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 that “the eCPM for above the fold units is approximately 80% higher than below the fold units. You’ll get the best results by having more ad units above the fold.”

Following the rollout of Google’s Panda update last year, many speculated that ad-heavy sites were targeted, especially after Cutts mentioned that one thing Panda specifically was looking at was whether a website had an excessive number of ads.

Regardless of whether it was part of Panda, it’s definitely confirmed now. On this, Google is clear: “Such sites may not rank as highly going forward.”

“If you click on a website and the part of the website you see first either doesn’t have a lot of visible content above-the-fold or dedicates a large fraction of the site’s initial screen real estate to ads, that’s not a very good user experience,” Cutts wrote.

However, what remains unclear is what is a “normal” vs. “excessive” ad ratio. Also, which screen resolution is Google most concerned with? What is the “standard” size, according to Google?

And what is “content” considered in this change? Is “content” a picture? Links? Text? Video? Navigation? Social sharing links? Google doesn’t say.

In the comments of the Google blog post, one commenter points out that it’s unclear how an “ad” is defined by Google. “Does it include only AdSense? Yahoo PPC? Banners and other display advertising? Affiliate links? ‘Ad’ is a pretty broad term.”

Fixes

Worried your site might be impacted, or perhaps you already have seen a drop in traffic and you suspect it might be due to this update? Google tells publishers to make sure your content isn’t “obscured or otherwise hard for users to discern quickly.”

Google provides a Browser Size tool to show you how your website appears in various screen resolutions. Google also pointed to this page as a resource for more Chrome extension alternatives.

Here’s what Search Engine Watch’s homepage looks like using this tool.

Because this is an algorithmic penalty, not a manual penalty, changing your page layout is one way to recover rankings. Says Google:

“If you decide to update your page layout, the page layout algorithm will automatically reflect the changes as we re-crawl and process enough pages from your site to assess the changes. How long that takes will depend on several factors, including the number of pages on your site and how efficiently Googlebot can crawl the content. On a typical website, it can take several weeks for Googlebot to crawl and process enough pages to reflect layout changes on the site.”

Wait, Isn’t Google Just as Guilty of Pushing Ads?

Yes. Yes they are. But guess it’s OK since “ads are just answers.”

Funny enough, Google doesn’t allow you to view any of their pages or search engine result pages in their own browser size tool, which would likely show that Google pushes down its own content (i.e., search results) in order to make money via advertising – not to mention that, due to Google changing the background color of AdWords ads, it’s much harder to distinguish the difference between paid and organic results on many computers.

For example, on this search for “buy jacket”, above the fold I see two (and a half) organic results, but 9 ads, in addition to Google shopping results, which some might consider a case of Google obscuring content.

Google has already responded to the criticism leveled at them, telling Search Engine Land, “This is a site-based algorithm that looks at all the pages across an entire site in aggregate. Although it’s possible to find a few searches on Google that trigger many ads, it’s vastly more common to have no ads or few ads on a page.”

We use many signals to decide which title to show to users, primarily the <title> tag if the webmaster specified one. But for some pages, a single title might not be the best one to show for all queries, and so we have algorithms that generate alternative titles to make it easier for our users to recognize relevant pages. Our testing has shown that these alternative titles are generally more relevant to the query and can substantially improve the clickthrough rate to the result, helping both our searchers and webmasters. About half of the time, this is the reason we show an alternative title.

Other times, alternative titles are displayed for pages that have no title or a non-descriptive title specified by the webmaster in the HTML. For example, a title using simply the word “Home” is not really indicative of what the page is about. Another common issue we see is when a webmaster uses the same title on almost all of a website’s pages, sometimes exactly duplicating it and sometimes using only minor variations. Lastly, we also try to replace unnecessarily long or hard-to-read titles with more concise and descriptive alternatives.

1. We changed our location, now we have big space in Sector -10
2. We have started giving free domain and hosting space to the student /corporate to get more in-depth of web.
3. We have added new Content Specialist Instructor to Improve English writing skills as well as speaking skills of students.
4. We have added 5 new topics in our SEO Course Module.
5. Unlimited Access of Internet and practical sessions available .

Its easy to explain end client, but it’s tough to explain Angie J.  Angie this is something specially I am writing for you J.

Conversion Rate is a percentage that is defined as a Outcomes divided by the Unique Visitors (or Visits).

Conversion Rate = Outcomes/ Unique Visitors or Visits

Unique Visitor —In Real Time Tracking Unique Visitors = Unique Browsers who visits your website.
Visits — It’s a session or an Interaction between Browser and a User.

Each unique visitor might visit your website multiple times (i.e. Visits).

So here Angie I am coming to your questionJ, Conversion completely depends on the business mind set.

If we choose Visits as Denominator then we are assuming that every Visit to our website is a chance to get someone to place an order and get someone converted.
“To check this simple thing is to see the transactions if we have more then 80% transactions where minimum 2 products get purchased”, In this case we can think to keep visits as denominator.

If we choose unique visitors as a denominator then we have a mindset that it is okie for a person to visit our website multiple times before making a purchase.  I feel this is a common user buying behavior.

Choosing the Denominator decides which business mental model is right for your company.

Angie you guys are using XiTi, and luckily GA and Omniture use visits by default. I think its a sufficient explanation for client to move to GA.

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 you online is how the product is best used. Private profiles don’t allow this, so we have decided to require all profiles to be public.”

Pre-Google+ Google Profiles pages allowed a user to provide a bit of info about themselves and post links to their Web pages on other social networks, blogs, photo-sharing sites and personal or business Web pages. In the Google+ rollout, those who signed up for the social network saw their pages turn into Google+ Profiles, which offer the same functions as the old page but now connect to other social features built-into Google+.

But even with private pages going public, most information can still be kept locked away and not shared with those surfing the Internet.

“Your full name and gender are the only required information that will be displayed on your profile; you’ll be able to edit or remove any other information that you don’t want to share,” Google said.

If a Google Profiles user doesn’t turn his or her page public by the end of the month, Google will delete the page.

“If you currently have a private profile but you do not wish to make your profile public, you can delete your profile. Or, you can simply do nothing. All private profiles will be deleted after July 31, 2011,” the company said.

Source LA Times

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. Find out what these people are discussing and take a contrarian viewpoint. Again, make sure you link back to the original post for which you’re taking a contrarian viewpoint.

* Scan LinkedIn Answers for common questions that are popping up on the platform. Better yet, take one of those questions that’s generating a decent amount of responses and build a blog post around it using the question and answers in your post (with links back to anyone who might have a blog)

* Search Quora for key questions that are emerging in your industry. Take a look at the answers to see if you agree. If not, build a post around what your answer might be.

* Aggregate and curate. Go back and review the blogs you follow. Find 5-10 posts around one key topic and create your own post with links back to those original articles.

* Review session topics at upcoming industry events and conferences. Or, monitor Twitter and other social networks for people who are talking about these sessions after the event. That will give you a pretty good indication which topics are hotter than others.

* Read articles in industry publications and news sites. See if there’s any bigger picture issues you could comment on in a blog post or video post. You’re just looking for a topic you feel strongly about–something you can opine about.

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 appear on the Google Profile under a tab called “Posts”. The +1′s and Buzz tabs remain separate. I have to wonder if we’ll see Buzz and Posts merge eventually.

6. What is available now is “just the beginning” according to Google. These are just the first features or presumably many more to come.

7. Circles is one current feature. It lets you share things with different people (kind of like Facebook Groups) but with a very different user interface. Watch this video.

8. Another feature is Sparks. This looks for videos and articles it thinks you’ll like, so “when you’re free, there’s always something to watch, read, and share.” Filter Bubble anyone?

9. Hangouts is another feature. It’s basically group video chat. Google describes it as “the unplanned meet-up.”

10. Instant uploads is a mobile-specific feature. Photos upload themselves as you take them, and are stored in a private area on the cloud.

11. Huddle is another group-conversation feature for mobile. Essentially, it’s group chat. The Stream

12. The stream is basically the equivalent of the Facebook news feed.

13. When you share something with Google+ it’s added to your stream and the stream of everyone you shared with.

14. The stream shows you what all of your Circles have shared with you.

15. If you mention a user, using the “+” or “@” symbols, the person may receive a notification that you mentioned them.

16. You can see who specific posts were shared with in the stream – whether they were shared publicly, to extended circles, or a limited group.

17. You can filter the stream by specific Circles.

18. You can chat directly in the stream

19. You can report inappropriate content.

20. You can search for people from the search box at the top of the stream.

21. Soon, Google says you’ll be able to search the stream itself from the search box.

22. If you leave comments on a post, you can edit or delete them.

23. The same goes for posts, but you can’t edit a post’s sharing settings after the post has been shared. However, you can delete the post and share again to different circles.

24. You can “reshare” posts made by others (like retweeting).

25. You can “mute” a post. This will let you stop receiving updates from a post, like if the comments get out of control for example The Google Social Network

26. You can use the “Google+ Bar” that appears at the top of various Google products as your connection to the social network.

27. When you’re signed in you’ll see your full name or email address displayed with a photo or avatar next to it, to help you identify which account you’re currently signed in to.

28. If you’ve enabled multi sign-in you can sign in to two different Google accounts and switch between them using the Google+ bar.

29. When you sign up for Google+, you’re also signing up for Picasa Web Albums, so all photos and videos uploaded to Google+ (including from your phone via Instant Upload) will also be available in Picasa Web Albums.

30. You can use the Google +1 button from the stream.

31. You can have a ton of friends on Google+. Robert Scoble quickly added over 1,000.

32. The central user interface is very Facebook-esque.

33. Google+ quickly became the butt of a lot of jokes (and even cartoons), but has also received a great deal of praise thus far.

34. With Google+ Google adds a “You” link to the recently redesigned (painted black) navigation bar across Google properties

35. You can view public Google+ content without actually being invited (Danny Sullivan has a guide on how to view it )

36. China is already blocking Google+. That didn’t take long.

37. Invitations have been listed on eBay.

38. There are already privacy concerns about Google+ but the Privacy Guide can be found here.

39. According to the Financial Times article, you can share something within a closed “Circle,” but somone from that circle can then reshare it with anyone, and even make it public.

Is Google+ destined to bring real competition to Facebook or will the hype fade? Share your thoughts.

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 is giving away for free to those businesses that they recognize as being the ‘go to’ places for a particular service/product in that location.

Google makes the decision as to who gets into the top seven by the relevance of the website’s description to the search term, its proximity to the center of the location and how often they have seen that business mentioned in a variety of local listing directories/social media platforms. That’s what makes the difference between the award of a red balloon and a red dot.

However, as a small business owner with no knowledge of SEO, local or otherwise, I was not aware of the thinking behind the selection. I knew I had to have a Google Places page but, over the months, there was conflicting advice as to the best way to get one.

Some experts advised that an existing Google Places page should be claimed immediately to stop any mischievous competitor from taking it and messing around with the phone number or address whilst others suggested that it was better to get all the information needed to complete the various demands for company information and then claim it.

Still more said that, if Google had not already deemed you worthy by preparing a Places page for you for free, then you should just create your own and another group insisted that was wrong and you should promote your online presence until the big G had been nudged into noticing you.

The one thing that they all eventually agreed on was that you shouldn’t try to influence Google or any potential customers by stuffing keywords into the Title of your business listing. Sadly, it was too late for me because, by then, I had already submitted my entry with explanatory keywords after the main name of the business.

The next thing that became a consensus was that you needed to have an absolute address. PO Boxes and virtual addresses would not do at all since verification was now done via postcard and no proper address meant no possibility of proving that you did do business from that address. However, again, this became a fact after I had entered a second entry (with an incomplete address to preserve my anonymity as a home worker) because Google Places seemed to have eaten my first.

Two months later, I typed my keyword and location into the Google search box and discovered that both entries were now showing – and that neither had the correct details. To my consternation, one had a big red circle with a letter and the other the standard red lettered balloon.

That’s when I met someone who did know what they were doing and, under their guidance, we were able to start again and do things properly, in the right order, so that Google could present me with my own free website showing all the required information for local customers to get in touch.