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Is your website ad heavy? You may be in trouble. Google has announced  a new algorithm tweak that will lower the rankings of websites that Google determines is providing a bad user experience – a move Google hinted was in the works in November. Google’s Distinguished Engineer Matt Cutts, in a blog post, reported that the “Page Layout algorithmic improvement” will effect 1 percent of searches globally – which is no small number considering Google powers at least 3 billion searches per day globally, according to comScore estimates. Google’s Page Layout Update The target is too many ads, which means the area that is visible to users when they first arrive on your site prior to scrolling. Many website overload this area with AdSense ads, among others, to make as much money from advertising as they can – even this page from Google notes [+]

Google pushing all 'Profiles' pages public July 31 in Google+ transition Old Google Profiles are being switched over to Google+ profiles in the tech giant's integration of existing products into its suite of social networking service called Google+, and on July 31 another big step will take place -- all Google Profiles will go public. That means those who have Google Profiles pages set to "private" will no longer have that option of hiding from the world online. Google announced the move in a statement on its website. "The purpose of Google Profiles is to enable you to manage your online identity," Google said in its notice of the private-to-public switch-over. "Today, nearly all Google Profiles are public. We believe that using Google Profiles to help people find and connect with [+]

How To Generate Social Content That Gets Clicked:

So, today I wanted to share a list of approaches I’ve taken to brainstorming and generating social content with my clients and partners. Take a look at the list below and let me know what you think.

* Scan hash tags and search terms within your industry regularly on Twitter. See what issues are bubbling to the top and write about those.

* Scan Twitter lists within your industry. Find out what these key influencers and folks are talking about and consider weighing in with your two cents on those topics–and don’t forget to feature their tweets prominently in your post.

* Develop a list of 10-20 key blogs in your industry, put them in a blog reader and sift through them once a week. [+]

39 Things You Should Know About Google+ This isn’t every single thing there is to know about Google+. That could probably be a book rather than an article, and the Google+ Project has only just begun. If Google has its way, it will live on for years. Or it could go the Google Wave route. It’s just too early to tell. While we’ll no doubt learn plenty more about Google+ as time goes on, here are some quick nuggets to get you a little more acquainted with it. 1. Google+ is currently available on an invitation-only basis. 2. Google does not consider it a Facebook competitor (at least publicly). 3. Google+ is currently available for download as an app in the Android Market. 4. When you download that app, it splits off the “Huddle” feature as a separate app. 5. Users can post status updates, and these [+]

Local SEO With A Google Places Page

Like most small business owners with their first website, I didn’t immediately understand the importance of keywords and search engine optimization when it comes to being found by customers who live virtually on your doorstep. And that’s where Local SEO is a key factor.

Statistics have shown that most customers will buy from businesses located within five miles of their base. It’s almost as if they trust a business more if it has a local physical address.

I now know that the key to getting on the front page of Google for local keywords is to rank in the seven-pack list of Google Places pages with one of those red balloons These are the websites that Google [+]

Pilot Webmaster Tools’ Search Queries data in Google Analytics

Webmasters have long been asking for better integration between Google Webmaster Tools andGoogle Analytics. Today we’re happy to announce a limited pilot for Search Engine Optimization reports in Google Analytics, based on Search Queries data from Webmaster Tools. In addition to including Search Queries data found in Webmaster Tools, these Search Engine Optimization reports also take advantage of Google Analytics’ advanced filtering and visualization capabilities for deeper data analysis. For example, you can filter for queries that had more than 100 clicks and see a chart for how much each of those queries contributed to your overall clicks from top queries. [caption id="attachment_580" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="pilot webmaster tools"][/caption] To enable these Search Engine Optimization reports, you should sign up for the pilot and [+]

Supporting rel="canonical" HTTP Headers

Based on your feedback, we’re happy to announce that Google web search now supports link rel="canonical" relationships specified in HTTP headers as per the syntax described in section 5 of IETF RFC 5988. Webmasters can use rel="canonical" HTTP headers to signal the canonical URL for both HTML documents and other types of content such as PDF files. To see the rel="canonical" HTTP header in action, let’s look at the scenario of a website offering a white paper both as an HTML page and as a downloadable PDF alternative, under these two URLs: http://www.example.com/white-paper.html http://www.example.com/white-paper.pdf In this case, the webmaster can signal to Google that the canonical URL for the PDF download is the HTML document by using a rel="canonical" HTTP header when the PDF file is requested; for example: GET /white-paper.pdf HTTP/1.1 Host: www.example.com (...rest of HTTP request headers...)   HTTP/1.1 200 OK Content-Type: application/pdf Link: <http://www.example.com/white-paper.html>; rel="canonical" Content-Length: [+]

It’s been a busy week for us here at the Googleplex. First we released +1 buttons to Google search sites globally, then we announced the beginning of the Google+ project. The +1 button and the Google+ project are both about making it easier to connect with the people you trust online. For the +1 button, that means bringing advice from trusted friends and contacts right into Google search, letting the users who love your web content recommend it at the moment of decision. But when you’re managing a website, it's usually not real until you can measure it. So we’re happy to say we’ve got one more announcement to make -- today we’re releasing reports that show you the value +1 buttons bring to your site. First, +1 metrics in Google Webmaster Tools can show you how the +1 button affects the traffic coming to your pages:   The Search [+]

Google’s Google+ Social Networking Service

When people ask “can Google+ beat Facebook?” they’re misstating the question. It’s not about one site versus another site. Google+ is bigger than that. The reason Google calls it the “Google+ Project” is that Google+ will become a central part of Google’s whole identity. It will reshape the company. So the real question is “can Google beat Facebook?” Put that way, the contest seems a lot more even. Facebook, of course, has a huge head start, but there are good reasons for people to seriously consider dumping Facebook for Google+.

1. Integration with Google Services

The biggest wedge Google has for driving people toward using Google+ is integration. That is, Google will build Google+ social networking features and tools into almost all of its existing online services from Search to Documents to Video. Google+ is already integrated into the navigation bar at the [+]