Bing Snapshot Adds 150 Million New Entities & Relationships To Search Engine
Dr. Richard Qian from the Bing Index and KnowledgeTeam announced that they’ve added an “additional 150 million entities” to power Bing’s Snapshot results. This is part of Microsoft Bing’s efforts to improve and grow their knowledge engine they named Satori. Most…
Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.
Is This Really the Panda Patent?
Does Google’s newly granted patent co-invented by Navneet Panda describe Google’s Panda Update? Search Quality vs. Web Spam Many of the patent filings that I’ve written about from Google address Web Spam issues, and how the search engine may take steps or follow approaches to keep its search results from being manipulated. An early example […]
The post Is This Really the Panda Patent? appeared first on SEO by the Sea.
Staples US and UK sites: an SEO and ecommerce review
New header /top navigation
This new header is quite a bold look, and goes against the general look at most ecommerce sites.
Not that there’s necessarily a problem in that. It could be that testing has told the Staples ecommerce team that this is the way to go. It’ll be interesting to see whether this design is used on other sites.
Here’s the more traditional UK version for comparison. On this, the search box and cart links are more prominent:
Why two sites?
The UK and US sites now have completely different designs.
Apart from the header design I mentioned, the newer US version has removed the left hand navigation, with drop-downs replacing the links.
The US version:
The UK version:
It may be that a newer UK site is on the way but, as Ruth explains, there are SEO implications for splitting the domains as Staples does:
Aside from the brand considerations, having a unified presence at www.staples.com with the country-specific site versions split into subdirectories would also unify the domain authority, making all future SEO work considerably more efficient. That both are in English is immaterial – this is why we have Hreflang markup for regions as well as languages, after all.
Category pages and SEO
Some of these pages are made for the search engines, and the content isn’t so bad, though Ruth points out that it’s “a little worrying to see an H2 wrapped around a paragraph and an unordered list with the class name “seo short”.
Social links
On the US site, Staples promotes its social presence with links to its various accounts throughout the site. This is not repeated on the UK site though.
Here, users can share via product pages:
The social content seems pretty good too, such as these office pranks:
Mobile search
Mobile SEO is becoming ever more important, but this seems to be a problem for Staples.
While there are sites sitting at m.staples.co.uk and m.staples.com they don’t seem to redirect properly at times. which defeats the object.
If you search on a mobile you may find a mobile optimised homepage, but some category pages are not mobile-friendly at all.
One example is this furniture page which is on a m.staples URL but is not so easy to use:
Ruth:
A redesign to full responsive for both shops would be the ideal route of course but in the meantime there are some technical configurations that could really help with mobile conversion for the brand, even just ensuring the correct rel=alternate tags are in place for different media sizes would be a good start.
It really is saddening how many big sites have separate mobile URLs and don’t set up properly to make best use of them, and a brand like Staples honestly deserves better.
Checkout process
There’s a big difference here. The US and UK checkouts are chalk and cheese.
The older UK checkout still insists on user registration. This is a potential barrier for customers.
And, if you do opt for registration, this form is horrible. The number of fields presents quite a barrier to the user, while the presentation is cluttered.
I’d like to to see the dropout stats for this page. It’s hard to imagine a more off-putting form layout.
The US version has a guest checkout option, which is likely to reduce customer abandonment at this stage:
Moreover, the checkout forms are well-designed and laid out. This form is asking for more or less the same information as in the UK screenshot, but look at the difference good form design can make.
As well as clearer presentation, a progress indicator reassures shoppers that there aren’t too many steps, while live chat and customer service options provide support for any customers with last minute doubts.
In summary
The differences between the two websites are striking, and it’s clear that the UK version would benefit enormously from the same design as the US/North American site.
According to Ruth:
Judging by its current web presence, it seems like Staples need to have a bit of a shift towards being more digitally aware in order to make the most of the new brand direction.
Though the US site is clearly better, there are some SEO basics that could be handled better, and mobile SEO should be a focus for the brand.
The Positive Negative SEO Strategy
There’s a case study on Moz on how to get your site back following a link penalty. An SEO working on a clients site describes what happened when their client got hit with a link penalty. Even though the link penalty didn’t appear to be their fault, it still took months to get their rankings back.
Some sites aren’t that lucky. Some sites don’t get their rankings back at all.
The penalty was due to a false-positive. A dubious site links out to a number of credible sites in order to help disguise their true link target. The client site was one of the credible sites, mistaken by Google for a bad actor. Just goes to show how easily credible sites can get hit by negative SEO, and variations thereof.
There’s a tactic in there, of course.
Take Out Your Competitors
Tired of trying to rank better? Need a quicker way? Have we got a deal for you!
Simply build a dubious link site, point some rogue links at sites positioned above yours and wait for Google’s algorithm to do the rest. If you want to get a bit tricky, link out to other legitimate sites, too. Like Wikipedia. Google, even. This will likely confuse the algorithm for a sufficient length of time, giving your tactic time to work.
Those competitors who get hit, and who are smart enough to work out what’s going on, may report your link site, but, hey, there are plenty more link sites where that came from. Roll another one out, and repeat. So long as your link site can’t be connected with you – different PC, different IP address, etc – then what have you got to lose? Nothing much. What have your competitors got to lose? Rank, a lot of time, effort, and the very real risk they won’t get back into Google’s good books. And that’s assuming they work out why they lost rankings.
I’m not advocating this tactic, of course. But we all know it’s out there. It is being used. And the real-world example above shows how easy it is to do. One day, it might be used against you, or your clients.
Grossly unfair, but what can you do about it?
Defensive Traffic Strategy
Pleading to Google is not much of a strategy. Apart from anything else, it’s an acknowledgement that the power is not in your hands, but in the hands of an unregulated arbiter who likely views you as a bit of an annoyance. It’s no wonder SEO has become so neurotic.
It used to be the case that competitors could not take you out pointing unwanted links at you. No longer. So even more control has been taken away from the webmaster.
The way to manage this risk is the same way risk is managed in finance. Risk can be reduced using diversification. You could invest all your money in one company, or you could split it between multiple companies, banks, bonds and other investment classes. If you’re invested in one company, and they go belly up, you lose everything. If you invest in multiple companies and investment classes, then you’re not as affected if one company gets taken out. In other words, don’t put all your eggs in one basket.
It’s the same with web traffic.
1. Multiple Traffic Streams
If you only run one site, try to ensure your traffic is balanced. Some traffic from organic search, some from PPC, some from other sites, some from advertisements, some from offline advertising, some from email lists, some from social media, and so on. If you get taken out in organic search, it won’t kill you. Alternative traffic streams buy you time to get your rankings back.
2. Multiple Pages And Sites
A “web site” is a construct. Is it a construct applicable to a web that mostly orients around individual pages? If you think in terms of pages, as opposed to a site, then it opens up more opportunities for diversification.
Pages can, of course, be located anywhere, not just on your site. These may take the form of well written, evergreen, articles published on other popular sites. Take a look at the top sites in closely related niches and see if there are any opportunities to publish your content on them. Not only does this make your link graph look good, so long as it’s not overt, you’ll also have achieve more diversity.
Consider Barnacle SEO.
Will creatively defines the concept of barnacle SEO as follows:
Attaching oneself to a large fixed object and waiting for the customers to float by in the current.
Directly applied to local search, this means optimizing your profiles or business pages on a well-trusted, high-ranking directory and working to promote those profiles instead of — or in tandem with — your own website.“
You could also build multiple sites. Why have just one site when you can have five? Sure, there’s more overhead, and it won’t be appropriate in all cases, but again, the multiple site strategy is making a comeback due to Google escalating the risk of having only one site. This strategy also helps get your eggs into multiple baskets.
3. Prepare For the Worst
If you’ve got most of your traffic coming from organic search, then you’re taking a high risk approach. You should manage that risk down with diversification strategies first. Part of the strategy for dealing with negative SEO is not to make yourself so vulnerable to it in the first place.
If you do get hit, have a plan ready to go to limit the time you’re out of the game. The cynical might suggest you have a name big enough to make Google look bad if they don’t show you.
Lyrics site Rap Genius says that it is no longer penalized within Google after taking action to correct “unnatural links” that it helped create. The site was hit with a penalty for 10 days, which meant people seeking it by name couldn’t find it.
For everyone else, here’s a pretty thorough guide about how to get back in.
Have your “plead with Google” gambit ready to go at a moments notice. The lead time to get back into Google can be long, so the sooner you get onto it, the better. Of course, this is really the last course of action. It’s preferable not make yourself that vulnerable in the first place.
By diversifying.
Categories:
Conquering Content Marketing, Step 4: Racing to Launch
For your content to get featured on major distribution channels such as search engines, social networks or news sites, it must first be fed into their system through trusted conduits. Find out what these conduits are and why are they so important.
Google’s April Fools Pranks 2014: Webmasters, AdSense, AdWords & More
I really dislike April Fools, yea, I am not fun. But anyway, you’ve probably seen most of the April Fools pranks from Google by now but let me share some you may not have seen yet.
(1) Google Webmaster Blogs have a reward hiding…
Product Images Within Google Organic Results?
Google is now testing product images within the free/organic listings. Google has had product images in the AdWords and Google Product Listing Ads for a long time but it is rare to see Google test showing product images within the free listings…
…
4 UX Tips That Will Improve Your Content Strategy
Seeking more user engagement? Want to turn users into repeat customers? Create a focused content strategy by thinking like a user experience strategist. These tips will provide direction as you plan, create, and implement your content strategy.
Parallax Scrolling Websites and SEO – A Collection of Solutions and Examples
<p>Posted by <a href=\"http://moz.com/community/users/392216\">Carla_Dawson</a></p><p id="promoted">This post was originally in <a href="/ugc">YouMoz</a>, and was promoted to the main blog because it provides great value and interest to our community. The author’s views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of Moz, Inc.</p><p>
Parallax Scrolling is one of the latest trends in web design, yet most parallax scrolling websites are not SEO-friendly. I have observed this trend on sites like Awwwards, theFWA and many more. I have also observed that there are many articles that say parallax scrolling is <strong>not ideal</strong> for search engines. Parallax Scrolling is a design technique and <strong>it is ideal for search engines</strong> if you know how to apply it. I have collected a list of great tutorials and real SEO-friendly parallax websites to help the community learn how to use both techniques together. There appears to be lots of confusion in the community and I want to clear it up.
</p>
<h2><strong>Parallax Scrolling – its origins and definition</strong></h2>
<p>
Parallax Scrolling was originally created for the video game industry as a “special effects” technique to give the audience an illusion of depth. According to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallax_scrolling">Wikipedia, parallax scrolling</a> is
</p>
<blockquote>
Parallax scrolling is a special scrolling technique in computer graphics, wherein background images move by the camera slower than foreground images, creating an illusion of depth
</blockquote>
<p>
The web design industry defines parallax scrolling as
</p>
<p>
<a href="http://www.creativebloq.com/web-design/parallax-scrolling-1131762">Creative Bloq</a>
</p>
<blockquote>
One big web design trend of the moment is parallax scrolling, which involves the background moving at a slower rate to the foreground, creating a 3D effect as you scroll down the page. It can sometimes be overwhelming, but when used sparingly it can provide a nice, subtle element of depth.
</blockquote>
<p>
<strong>Observations</strong>
</p>
<ul>
<li>It is defined as a design technique or trend.</li>
<li>The definition of parallax scrolling talks about a technique that tries to accomplish 3D-like effects.</li>
<li>It talks about moving layers at different velocities</li>
<li>It does <strong style="line-height: 1.45em;">not</strong> talk about one page web design or web structure.</li>
</ul>
<h2><strong>Parallax scrolling and web design – current industry trends</strong></h2>
<p>
Parallax Scrolling is in style these days. The trend began in 2011 when Ian Coyle created the very first parallax website for Nike "Nike Better World" on 2011. Here are several articles mentioning web design trends for 2014 and they all mention parallax scrolling. Also note that the trend was strong in 2013.
</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevecooper/2013/11/30/designing-a-website-for-2014/" style="line-height: 1.45em;">Designing A Website For 2014</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.creativebeacon.com/website-design-trends-2014-clean-simple-rules/" style="line-height: 1.45em;">Website Design Trends In 2014: Clean And Simple Rules</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.inc.com/jill-krasny/web-design-trends-2014.html" style="line-height: 1.45em;">Web Design Trends to Watch in 2014</a></li>
</ul>
<p>
<img src="http://d2v4zi8pl64nxt.cloudfront.net/parallax-scrolling-websites-and-seo-a-collection-of-solutions-and-examples/5329e54da4abd7.23235422.png" style="width: 685px;">
</p>
<h3><strong>Most parallax scrolling websites are not SEO friendly</strong></h3>
<p>
I claim above that most parallax scrolling websites are not SEO-friendly. Where do I get the data to make this claim? <em>Note just because most are not SEO-friendly <strong>does not mean</strong> they cannot be SEO-friendly.</em>
</p>
<p>
Here are several samples
</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.awwwards.com/20-best-websites-with-parallax-scrolling-of-2013.html" style="line-height: 1.45em;">20 Best Websites with Parallax Scrolling of 2013</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.creativebloq.com/web-design/parallax-scrolling-1131762" style="line-height: 1.45em;">35 great examples of parallax scrolling websites</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.awwwards.com/websites/parallax/" style="line-height: 1.45em;">Awwwards Parallax Websites</a></li>
</ul>
<p>
Most of these examples of parallax scrolling websites have one-page web architectures. Since most web designers apply parallax scrolling to one-page web design, there is a <a href="http://mmarley.com/parallax-scrolling-and-seo-are-100-compatible-clearing-up-the-misconception/">misconception in the industry</a> that parallax scrolling is restricted to one page.
</p>
<p>
<strong>Ok ok….technicalities…so how does one do a parallax scrolling website that is SEO-friendly?</strong>
</p>
<p>
<strong></strong><strong></strong>
</p>
<h2><strong>How to create a parallax scrolling website for search engines?</strong></h2>
<p>
Before designing a website with parallax scrolling and for search engines it is important to keep in mind the following things;
</p>
<ul>
<li>Parallax Scrolling is a design technique that moves different layers of content, images or backgrounds at different speeds.</li>
<li>Regular onsite SEO requirements like schema, address in footer, etc. still apply. Remember, start with an SEO architecture, and then apply the design to the architecture.</li>
<li>Parallax Scrolling is not ideal for mobile version. It makes the website to heavy. Remove parallax scrolling for mobile views.</li>
</ul>
<p>
There are three main techniques. Here are some real examples of parallax scrolling websites that are SEO-friendly or almost SEO-friendly.
</p>
<h3><strong>Technique #1 – "One page" web design with parallax scrolling using Jquery</strong></h3>
<p>
iProspect’s Senior SEO specialist Kevin Ellen created the following tutorial – <a href="http://www.iprospect.co.uk/blog/featured/parallax-scrolling-and-seo-how-to-use-jquery-to-seo-your-website.html">Parallax Scrolling and SEO How to use JQuery to SEO your website</a>.
</p>
<p>
This technique addresses the issue of one page web designs that use parallax scrolling and basically tweaks it for search engines. I am mentioning this technique first since there are so many one page parallax scrolling websites on the market. Please note that Kevin’s sample “Parallax SEO” site is not really parallax since it does not move different items at different velocities, however I am mentioning it because his technique can easily be applied to most one page parallax scrolling websites on the market.
</p>
<p>
Google Webmaster recently published this article <a href="http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com.ar/2014/02/infinite-scroll-search-friendly.html" target="_blank">Infinite Scroll Search Friendly</a>. It addresses the same issue that Kevin did in his article but with more detail. I highly recommend reading both. You should be able to fix any one page parallax scrolling website with both these sources.
</p>
<p>
The solution’s use the help of jQuery’s ‘pushState’s’ functionality. This allows a parallax scrolling page to be ‘cut’ into various sections which can be identified in the SERPs, each with their unique URL and meta data. As a result, one single page to be indexed multiple times, for different content.
</p>
<p>
Pros – It is a good fix for an existing one page parallax scrolling website that needs to SEOed. It is a good technique for small websites that are not interested in hard core analytics.
</p>
<p>
Cons – Bad for analytics. I suspect bounce rates may be higher on these kinds of sites as scrolling through the website may occur rather quickly and to a software program it would appear as a quick enter-exit per URL.
</p>
<p>
<a href="http://www.flowerbeauty.com/">Flower Beauty</a>
</p>
<p>
Woj Kwas mentioned this website in this <a href="http://moz.com/community/q/parallax-websites-good-for-seo">Moz’s Q&A</a>. This website does not fit the technical definition of parallax scrolling but it does use the JQuery /Infinite scrolling technique. FlowerBeaty.com allows the user to scroll through the entire website and through multiple URL’s. It doesn’t classify as parallax scrolling since it does not play with layers and velocities. I am mentioning it because it has received some visibility. It is not a parallax scrolling website since it does not have multiple layers that move at different velocities.
</p>
<hr>
<h3><strong>Technique #2 – Multipage parallax scrolling website on SEO architecture</strong></h3>
<p>
This technique is very simple and easy to understand. You start with a SEO web architecture and then place the parallax scrolling design effects on each SEO URL. Wanda Anglin wrote a tutorial on this technique <a href="http://www.seobuzzinternetmarketing.com/blog/how-to-create-a-parallax-scrolling-website-with-seo/" target="_blank" style="line-height: 1.45em;">here</a>. I have not been able to find any other tutorials that mention this technique, if you do, please let me know.
</p>
<p>
<a href="http://www.xdawson.com/">xDawson</a> (Yes this is my website, but I have yet to find a perfectly SEOed parallax scrolling website. If you do, please pin it <a href="http://www.pinterest.com/ecumbre/seo-and-parallax-scrolling/">here</a>).
</p>
<p>
This website accomplished a very strict SEO architecture (definitely over optimized) and placed parallax scrolling on almost every internal URL.
</p>
<p>
It did accomplish the movement of layers at different velocities however it did not accomplish the “illusion of depth” or the “telling of a story”. Although it does qualify as parallax scrolling, it does not use parallax scrolling as the trend is today.
</p>
<p>
<strong>Pros</strong> – Good for analytics in that each URL has its own content, easy to implement
</p>
<p>
<strong>Cons</strong> – Loading times can be a problem with this technique as too much parallax scrolling may make browser loading time longer than it should be. It may be a bit too “interactive”. Designing each for each URL can be expensive and keeps the design rigid.
</p>
<p>
<strong>Recommendations</strong> – Use parallax scrolling sparingly throughout the website instead of on every URL. Reduces loading time and makes the website more natural. It also will reduce design expenses and lets the website be a bit more flexible.
</p>
<p>
<a href="http://www.kickpoint.ca/">Kickpoint</a>
</p>
<p>
This website placed parallax scrolling on its homepage and on one internal page. Notice the homepage and the services page have parallax scrolling.
</p>
<p>
<strong>Pros</strong> – Good for analytics and easy to design and implement
</p>
<p>
<strong>Cons</strong> – Does not have a 100% SEO Architecture. Notice the Services page did not divide up the topics of SEO, PPC, SMM, and Content Marketing onto unique URL’s with unique title and meta descriptions.
</p>
<p>
<strong>Recommendations</strong> – Divide up the content on the services page or use Jquery fix (see technique #2). Add unique titles and meta descriptions.
</p>
<hr>
<h3><strong>Technique #3 – Parallax Scrolling on homepage and regular SEO architecture</strong></h3>
<p>
<a href="http://www.spotify.com/">Spotify</a>
</p>
<p>
Another technique is to place parallax scrolling on the homepage and then include other URL’s that are SEO-friendly, but do not have parallax scrolling.
</p>
<p>
<strong> Pros</strong> – Keeps the website light and flexible. It is easy to design and more affordable than technique #1.
</p>
<p>
<strong> Cons</strong> – Not maximizing creativity or making the website super “interactive”
</p>
<hr>
<h2> <strong>Do the solutions above solve the parallax scrolling SEO conflict?</strong></h2>
<p>
I obviously believe they do, but I am interested in hearing the community’s opinion on this issue. I love the parallax scrolling design technique and am a strong believer in making websites beautiful and creative but also SEO-friendly. I hope this collection of SEO parallax websites and tutorials help you learn how to apply both techniques together. And remember, parallax scrolling is just a design technique that can be used on different kinds of web architectures.
</p>
<p>
This article was co-authored with Kevin Ellen from <a href="http://www.iprospect.co.uk/"><em>iProspect UK</em></a>. You can find more information about Kevin here. <em><a href="https://twitter.com/Kevin_Ellen_">https://twitter.com/Kevin_Ellen</a> and </em><a href="http://uk.linkedin.com/in/kevinellen" style="line-height: 1.45em;">uk.linkedin.com/in/kevinellen</a>
</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">
<img src="http://d2v4zi8pl64nxt.cloudfront.net/parallax-scrolling-websites-and-seo-a-collection-of-solutions-and-examples/5329e54e4d3094.77133093.jpg" style="width: 360px;">
</p><br /><p><a href="http://moz.com/moztop10">Sign up for The Moz Top 10</a>, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don’t have time to hunt down but want to read!</p>
Parallax Scrolling Websites and SEO – A Collection of Solutions and Examples
Posted by Carla_Dawson
This post was originally in YouMoz, and was promoted to the main blog because it provides great value and interest to our community. The author’s views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of Moz, Inc.
Parallax Scrolling is one of the latest trends in web design, yet most parallax scrolling websites are not SEO-friendly. I have observed this trend on sites like Awwwards, theFWA and many more. I have also observed that there are many articles that say parallax scrolling is not ideal for search engines. Parallax Scrolling is a design technique and it is ideal for search engines if you know how to apply it. I have collected a list of great tutorials and real SEO-friendly parallax websites to help the community learn how to use both techniques together. There appears to be lots of confusion in the community and I want to clear it up.
Parallax Scrolling – its origins and definition
Parallax Scrolling was originally created for the video game industry as a “special effects� technique to give the audience an illusion of depth. According to Wikipedia, parallax scrolling is
Parallax scrolling is a special scrolling technique in computer graphics, wherein background images move by the camera slower than foreground images, creating an illusion of depth
The web design industry defines parallax scrolling as
One big web design trend of the moment is parallax scrolling, which involves the background moving at a slower rate to the foreground, creating a 3D effect as you scroll down the page. It can sometimes be overwhelming, but when used sparingly it can provide a nice, subtle element of depth.
Observations
- It is defined as a design technique or trend.
- The definition of parallax scrolling talks about a technique that tries to accomplish 3D-like effects.
- It talks about moving layers at different velocities
- It does not talk about one page web design or web structure.
Parallax scrolling and web design – current industry trends
Parallax Scrolling is in style these days. The trend began in 2011 when Ian Coyle created the very first parallax website for Nike “Nike Better World” on 2011. Here are several articles mentioning web design trends for 2014 and they all mention parallax scrolling. Also note that the trend was strong in 2013.
- Designing A Website For 2014
- Website Design Trends In 2014: Clean And Simple Rules
- Web Design Trends to Watch in 2014
Most parallax scrolling websites are not SEO friendly
I claim above that most parallax scrolling websites are not SEO-friendly. Where do I get the data to make this claim? Note just because most are not SEO-friendly does not mean they cannot be SEO-friendly.
Here are several samples
- 20 Best Websites with Parallax Scrolling of 2013
- 35 great examples of parallax scrolling websites
- Awwwards Parallax Websites
Most of these examples of parallax scrolling websites have one-page web architectures. Since most web designers apply parallax scrolling to one-page web design, there is a misconception in the industry that parallax scrolling is restricted to one page.
Ok ok….technicalities…so how does one do a parallax scrolling website that is SEO-friendly?
How to create a parallax scrolling website for search engines?
Before designing a website with parallax scrolling and for search engines it is important to keep in mind the following things;
- Parallax Scrolling is a design technique that moves different layers of content, images or backgrounds at different speeds.
- Regular onsite SEO requirements like schema, address in footer, etc. still apply. Remember, start with an SEO architecture, and then apply the design to the architecture.
- Parallax Scrolling is not ideal for mobile version. It makes the website to heavy. Remove parallax scrolling for mobile views.
There are three main techniques. Here are some real examples of parallax scrolling websites that are SEO-friendly or almost SEO-friendly.
Technique #1 – “One page” web design with parallax scrolling using Jquery
iProspect’s Senior SEO specialist Kevin Ellen created the following tutorial – Parallax Scrolling and SEO How to use JQuery to SEO your website.
This technique addresses the issue of one page web designs that use parallax scrolling and basically tweaks it for search engines. I am mentioning this technique first since there are so many one page parallax scrolling websites on the market. Please note that Kevin’s sample “Parallax SEO� site is not really parallax since it does not move different items at different velocities, however I am mentioning it because his technique can easily be applied to most one page parallax scrolling websites on the market.
Google Webmaster recently published this article Infinite Scroll Search Friendly. It addresses the same issue that Kevin did in his article but with more detail. I highly recommend reading both. You should be able to fix any one page parallax scrolling website with both these sources.
The solution’s use the help of jQuery’s ‘pushState’s’ functionality. This allows a parallax scrolling page to be ‘cut’ into various sections which can be identified in the SERPs, each with their unique URL and meta data. As a result, one single page to be indexed multiple times, for different content.
Pros – It is a good fix for an existing one page parallax scrolling website that needs to SEOed. It is a good technique for small websites that are not interested in hard core analytics.
Cons – Bad for analytics. I suspect bounce rates may be higher on these kinds of sites as scrolling through the website may occur rather quickly and to a software program it would appear as a quick enter-exit per URL.
Woj Kwas mentioned this website in this Moz’s Q&A. This website does not fit the technical definition of parallax scrolling but it does use the JQuery /Infinite scrolling technique. FlowerBeaty.com allows the user to scroll through the entire website and through multiple URL’s. It doesn’t classify as parallax scrolling since it does not play with layers and velocities. I am mentioning it because it has received some visibility. It is not a parallax scrolling website since it does not have multiple layers that move at different velocities.
Technique #2 – Multipage parallax scrolling website on SEO architecture
This technique is very simple and easy to understand. You start with a SEO web architecture and then place the parallax scrolling design effects on each SEO URL. Wanda Anglin wrote a tutorial on this technique here. I have not been able to find any other tutorials that mention this technique, if you do, please let me know.
xDawson (Yes this is my website, but I have yet to find a perfectly SEOed parallax scrolling website. If you do, please pin it here).
This website accomplished a very strict SEO architecture (definitely over optimized) and placed parallax scrolling on almost every internal URL.
It did accomplish the movement of layers at different velocities however it did not accomplish the “illusion of depth� or the “telling of a story�. Although it does qualify as parallax scrolling, it does not use parallax scrolling as the trend is today.
Pros – Good for analytics in that each URL has its own content, easy to implement
Cons – Loading times can be a problem with this technique as too much parallax scrolling may make browser loading time longer than it should be. It may be a bit too “interactive�. Designing each for each URL can be expensive and keeps the design rigid.
Recommendations – Use parallax scrolling sparingly throughout the website instead of on every URL. Reduces loading time and makes the website more natural. It also will reduce design expenses and lets the website be a bit more flexible.
This website placed parallax scrolling on its homepage and on one internal page. Notice the homepage and the services page have parallax scrolling.
Pros – Good for analytics and easy to design and implement
Cons – Does not have a 100% SEO Architecture. Notice the Services page did not divide up the topics of SEO, PPC, SMM, and Content Marketing onto unique URL’s with unique title and meta descriptions.
Recommendations – Divide up the content on the services page or use Jquery fix (see technique #2). Add unique titles and meta descriptions.
Technique #3 – Parallax Scrolling on homepage and regular SEO architecture
Another technique is to place parallax scrolling on the homepage and then include other URL’s that are SEO-friendly, but do not have parallax scrolling.
Pros – Keeps the website light and flexible. It is easy to design and more affordable than technique #1.
Cons – Not maximizing creativity or making the website super “interactive�
Do the solutions above solve the parallax scrolling SEO conflict?
I obviously believe they do, but I am interested in hearing the community’s opinion on this issue. I love the parallax scrolling design technique and am a strong believer in making websites beautiful and creative but also SEO-friendly. I hope this collection of SEO parallax websites and tutorials help you learn how to apply both techniques together. And remember, parallax scrolling is just a design technique that can be used on different kinds of web architectures.
This article was co-authored with Kevin Ellen from iProspect UK. You can find more information about Kevin here. https://twitter.com/Kevin_Ellen and uk.linkedin.com/in/kevinellen
Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don’t have time to hunt down but want to read!
Top 5 Must Haves on a Small PPC Campaign Budget – Part 2
Managing AdWords campaigns well is time consuming. Polly shares a list of things to do using Google AdWords Editor to help improve campaign performance.
Post from Polly Pospelova on State of Digital
Top 5 Must Haves on a Small PPC Campaign Budget – Part 2
A New Way of Linking Announced by Google
Google announces the “rel=”counts-twice” tag”, which is going to change the way the SEO industry builds links.
Post from Bas van den Beld on State of Digital
A New Way of Linking Announced by Google
Matt Cutts: Google Plus to Receive Manual Penalty
Google has in the past penalized it’s own properties five times for breaking its own SEO rules. Matt Cutts has apparently now also sanctioned Google Plus with a manual penalty. Here are the comments from the internal email that was forwarded to me: “Forks or no forks, we believe that the Plus team has overdone […]
You’ll Cry Tears of Joy When You Learn how Easy Viral Videos Can Be
<p>Posted by <a href=\"http://moz.com/community/users/81197\">jennita</a></p><p>
Today, I’m super-excited to introduce our latest product from Moz, MozWorthy! It’s a tool that takes your regular (perhaps even boring) videos, adds some "oomph" and pizzazz, and makes it go viral.
</p>
<p>
With so much talk about content marketing on the rise—and guest posting on the decline—we wanted to build something that helps in both instances. You make the video—heck, it doesn’t even have to be that great—and we do the rest.
</p>
<p>
Check out the video we used as the test. What started out as just a regular old video, turned into a HUGE HIT around the world. In fact, it was the original version of the "internet famous" <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpbDHxCV29A">FIRST KISS video</a>.
</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">
<iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/fKwxd5ElB6Q" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" width="640">
</iframe>
</p>
<p>
You can jump in and give MozWorthy! a try now, or read a bit more about why we made it, see some examples, and learn how it works.
</p>
<div style="text-align:center;">
<a href="http://mozworthy.moz.com" style="text-align:center;" onclick="_gaq.push([‘_trackEvent’, ‘MozWorthy’, ‘Launch’, ‘Blog Post CTA’]);">
<p class="cta cta-large button-yellow" style="color:#ffffff;display:inline-block;">
Start using MozWorthy!
</p>
</a>
</div>
<h2> How it began</h2>
<p>
At the end of February, many of us at Moz participated in Ship It Week. This was a time when we focused on using all our internal talent, enthusiasm, and fun to collectively come together and innovate. This meant more than just coding and building things, but working to build new ideas, frameworks, and anything else we could imagine to innovate at Moz. MozWorthy! was one of the tools we created.
</p>
<p>
Our top-rated Ship It Week project is a tool that helps you learn the names of all the Mozzers, called "Name That Mozzer." It was built as an internal tool only, to help staff get to know others on the team. A big thanks to <a href="http://moz.com/about/team/brandon">Brandon</a> for all the work he put into making Moz a better place!
</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">
<img src="http://d1avok0lzls2w.cloudfront.net/uploads/blog/533a1ecb55c1e8.86920534.jpg">
</p>
<p>
Although that one was a favorite among staff, we knew that several other projects would be used and loved by the community. For example, <a href="http://moz.com/about/team/petertheyeti">Peter Bray</a> built <a href="http://zoomprofiler.com/">Zoom Profiler</a>, a tool that allows users to very quickly analyze a competitor, influencer, or customer to find their most important relationships, their top tweets, and their top content sources.
</p>
<p>
<img src="http://d1avok0lzls2w.cloudfront.net/uploads/blog/533a1e80762943.72719010.jpg">
</p>
<p>
At the same time, <a href="http://moz.com/about/team/evan">Evan</a> came up with the idea of making it easier for people to get their videos to go viral. As a team, we thought our customers would really love it as well, so we jumped in full force: The product, design, dev, and marketing teams got together to create something truly helpful!
</p>
<div style="text-align:center;">
<a href="http://mozworthy.moz.com" style="text-align:center;" onclick="_gaq.push([‘_trackEvent’, ‘MozWorthy’, ‘Launch’, ‘Blog Post CTA’]);">
<p class="cta cta-large button-yellow" style="color:#ffffff;display:inline-block;">
Start using MozWorthy!
</p>
</a>
</div>
<h2> How it works</h2>
<p>
Ok, ok, let’s get down to the real dirt. How does this baby work?! It’s quite simple, and it only takes a few steps to find yourself in viral video world.
</p>
<ol>
<li>
<p>
Upload your video to YouTube. (Right now, the tool only works with YouTube videos, since it’s still in its infancy. However, we plan on adding Vimeo, Wistia, and other platforms soon.) If you already have a video on YouTube that you’d like to use, that’s great too.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Give it a basic title; you don’t need anything fancy here. We’ll do the work for you!
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Once your video is uploaded, head on over to mozworthy.moz.com to add the link to your video and fill out a couple of key attributes.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Hit submit! Then we do the rest for you.
</p>
</li>
</ol>
<img src="http://d1avok0lzls2w.cloudfront.net/uploads/blog/533a233618d8b1.39959594.jpg">
<h4><strong>Viral title generator</strong></h4>
<p>
Once you submit your video, we take it and process both the video and title. Using super-special Moz data based on what words are the most clickable and linkable, we create a viral title for you. A combination of your title, attributes you added, and the addition of "highly viral keywords" will be used to make your title as ahhMOZing as possible.
</p>
<h4><strong>Video enhancements</strong></h4>
<p>
But we don’t want to stop at just the title. We also take your video and make enhancements to it that will make people love it even more. Honestly, your video doesn’t even have to be all that good, and we’ll make it great. I mean, everyone wants to do mediocre work and press an easy button to make it awesome, right?
</p>
<h4><strong> Increased social shares</strong></h4>
<p>
Creating a great title and updating the video are all good and great. But what you really want is for people to see it, right? Cool. We help with that too. You’ll see social shares across all the major platforms (Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, YouTube) go up practically instantaneously.
</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">
<img src="http://d1avok0lzls2w.cloudfront.net/uploads/blog/533a36f86ed1f5.54548207.jpg">
</p>
<h2>A couple examples</h2>
<p>
Ok, I know you all well, and you’re not going to settle until you see exactly how it works. Which is cool, so I have a few examples to show you the kind of virality I’m talking about here!
</p>
<p>
<strong>This One Weird Trick Will Keep You Energized All Day</strong>
</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">
<iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/mlzllPbLlKo?list=PLbKcy9p3mh_EfEYryrbqgaETlGwS6KUk2" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" width="640">
</iframe>
</p>
<p>
This one is fairly straightforward, but wow, look at that title! <br>
<strong></strong>
</p>
<p>
<strong></strong>
</p>
<p>
<strong></strong>
</p>
<p>
<strong>You’ll Never Believe What This Former Philologist Caught on Video </strong>
</p>
<p>
<strong></strong>
</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">
<iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/2H1-LYIUSBQ?list=PLbKcy9p3mh_EfEYryrbqgaETlGwS6KUk2" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" width="640">
</iframe>
</p>
<p>
This is just a short, simple video as you see. But with MozWorthy! we were able to add oomph to the video, and make the title something that even your grandmother will want to share.
</p>
<p>
So, what are you waiting for? Go check out MozWorthy! right now, and see what we can do for your social shares!
</p>
<div style="text-align:center;">
<a href="http://mozworthy.moz.com" style="text-align:center;" onclick="_gaq.push([‘_trackEvent’, ‘MozWorthy’, ‘Launch’, ‘Blog Post CTA’]);">
<p class="cta cta-large button-yellow" style="color:#ffffff;display:inline-block;">
Start using MozWorthy!
</p>
</a>
</div><br /><p><a href="http://moz.com/moztop10">Sign up for The Moz Top 10</a>, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don’t have time to hunt down but want to read!</p>
You’ll Cry Tears of Joy When You Learn how Easy Viral Videos Can Be
Posted by jennita
Today, I’m super-excited to introduce our latest product from Moz, MozWorthy! It’s a tool that takes your regular (perhaps even boring) videos, adds some “oomph” and pizzazz, and makes it go viral.
With so much talk about content marketing on the rise—and guest posting on the decline—we wanted to build something that helps in both instances. You make the video—heck, it doesn’t even have to be that great—and we do the rest.
Check out the video we used as the test. What started out as just a regular old video, turned into a HUGE HIT around the world. In fact, it was the original version of the “internet famous” FIRST KISS video.
You can jump in and give MozWorthy! a try now, or read a bit more about why we made it, see some examples, and learn how it works.
How it began
At the end of February, many of us at Moz participated in Ship It Week. This was a time when we focused on using all our internal talent, enthusiasm, and fun to collectively come together and innovate. This meant more than just coding and building things, but working to build new ideas, frameworks, and anything else we could imagine to innovate at Moz. MozWorthy! was one of the tools we created.
Our top-rated Ship It Week project is a tool that helps you learn the names of all the Mozzers, called “Name That Mozzer.” It was built as an internal tool only, to help staff get to know others on the team. A big thanks to Brandon for all the work he put into making Moz a better place!
Although that one was a favorite among staff, we knew that several other projects would be used and loved by the community. For example, Peter Bray built Zoom Profiler, a tool that allows users to very quickly analyze a competitor, influencer, or customer to find their most important relationships, their top tweets, and their top content sources.
At the same time, Evan came up with the idea of making it easier for people to get their videos to go viral. As a team, we thought our customers would really love it as well, so we jumped in full force: The product, design, dev, and marketing teams got together to create something truly helpful!
How it works
Ok, ok, let’s get down to the real dirt. How does this baby work?! It’s quite simple, and it only takes a few steps to find yourself in viral video world.
-
Upload your video to YouTube. (Right now, the tool only works with YouTube videos, since it’s still in its infancy. However, we plan on adding Vimeo, Wistia, and other platforms soon.) If you already have a video on YouTube that you’d like to use, that’s great too.
-
Give it a basic title; you don’t need anything fancy here. We’ll do the work for you!
-
Once your video is uploaded, head on over to mozworthy.moz.com to add the link to your video and fill out a couple of key attributes.
-
Hit submit! Then we do the rest for you.
Viral title generator
Once you submit your video, we take it and process both the video and title. Using super-special Moz data based on what words are the most clickable and linkable, we create a viral title for you. A combination of your title, attributes you added, and the addition of “highly viral keywords” will be used to make your title as ahhMOZing as possible.
Video enhancements
But we don’t want to stop at just the title. We also take your video and make enhancements to it that will make people love it even more. Honestly, your video doesn’t even have to be all that good, and we’ll make it great. I mean, everyone wants to do mediocre work and press an easy button to make it awesome, right?
Increased social shares
Creating a great title and updating the video are all good and great. But what you really want is for people to see it, right? Cool. We help with that too. You’ll see social shares across all the major platforms (Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, YouTube) go up practically instantaneously.
A couple examples
Ok, I know you all well, and you’re not going to settle until you see exactly how it works. Which is cool, so I have a few examples to show you the kind of virality I’m talking about here!
This One Weird Trick Will Keep You Energized All Day
This one is fairly straightforward, but wow, look at that title!
You’ll Never Believe What This Former Philologist Caught on Video
This is just a short, simple video as you see. But with MozWorthy! we were able to add oomph to the video, and make the title something that even your grandmother will want to share.
So, what are you waiting for? Go check out MozWorthy! right now, and see what we can do for your social shares!
Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don’t have time to hunt down but want to read!
SearchCap: The Day In Search, March 31, 2014
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Marin Launches Context Connect, Says Retailer Impressions Surged During Polar Vortex As the brutal Polar Vortex wea…
Marin Launches Context Connect, Says Retailer Impressions Surged During Polar Vortex
As the brutal Polar Vortex weather system bore down on much of the U.S. this winter, consumers apparently hunkered down and passed the time by doing more online shopping. According to Marin Software, paid search impressions surged for retailers January…
With great names comes great responsibility.
In recent years, Joost and Yoast have become less and less synonymous, to the point where it’s now downright confusing as to what people are referring to when they’re correctly pronouncing Joost’s first name and the company name. You’d almost start to feel thankful for those ignorant people who still insist on calling Joost “juiced”.…
This post first appeared on Yoast. Whoopity Doo!
Should a Local Business Use Just a Local Page or a A Brand Page And a Local
I have written before about the fact that it is not possible to merge a G+ Page for local with other page types like brand or company. But the question of the relative value of one page versus another is an om-going question for me. Is there a benefit to having both page types if […]
Marin Software’s Context Connect Helps Advertisers Identify Trends & Take Action
Marin data released today suggests that many residents shopped online during the polar vortex. However, that same data revealed missed advertising opportunities. Marin has announced a new tool to keep advertisers relevant in the face of such events.