position” or “distribution”) or HTML attributes for geotargeting. While these may be useful in other regards, we’ve found that they are generally not reliable enough to use for geotargeting.

URL Structures

The first three elements used for geotargeting are strongly tied to the server and to the URLs used. It’s difficult to determine geotargeting on a page by page basis, so it makes sense to consider using a URL structure that makes it easy to segment parts of the website for geotargeting.

Geotargeting is not an exact science (even sites using country-code top level domain names can be global in nature), so it’s important that you plan for the users from the “wrong” location. One way to do this could be to show links on all pages for users to select their region and language of choice. We’ll look at some other possible solutions further on in this blog post series.

Dealing with Duplicate Content on Global Websites

Websites that provide content for different regions and in different languages sometimes create content that is the same or similar but available on different URLs. This is generally not a problem as long as the content is for different users in different countries. While we strongly recommend that you provide unique content for each different group of users, we understand that this may not always be possible for all pages and variations from the start. There is generally no need to “hide” the duplicates by disallowing crawling in a robots.txt file or by using a “noindex” robots meta tag. However, if you’re providing the same content to the same users on different URLs (for instance, if both “example.de/” and “example.com/de/” show German language content for users in Germany), it would make sense to choose a preferred version and to redirect (or use the “rel=canonical” link element) appropriately.

Editors Note: Click here to read the full article and get access to other Google info on this subject.

If you have any kind of form on your website, such as a  contact us form or a comments form on a blog site (like WordPress) you are susceptible to spam. Spammers often attempt to take advantage of these mechanisms to generate traffic to their own sites.

Most spam isn’t created manually by a human. Instead, spammers use computer programs called “bots” to automatically fill out web forms to create spam, and these bots can generate spam much faster than a human can review it.

The main defense against this is adding something to your forms called CAPTCHA.

What is CAPTCHA?

The simple definition is that it’s a test to ensure that a human is filling in the form, not another computer or some kind of automated compute program. The word is  an acronym for ”Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart” (click here for more). You have no doubt seen this before, for example if you’ve posted ads to a site like Craigslist. A typical CAPTCHA contains an image of distorted letters which humans can read, but are not easily understood by computers. Here’s an example:

If you have a contact us form, or other such form on your site, you may or may not have a CAPTCHA function. Most developers for smaller sites don’t add this “out of the box” as it takes a bit more coding than they usually have budgeted for the project. If you’re not sure ask you site developer if you have this and if not what it would take to add it. If’ you have a blog site, such as WordPress, there are plugins available that will allow you to add CPATCHA to the blog comment forms.

Google has recently released a free CAPTCHA service called ‘reCAPTCHA.’ As part of that service they have even created a free WordPress plugin. I have just installed it on this blog and after I see how it works I’ll add another post to report on this plugin. Click here for more on Google reCAPTCHA resources.

If your business is primary serving customers geographically located near your store then you need to orient your Search Engine Optimization efforts towards making your business more visible to users doing local searches (read our blog article for more on local search). Recently there has been quite a buzz about Google and local search, specifically the greater importance of getting reviews of your business posted online.

GreatCircle Studios has just launched an exciting new SEO service for local businesses: GOOGLE REVIEWS POSTING PROGRAM! Read on to learn more …

A study released in October, 2009 by TMP Directional Marketing (www.tmpdm.com) examines the annual growth of online local search including changes in consumer behavior. The study shows the search industry expanding quickly: the total number of U.S. searches has grown in the last year by 31 percent! Internet search engines remain the primary source for local business information. The study further found …

… that 83 percent of local search users contacted businesses offline, with 46 percent of making contacts over the phone and 37 percent visiting the businesses in person. Half of all online local business searchers made purchases.

Why Reviews?

One of the key contributing factors that determines where you rank within the local search results for your service is how many people have reviewed your business online. The greater number of reviews the higher you’ll show up within the local search results. If your business is locally oriented you cannot afford to ignore this optimization opportunity!

What You Get with Our Google Reviews Posting Program

This program is turn-key, hands-off for you. We do all the work! We get the reviews and post them to Google.

1. We will create a Google Local account for your business.
2. We will create a “Post A Review” web form and place it on your website, optimized for your site.
3. When the form is submitted by one of your customers, the review is sent to us. We then take all valid reviews and post them to Google.
4. Monthly flat fee includes the posting up to five (5) reviews each month.

You can refer customers to the “Post A Review” web form or fill it out for them to get your reviews submitted.

You get all this for an affordable one-time set-up fee and a low monthly fee for adding up to five (5) reviews per-month.

Results

Here’s the results of a Google search for one of our Google Reviews Posting Program clients from WEEK ONE!

Call 877-247-0452 or email us TODAY to get started!

Internet search engines remain the primary source for local business information, although the growth is slight. Among the search engines, local search sites increased in usage only one percent. Internet Yellow Pages sites useage increased a modest two percent.

TMP Directional Marketing, in its press release, said:

“Each media type plays an important role in the consumer purchase process. Buyers use numerous channels at different times and for different reasons,” said Gregg Stewart, president of TMPDM’s full-service interactive division 15miles. “But the growing demand for local business information across interactive search platforms, especially online and mobile, is creating additional opportunities for national advertisers to reach consumers with more relevance. In order to reach target audiences, marketers must think locally and focus their messages on local marketplaces where consumers shop.”

How Online Search Is Used

The study showed that people were more likely to use online searches to research the brands to buy and to find businesses that offer those brands. Almost 40 percent used online research to help them figure out their purchase selection.

TMPDM’s study also found that 83 percent of local search users contacted businesses offline, with 46 percent of making contacts over the phone and 37 percent visiting the businesses in person. Half of all online local business searchers made purchases.

In another key finding of the survey, nearly two-thirds of those surveyed stated that they expected their search results to reveal businesses within 15 miles of their homes or places of work.

Mobile Search Is Growing

TMPDM found that 22 million people were using the mobile Internet through June 2009, accessing local business information mostly via a mobile browser. In fact, 127 percent more users accessed local content via downloaded applications on mobile devices than in the previous year!

Here’s some more of the mobile stats from the study:

• Thirty-two percent of searchers with Internet-capable cellular phones search for local business information from the mobile Internet, an 11 percent increase from 2008.
• Of mobile searchers with Internet-ready devices, 60 percent of smartphone owners search on Internet browsers or via downloaded applications.
• Only five percent of mobile searchers send text messages from their cellular phones to directory assistance. But overall, the number of mobile users who look up local information via SMS grew by 27 percent.

A Lesson for the Local Businessman

A surprising number of local businesses are still without any kind of web presence. Considering the continued growth in online searching for local providers, coupled with the rapid rise in the use of moble devices for searching, local businesses can no longer afford to remain offline. Those that do will be missing potential customers who are searching for their products and services online in ever-increasing numbers.

Fortunately, there are a number of ways to develop a web presence. One of these is to register your business at Google Maps. You’ll first need a Google account. Once you have that, go to Google Maps (maps.google.com) and click on the link “Put your business on Google Maps,” and then sign in. Click “Add new listing” and enter all your information.

This information will be used to generate a local “landing page” when your name is listed from a search done at Google Maps. All the details can be found in this helpful video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lviDz8fUMTE.

There are also a lot of other free places on the web you may register your business. Do some searching on the web and you’ll easily find this (maybe I’ll do another article on this topic).

Last, but not least, you can hire a web services firm (like my company, GreatCircle Studios, www.greatcirclestudios.com, shameless plug!) to create a website for you. Make sure to only purchase as much site as you need. If you have no site currently and your budget is tight, go for a one to three page brochure site built from a template. You can always grow it from there. However, any site – even a one-page one – is better than no site at all.

Note: This article has also been published on Technocrati.com.

When combined with SEO we’re talking about taking actions to boost your own websites’ visibility within the search engines by creating accounts on social media sites and deploying your own content there that directly or indirectly (such as through links back to your site) promotes you website.

In this article the author shares some tactics that provide fast results, good but slow results and some things that are a waste of time. Some of the recommended fast tactics included using LinkedIn Profiles (personal and business), Squidoo (lensmaster profile, submit existing articles, create a lens for your business/product) and using Optimized Press Releases (use PR Web at the $200 level, which allows you to control anchor text).

Click here to read the entire article.

Google describes their new Commerce Search as “a powerful search solution designed specifically with online retail enterprises in mind.” To get an understanding of this from the horses mouth, click here to view Google’s info video (2:16 in length).

From an initial review of Google’s information it seems like they are providing a good deal of functionality that would be of interest to the small business online reseller who does not have the funds for a more sophisticated shopping cart or eCommerce hosting environment. Here’s some of what you get:

• Google search technology so that visitors may  find the right products faster
• Filter results by category, price, brand or other attributes
• Boost or promote chosen products within search results
• Ability to promote specific products, vendors, or product categories at the top of your search results
• Ability to to choose whether to display product images, descriptions, etc
• Custom reports including result sets, top queries, product promotion clicks, and special feature usage
• Ability to search refinement by product category, price, price range, brand, or any other product attribute you choose.

Another benefit is your products and store are living in the Google hosting infrastructure so if you have some product take off and start to get tons of traffic you’ve covered. The Google system will allow your traffic to scale up to handle whatever may come.

The Catch

There’s always a catch. This is a good one, pricing. Pricing starts at $50,000 per year.

‘Nuff said!

Perhaps as this develops some parts of this functionality will trickle down in a way that it might be used by the smaller online businesses. We’ll see.

Google announced this functionality around the end of September, 2009. Until the release of Place Pages searches in Google Maps would provide some information about the locality being searched in or a specific place such as a restaurant. The purpose of Place Pages seems to be to provide the user with one all the relevant information about it organized in one place.

You may have seen the information bubble that would pop in a Google Map about a specific place on the map. Now when you click the  ’more info’ link you’ll be taken to a web page that aggregates information about the place.

For example, I ran this search at Google Maps: “brew pub washington dc.” One of the links that came back was to a brew pub called District Chop House (one of my favorites!). The Place Page is an aggregation of information about this restaurant including a map, a description and reviews.

There is even a section called details that provide info about hours, parking availability and so on. Pretty useful stuff. Try it. I think you’ll like it.

Click here to read more about this in Google’s Blog.

The brains behind Wave are two developers who who small mapping software company was acquired  by Google in 2004. The developed the concept for what is now called Google Wave and have now moved onto that project.

The idea behind Wave is to bring together into one interface many different communication technologies. The hope is that this will create a new communication paradigm.

They took a look at two of the biggest successes so far in digital communication, email and instant messaging. These are originally designed in the ’60s to imitate analog formats — email mimicked snail mail, and IM mimicked phone calls. They visualized a new communications model that presumed all these advances as a starting point and codenamed their new project “Walkabout.”

According to an article on the Google about this, they  started by asking themselves these questions:

• Why do we have to live with divides between different types of communication — email versus chat, or conversations versus documents?
• Could a single communications model span all or most of the systems in use on the web today, in one smooth continuum? How simple could we make it?
• What if we tried designing a communications system that took advantage of computers’ current abilities, rather than imitating non-electronic forms?

Getting Wave Off The Ground

Working with a five-person team, they spend two years developing the first prototype of what is now called Wave. As the define it, A “wave” is equal parts conversation and document, where people can communicate and work together with richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more. Click on the image below to see a screenshot of the Wave interface.

Here’s how it works: In Google Wave you create a wave and add people to it. Everyone on your wave can use richly formatted text, photos, gadgets, and even feeds from other sources on the web. They can insert a reply or edit the wave directly. It’s concurrent rich-text editing, where you see on your screen nearly instantly what your fellow collaborators are typing in your wave.

That means Google Wave is just as well suited for quick messages as for persistent content — it allows for both collaboration and communication. You can also use “playback” to rewind the wave and see how it evolved.

Click here to view Google’s video explaining Google Wave.

One interesting sub-section of the main channel is a set of videos called “15 second search tips.” There are currently 17 videos here, each about 15 seconds long, that provide tips on how to most efficiently use Google’s search tools.

These include video tips for such things as weather, local businesses and sports scores. It also includes tips for tracking flights and tips for looking up the definitions of words.

The Google Webmaster Help Channel

This channel is aimed at technical folks who are managing websites and in particular are concerned with optimizing their sites for search engines. Google also uses this channel to make announcements about new technical releases and to provide answers to technical questions.

You can view the GoogleWebmasterHelp channel here.