Google: Webmaster Tools Reporting To Return To Normal Within In Coming Days

Google’s Webmaster Tools search query reports are very delayed right now, but Google tells us that they “expect reporting to return to normal in the coming days.” This is a “bug” in how Google shows webmasters search queries that drive traffic a site. The reporting…

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Keyword Magic, or How I Learned to Be an SEO (again)

If you ever want to see a group of grumpy old SEOs griping and stamping their feet, bring them all together in a bar and tell them they just lost their favorite tool. Or show them some random news article from Search Engine Land about Google converting all searches to use a secure protocol (thus stripping out your keyword referral data). Oh my, someone done forgot to take their chill pill, today. I have been writing about keyword research for years but rarely have I recommended browsing your search referral data for keyword ideas. In fact, I first advocated scouring Web logs for keyword ideas back in the late 1990s. I was hardly the first person to suggest doing so but at the time a lot of people were talking about (wait for it — you’re not gonna believe this) … scanning competitors’ “keywords” meta tags. At the time I thought that was ridiculous. We already knew some people were embedding fake keywords in their meta tags just to send their competitors off chasing the wrong queries, but people kept checking each others’ meta tags to figure out which queries they should optimize for. Let’s call that CAVE MAN KEYWORD […]

Yosemite National Park Gets A Google Logo To Mark Its 123rd Birthday

Today’s Google logo celebrates the Yosemite National Park, which congress established as a national park on this date in 1890. The logo includes a collection of badges with “Google” front and center on a yellow badge featuring the park’s famous Half Dome Mountain. A John…

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Are You Setting The Right Link Building Expectations?

In the world of search and online marketing, we talk a lot about the evolving landscape, particularly when it comes to link building. Tactics that work one day can stop working with the switch of a Google button. Tactics that you think are legit can suddenly be deemed a “link scheme.”…

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A PLA Investigation:The Case Of The Hot Pink Wedge Pump

The takeover of the formerly-free Google Shopping by Product Listing Ads (PLAs) is less than a year old. With any new online marketing channel, you would expect some kinks in the system — i.e., some idiosyncratic behavior that is unexpected — and PLAs are no exception. This article…

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Google Launches ‘Estimated Cross-Device Conversions’ In AdWords, First Stage Of New ‘Estimated Total Conversions’

Today, Google launched estimated cross-device conversions in AdWords. It’s the company’s first step in providing advertisers with conversion insights that reflect the real-world impact of their campaigns. The new conversion type is the first to roll-out as part of the new Estimated…

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