Associated PressGoogle See Also Facebook Is Doing Apple and Google's Job For Them The 10 Most Popular Apps Of 2014 More Evidence That Google's Massive New Android Update Is Coming To The Galaxy S5 Soon
A couple of months ago, Eric Schmidt said he considers Amazon.com to be Google's biggest competitor. The company views the e-tailer as a search engine for products, and oftentimes Amazon's search engine offers better and more detailed results for product searches than Google does.
What makes Amazon so dangerous for Google is that it has already reached a critical mass of customers. Indeed, Schmidt noted that more than one-third of people looking to buy something start their searches on Amazon. And while they don't always buy the product they're searching for from the Web store, its search traffic that isn't going to Google.
That's why Amazon was largely able to avoid paying for Google's product listing ads, which it started inserting into the top of search results for product-related searches. While Amazon paid for those ads for some subsidiaries, its flagship online store has enough pull that if people really want to buy something from Amazon.com, they'll find it in Google's search results no matter where it ends up.
Not everyone's so lucky
Not every Internet company is as strong as Amazon. For example, coupon company RetailMeNot.com was negatively affected by Google's search algorithm update in May, causing its organic search traffic to decline significantly.
From the second quarter to the third, RetailMeNot's search traffic fell from 64% of total traffic to 60%. Search traffic is particularly valuable for RetailMeNot, because searchers are generally looking to use its product immediately, as opposed to a direct visitor who may just be browsing to see what deals are available.
As a result of the algorithm change, the company lowered its full-year guidance in the second quarter and narrowed it with a lower mid-point in the third quarter. The stock price has responded accordingly, falling over 50% since the Google algorithm update.
RetailMeNot's business is fairly simple to replicate, which is why we've seen a plethora of competitors pop up over the past few years -- at least one of which, Coupons.com, has gone public. Google could easily replicate RetailMeNot's business, considering its existing relationships with retailers for advertising and other various projects. If Google shoved its own product at the top of search results for "Gap coupons," it would surely hit RetailMeNot's income statements.
It's done it before
That's the situation in which Yelp finds itself. Google tried to buy Yelp in 2009, but Yelp turned down its offer. Now Google is attempting to overtake Yelp by placing its own product at the top of the page for location-based searches -- a carousel of local options.
Yelp has also found that Google is attaching its own content to links to restaurant and hotel websites, which makes them more attractive, and makes it more likely users will click on a link to a Google product. Either way, Yelp believes this move cost it as much as 19% of search traffic.
On the most recent earnings call, Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelmann noted that Google's strategic and algorithmic changes negatively affected traffic, particularly internationally.
Recent developments
Most recently, Google started disrupting the lyrics aggregation sites by placing the first portion of song lyrics at the top of search results for searches like "Nelly Ride Wit Me lyrics." The lyrics card contains a link to Google Play to see the full lyrics.
While this will negatively affect all of those lyrics database websites that rely on page views for income, Google hopes to attract more customers to its digital download store and music streaming service. After all, there are a lot more searches for song lyrics than for streaming services. Google's ability to insert its product into quasi-related search results is an advantage none of the other streaming services have.
Google's impact on the Web and any company that relies on traffic is absolutely huge. If Google tries to buy a company you're invested in and it spurns Google's offer, it could signal the start of a rivalry between the company and the search giant. And while Google might not necessarily win, it can easily have a negative impact on almost any Internet company.
More from The Motley Fool:
These 3 Biotechs Are Looking at a Happy New Year
Dividend Stock Face-Off: AT&T Inc. vs. Verizon Communications Inc.
3 Video Games That Could Bomb in 2015?
Why Gogo Inc Stock Performed So Poorly in 2014
A Preview of December's New Car Sales Numbers (Hint: It's a Good Time to Sell Cars)
Disclosure: Jeff Bezos is an investor in Business Insider through his personal investment company Bezos Expeditions.
This article originally appeared at The Motley Fool. Copyright 2014. Follow The Motley Fool on Twitter.
This article was originally distributed via PRWeb. PRWeb, WorldNow and this Site make no warranties or representations in connection therewith.
Charlotte, NC based technology company Possible Web, Inc. launches Crush Local SEO to give US local businesses an affordable, trustworthy source of local marketing services.
Charlotte, NC (PRWEB) December 30, 2014
Possible Web, Inc., a Charlotte based digital marketing company, recently launched a new online Local SEO service called Crush Local. Touted as a top option for local businesses, Crush Local provides an instant portfolio of professionally managed digital assets for any local business.
Managing digital assets has always been the mission of Possible Web, a 3 year old corporation founded by SEO expert, Patrick Scully. Businesses keep immaculate records and tight control of assets across the board; however most fail to realize the true value and potential of digital assets, often forgoing the millions of daily revenue opportunities presented by utilizing multiple platforms and technologies correctly.
The combination of human skill and intense computer analytical technology is a cornerstone of Possible Webs service offerings, and Crush Local is no different. Any local business, in any category, can instantly acquire over 300 premium digital assets, or Digital Real Estate, as the company describes it, and have those property managed, optimized and monitored by some of the top Local marketing experts in the business.
When discussing the near future of local marketing online Scully remarks, Local marketing in 2015 will be making your business available to any searching customer, anytime and anywhere. While Google will still drive the majority of search engine traffic, the number of customers using apps, maps and local reviews will continue to increase rapidly. Focusing solely on Google SEO is no longer an option.
While local search platforms are certainly growing past just Google Maps, utilizing the Crush Local SEO service, the company admits will in effect boost any local business Google rankings. At a price point of just $99/mo, the company hopes to support the local marketing efforts of businesses across the United States.
Possible Web Inc. is a digital marketing and media company headquartered in Charlotte. Founded by Charlotte SEO expert Patrick Scully in 2011, the company continues to grow and develop new marketing technologies for small to mid-sized businesses. The company also focuses on developing new applications and technologies for digital security, advertising and asset delivery.
Crush Local SEO is a online service offering developed by the SEO experts at Possible Web, and an affordable Local marketing service for businesses across the United States.
For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/Charlotte-SEO/local/prweb12417784.htm
Information contained on this page is provided by an independent third-party content provider. WorldNow and this Station make no warranties or representations in connection therewith. If you have any questions or comments about this page please contact pressreleases@worldnow.com.
Whether you think SEO is an acronym for "search engine optimization" or "screwing everyone over", you don't even need a website to learn valuable life lessons from SEO. It's one of the most confusing, jargon-riddled, important, and lucrative IT fields in existence—and it's not going anywhere.
Even though the majority of small businesses in the US don't have a website (even though they really should), there will come a time when you need to be online or shut your doors.
And when you're online? SEO determines your popularity, customer reach, and ultimately how successful your business will be.
However, the evolving best practices of SEO are actually great business lessons beyond optimizing your website. Here are a few things to learn from SEO to become a better entrepreneur:
Stop with the Black Hat Trickery
Black hat tricks are basically ways of falsely (and sometimes illegally) bolstering your website up the rankings. Usually, this is a short-term approach because the algorithms are getting better, which means you will get caught. Depending on the severity of the, "crime," Google might penalize your site or even remove you entire from the search engine results.
My friend Murray Newlands always warns entrepreneurs "Messing with Google isn't worth it. The best and easiest way to rank these days is to keep 100% of your efforts with your customer in mind. Black Hat isn't what your customer wants, nor Google. Always think with your customers in mind and you'll never have to worry about Google.
The lesson: Shortcuts are for amateurs and it's not worth it in the long haul.
People Search in Dumb-Smart Ways
When a person types a search into Google, their choice of words are likely to query, "electric blankets Anchorage" and not "Buy an electric blanket in Anchorage". This means you need to come up with creative ways to include keyword variants naturally and organically even when they are really awkward.
The lesson: Give the people what they want, even if it's not easy and even if it seems stupid in the beginning. Keep in mind that they are paying the bills.
Panda is Always Changing
Google rolls out hundreds of updates each year, and only smidgen of them are officially announced. However, SEO experts are guessing that Panda updates will now happen every quarter. I would say that it's happening daily, though we don't see all the major changes as they are small. Depending on the update, your industry, and your site, you might need to make major tweaks or minor ones. It's going to always be evolving.
The lesson: Business is never at a plateau, and you need to adapt as circumstances dictate.
Content is King
This is the unofficial rally cry of SEO gurus. There might be a lot to a great SEO campaign—but nothing trumps quality content. It's the bread and butter, what draws people in, and ultimately there's no way to get around it. Professional writers rejoice, because this is where your English degree really pays off.
The lesson: How you communicate is critical, and in the digital era that's more and more often going to be in written form.
Not All Links Stay Good
Link building is another big part of SEO, but here's the catch: Even if you have great quality links one day, there's no guarantee they will be the same caliber tomorrow. This requires constant checking, research, and changes.
The lesson: Not all partnerships are forever, and sometimes needs a change. Change with them.
No matter where you are in the real SEO strategy, don't bypass crucial lessons. SEO lessons can teach you in all parts of your business.
Google began as a simple search engine and as it stands, this giant tech company is now dealing in a wide range of products that include tablets, smartphones and now maps.
No one can imagine life today without Google and its products, since in almost every undertaking in our day; we come across an area where we at least use one of this company's products. The paths to success for Google hasn't been smooth either as it has had to shrug off some massive competitors and even acquire some competitors along the way. The latest competitor Google is facing is Microsoft.
Google and Microsoft are two tech giants that are pulling each other in different market domains. This tag of war has led these two giants to another niche where Google has been doing amazingly well. Google Maps is very popular among users of Android and iOS devices as this online mapping application provides users with direction and location which enables them to find their way to any place on earth.
Offline Google Maps
Usually, Google Maps is an online application which means it requires bandwidth or internet connection to function. However, the latest offline version of Google Maps is set to come in with a whole different experience. In the past, Google has been the leading provider of mapping applications, however, Microsoft has come in with a different app in the shape of Here Maps, which was previously a Nokia app but since Microsoft took over Nokia, this feature has been revived.
Google Maps vs. Here Maps
The difference Microsoft Here Maps has with Google Maps is that instead of using Wi-Fi or data connection, Here Maps use GPS since this offline app is downloaded to your phone and can be accessed any time when needed. This app has particularly been embraced by those who love travelling to far and wide areas where network coverage is sometimes poor. Furthermore, the Here Maps come as a blessing in case you find yourself without an active data pack or airtime.
Google has considered this a lot and as it is, an offline app for Google Maps is soon coming. This is the one rare occasion Google has been challenged and responded directly. This move is set to revolutionize things forever and if the offline feature is implemented, Google Maps would be better and even stronger than before.
Here's an interesting piece of information you should be aware of as we head into 2015: Google changes its search algorithm around 500–600 times every year. As Moz points, however, that's nothing to be worried about. Most of the time these are minor changes, but every now and then Google shakes things up significantly – think Google Panda and Google Penguin.
Regardless of the size of the update, Moz recommends marketers be aware of "the dates of these Google updates," because it "can help explain changes in rankings and organic website traffic and ultimately improve search engine optimization." And, since Google owns over 67% of the search engine market, whenever it does make a change, we have to pay attention.
While 2014 saw updates regarding Panda, as well as the removal of Authorship, it was also a very interesting year in regards to local search. This past year alone we experienced the launch of Google My Businesses, a major Pigeon update, and some significant changes with Carousel.
We'll take a look at how these three changes have impacted local SEO and then provide a couple of tips to take with you into the next year.
Google My Business
Image Source: Nyshita talluri via Wikimedia Commons
Mark Mitchell notes on the BrightEdge Blog that "Google Places was first introduced with Google Plus (Google+) in 2011," which became Google+ Local by 2012. This past June Google announced that this free service had been renamed to Google My Business.
Sarah Perez explained on TechCrunch that Google My Business is a suite of tools "for business owners, offering them a one-stop shop to update their business information, add photos, read reviews and, of course, use Google+." The idea behind Google My Business is that business owners can easily update and increase their visibility on Google search, Google Maps, and Google+ through one dashboard.
In fact, as Ashley Zeckman states on SEW, you can now access the following applications on one screen:
Google+: You can share new text, photos, links, videos, and events.
Insights: Once you verify your business you are able to gain insights into your visibility, engagement, and audience.
Reviews: Each business is given a Google rating and you are able to manage your reviews on Google and view other reviews around the web.
Google Analytics: Quick access directly to your Google Analytics dashboard.
Start a Hangout: With the click of a button you can start or join a Hangout.
By the end of October the Google My Business App – available on both Google Play and iTunes – was beefed up so business owners could read and respond to online reviews. As Business News Daily states, this means you'll receive an alert whenever someone posts a review on Google+ Local and be able to respond to that review in a timely manner. The update to the app also works with AdWords Express so you can track ad campaigns from anywhere via your mobile device or login via desktop.
Key takeaway: Google My Business can be used by small business owners to engage their audience in one convenient location. Because of this, you can now respond to reviews quickly and keep your customers in the loop.
Pigeon
Image Source: Razvan Socol via Wikimedia Commons
On July 24, Google turned the local SEO community on its head with the algorithm update, "Pigeon" – Jim Yu stated in SEW that many believed it was "the biggest Google update to the local search results since the Venice update in 2012." One of the biggest impacts was "directories were now being favored in the results above local businesses." And while that may have been welcoming news for sites like Yelp, it wasn't exactly a great day for top-ranked websites.
According to data from BrightEdge, via SEW, here were the industries hit hardest by the Pigeon update:
Jobs (68% decline in Google Places results)
Real estate (63% decline in the Google Places results)
Movies (36% decline in the Google Places results)
Insurance (11% decline in the Google Places results)
That's not to say that it was all doom and gloom for business owners. The Pigeon update helped improve queries for the following:
Hospitality (28% growth in Google Places results)
Food (19% growth in the Google Places results)
Education (13% growth in the Google Places results)
Other winners included Spa (+4.64%), Shop (+4.32%), Law (+3.55%), Medical (+1.83%), Transportation (+1.31%) and Fitness (+1.12%).
What else did Pigeon have an effect on? According to Moz's Local Search Ranking Factors 2014, it also changed the importance of ranking factors. Following the update, here are the ten most important ranking factors:
Domain Authority of Website
Proximity of Address to the Point of Search (Searcher-Business Distance)
Quality/Authority of Inbound Links to Domain
Quality/Authority of Inbound Links to Landing Page URL
Physical Address in City of Search
Quantity of Reviews by Authority Reviewers (e.g.Yelp Elite, Multiple Maps Reviewers, etc)
Quality/Authority of Structured Citations
City, State in Landing Page Title
Click-Through Rate from Search Results
Page Authority of Landing Page URL
Here are the factors that have decreased in importance:
Proximity of Address to Centroid
Physical Address in City of Search
Individually Owner-verified My Business Page
Quantity of Structured Citations (IYPs, Data Aggregators)
Proximity of Address to Centroid of Other Businesses in Industry
Location Keyword in Business Title or Title Modifier
Quality/Authority of Structured Citations
Quantity of Native Google Maps Reviews (w/text)
Geographic Keyword in Website URL
Proper Category Associations
Key takeaways: Despite all the changes with the Pigeon update, you shouldn't neglect the four main areas of local: website, links, citations, and reviews. However, after a through 5,000 page case-study, Adam Dorfman shared the following on Search Engine Land: Pigeon has not improved SERPs, strong domains are important, location matters, and you shouldn't over-optimize your site.
Carousel
Image Source: Neurolysis via Wikimedia Commons
In June 2013, Google debuted the Carousel feature for desktop searches. These interactive, horizontal listings included images you could scroll if you searched for something like "Seattle restaurants." Search marketer Matthew Hunt, via Search Engine Land, discovered that "48% of searchers surveyed clicked the Carousel results, while only 14.5% clicked on the map" in 2013. Because of the popularity of this feature, it was suggested that you should use high-quality images of your business.
That was all well and good until Google decided to start shifting away Carousel over this past summer. Instead, the Big G now prefers to have a format that more closely resembles mobile searches. By mid-November, local searches for hotels, restaurants or nightlife options were replaced by a "three-pack" of ads – Bing, however, is now using the interface for local searches. Lisa Raehsler, founder and principal strategist at online advertising company Big Click Co., informed SEW that:
"Clicking on the organic results leads to a new details page where initiating a second action, like hotel reservation search, is a sponsored ad. This opens up opportunities for SEO/PPC to be more integrated and see more interactive ad units in search results."
Key takeaway: As Tom Dibble states on Econsultancy, "this move will affect your organic traffic ranking and volume of traffic," especially if you're in the hospitality industry. He also notes that "the new Local 3-Pack is going to make the lives of independent and boutique properties a bit more difficult."
Local SEO Tips for 2015
Image Source: Pixabay
To help you prepare your local SEO strategy for 2015, here are a handful of general SEO tips.
Be Mobile-Friendly
According to research conducted by Google, in conjunction with Nielsen, consumers are spending over 15 hours per week during research on their smartphones. As smart phone usage continues to grow, it only makes sense for your business to be mobile friendly. If not, competitors could take away 68% of your smartphone traffic.
Jay Taylor argues on SEW that having a mobile-friendly site can improve click-through rate and increase both rankings and revenue. To make sure your site is mobile-friendly you can use this handy tool from Google.
Optimize Google My Business
You also want to optimize your Google My Business. Google suggests you do the following:
Make sure your business location is entered correctly on the map
Double check your business name, physical address, and phone number(s)
Add information such as hours of operation and payment types
Add your official website on the local Google+ page
Use specific categories, keywords and descriptions of your business
Encourage reviews
Get Listed
Besides being listed on Google My Business, you should also be listed on the following business directories:
Yelp
YellowPages.com
Whitepages
Merchant Circle
Foursquare
Supermedia
Manta
CitySearch
MojoPages
Moz has an extremely useful guide on how to get local citations if you need a little more assistance in this area. And, don't forget to make sure that your N.A.P. is consistent as well.
Be Awesome
Here's some simple, and effective, tips on how to be successful with local search in 2015 courtesy of Greg Gifford on Search Engine Land.
Have useful content on your homepage
Include relevant and informative content on every page
Stop spamming keywords
Your title tag should summarize the page
Include your city and state in your title tag, H1 heading, URL, content, and alt text on images
Earn quality links
In short, these tips aren't all that different from the good ol' fashioned local SEO tactics you've probably used in the past.
Stay Alert
Miriam Ellis created a 6-point Pigeon-proofing checklist for local businesses for Moz that starts off with this piece of advice, "Stay tuned in to local blogs and fora and monitor the SERPs on a regular basis to watch things progress in the coming weeks and months." She says because "the dust has not settled" on the Pigeon update, you shouldn't "react with a complete 180 in your marketing strategy."
Was your local SEO campaign affected by any of these changes that Google implemented this year? If so, how did you react? And, how are you planning your local SEO strategy for 2015?
Featured Image: Dabarti CGI via Shutterstock
Bio
Twitter
Google+
Latest Posts
Albert Costill
Writer at Alpha Brand Media
Just a typical guy that enjoys an ice-cold beer, pizza, sports and music. Since venturing into the blogosphere many years ago to discuss his favorite tunes, Al has been known to write for online publications by Alpha Brand Media, such as EveryGuyed and Search Engine Journal, to discuss everything and anything that matters.
@albertcostill
+Albert Costill
Latest posts by Albert Costill (see all)
SEO 101: How Local SEO Changed in 2014 and How to Get Ready for 2015 - December 26, 2014
50 Awesome and Inspiring Responsive Website Designs from 2014 - December 21, 2014
14 Brands Who Owned Tumblr This Year - December 18, 2014
Monetizing music. That's likely the objective behind Google's latest search engine moves, which now pop up song lyrics at the top of relevant search inquiries. While many other sites and thousands of YouTube videos have been providing easy online access to song lyrics for years, Google can obviously leverage the behemoth power of its search engine to provide its own results first -- then linking to its own sources, such as the Google Play store, to sell you the tunes.
The news emerged last week in a short Google Plus post by Glenn Gabe, Digital Marketing Consultant at G-Squared Interactive. "The hammer has fallen. Google now displaying lyrics in the SERPs (search engine results pages)," Gabe said.
Gabe's post included a sample result showing the page that appears if you're searching for the term "mollys chambers lyrics." The first item to show up at the top of Google's results page includes the complete lyrics to the song by Kings of Leon.
'Makes You Wonder'
Indeed, older music fans will remember 'back in the day' when it was nearly impossible to find song lyrics if they weren't included with albums. That trouble lay behind countless misunderstood lyrics, including the classic -- "'Scuse me while I kiss this guy" -- which was really Jimi Hendrix singing "'Scuse me while I kiss the sky" in the song "Purple Haze." Not to mention the cryptically interpreted lyrics from AC/DC's "thirty thieves and the thunder chief," which of course was always meant to be "dirty deeds and they're done dirt cheap."
While the new search functionality is live, Google isn't yet consistent with the results it returns. For example, a search for the aforementioned "Purple Haze" didn't return a set of lyrics, although it did include links to Web sites that have published the words to the song. The same held true in a search for AC/DC's "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap" lyrics.
"Google began quietly rolling out lyrics at the top of results pages last week, but only for certain songs that have been licensed from music publishers, with more expected soon," according to an ArtsBeat article published today in the New York Times.
The article noted, for example, that lyrics appear in a search for Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" but not for the Bruce Springsteen classic, "Born in the U.S.A." It added that Google had confirmed the new search feature with a "playful statement": "There's a feeling you get when you turn to a song and you know that the words have two meanings. Well it's whispered that now if you go search the tune, maybe Google will lead you to reason. Ooh, it makes you wonder . . ."
Lyrics in 'Legal Gray Area'
In response to comments on his Google Plus post, Gabe noted that "there's a lot they (Google) can do to monetize lyrics. And I expect that to happen, sooner than later. :)"
And it does appear that it will be be sooner: "When they do appear, the words come complete with a link to the company's Google Play store, where the tracks can be purchased," according to the New York Times.
After decades of languishing in a "legal gray area," song lyrics appear to finally be making their way into a more easily accessed -- and monetized -- position, according to the New York Times.
In fact, Microsoft's search engine, Bing, launched its new "lyrics experience," in early October. The feature enables users to "view full lyrics for your favorite song on the mainline search results page, without having to click through to a third party site or spend time figuring out which blue link on the page will yield good quality lyrics."
No matter what specific industry you may be in, most likely you're going to have a website. Websites are crucial in having a professional online presence. However, just because most professionals realize that a website is important, many lack the background in search engine optimization (SEO) to make it easier to find by search engines and target audiences alike.
Below are some great SEO tools that can make the learning process a lot easier by automating part of the process to give insight on what needs to be done next.
SimilarWeb
SimilarWeb has a free top-level insight report to gather highlights of data about your own website or customers. It also has a robust platform that allows you to compare yourself to competitors to see how you're doing online. Similarly, if you don't have any direct competitors, you can research your industry or the industry of your target audience to find some patterns in search behavior.
This type of insight can help you determine content, online branding strategy, or even product development. Additionally, by seeing the breakdown of your traffic sources in an easy to read graph, something that Google Analytics occasionally lacks, it makes decision making less confusing.
Screaming Frog
Screaming Frog is a legendary free SEO spider tool with a paid yearly license option that allows you to "spider" (crawl) website links, images, code and apps. This data can help you analyze what needs to be fixed, such as meta tags and image errors, as well as allowing you to crawl competitors' sites to see the type of SEO they may already have in place.
Another important feature of the software that many SEOs use is the inbound and outbound link reports, which allow you to see who is linking to you and vice versa. This can not only help in SEO research, but also in PR and social media campaigns. It allows you to see who is "talking" about you from an SEO perspective.
Content Suggestion Generators
While great content on its own isn't solely about SEO, fresh content does increase the likelihood that your website will get crawled by search engines more often, which can increase your overall traffic.
These free content suggestion tools can help you and your team think of better blog topic ideas. Because many start-ups are bootstrapped or prefer to do their content writing in-house, having ideas to start with can help make writing blog posts an easier task.
Portent's Content Idea Generator: This tool allows you to input a word or key phrase, and it generates a catchy title that you can use directly or utilize to think of something that works perfectly with your blog.
RYP Marketing's Content Topic Ideas Generator & Brainstorm Tool: This tool is like discussion search on steroids. Input a topic you want to write about, and it scans sites like Quora, JustAnswer, and Twitter for discussions surrounding that topic.
Webpage FX's Blog Post Idea Generator: This tool works similarly to Portent's, and also allows you to google their result so you can see if other similar articles have already been written.
HubSpot's Blog Topic Generator: This tool's goal is to give you a week's worth of blog ideas after you input three nouns that you'd like to write about. While it's not always perfect, the five results make writing blog posts on a regular basis much less intimidating.
You can also use tools like UberSuggest to generate keyword suggestions based on a core word or phrase, which can hopefully spur a blog topic or more research inspiration.
Yoast's WordPress SEO Plugin
If your startup is on a WordPress website, it's crucial that you install and activate Yoast's WordPress SEO plugin. This solution is almost a one-stop shop when it comes to automated basic best practice SEO for your website, like verifying Google and Bing Webmaster Tools, installing Google Analytics, optimizing meta tags, and creating an XML sitemap.
Yoast also has an extensive tutorial library, which can help get you set up in no time, and a premium support option that is renewed yearly.
Crazy Egg
Crazy Egg stands out in the SEO world because it offers easy-to-understand heatmaps for SEOs and web developers. Their monthly plans start at $9 per month and they offer a free heatmap preview and 30-day trial before signing up for a paid plan. Heatmaps track and estimate user eye patterns by seeing what they look at and click on first, which is calculated using a script you add to your website. This can help you see what parts of your website users are focusing on.
This can help you determine the layout, graphics and content of your website. For instance, if you notice that most people look at the sidebar of your site first, consider putting your most important graphic or links there instead of a useless image that doesn't link to anything.
Crazy Egg also includes insight on scrolling behavior, click history and multiple report options.
Cognitive SEO
Like SimilarWeb, CognitiveSEO is another SEO platform that allows you to view multiple data points about your SEO and website as a whole. Besides providing keyword ranking reports over time, which is considered an outdated practice to some but still useful to others, you can also run audits of your site and others. You can determine any potentially harmful unnatural links, which may be a result of spam or a previous SEO agency using black hat techniques for your site. Reports of ranking trends, SEO visibility in Google, and other aspects are also available.
CognitiveSEO is another "one-stop shop" option if you want to view your search and social media trends and traffic patterns all in one place. They have plans that start at $99 per month.
Moz Local
Moz Local is one of the leading local SEO tools. It makes creating, managing, and editing your local SEO listings as easy as possible. If your startup only services a specific area, local SEO is one of the most important aspects of a search strategy due to its ranking factors. But local can also be helpful if your business services customers nationwide, as it simply is giving your business more potential to be shown in search results and on local search engines, like Localeze and Foursquare, as well as Google and Bing Maps.
Moz Local allows you to search for your business first to find existing listings which you can then edit. Or it allows you to create listings for multiple places, all by inputting your information once.
Moz Local costs $84 per year, paid annually.
Moz Pro
While they aren't exactly the same, Moz Pro is another option outside of SimilarWeb and Cognitive SEO. Unfortunately, this set of tools doesn't come bundled with Moz Local. But it offers several great services that can help you identify linkbuilding opportunities, segment Twitter followers, run site audits or crawl tests, and more.
All of these features allow you to not only get the best possible picture of your startup's current SEO efforts, but they also provide you with suggestions on how to improve, which is key when you have limited resources.
One of Moz Pro's most popular tools, Open Site Explorer ,allows you to run a set number of searches for free. But the set of tools as a suite costs $99 per month.
While these are only a small sampling of the available free and paid SEO tools available today, they represent a solid offering of options that can help you not only learn and implement SEO, but also provide a great picture of your competitors and others in your industry.
This provides motivation and insight you'll need for your startup to be successful online.
(TNS) -- Found in the now-infamous hacked emails of Sony Pictures executives were conversations about President Barack Obama, Hollywood stars such as Angelina Jolie, and Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood.
Hood, a Chickasaw County native and Mississippi's only statewide elected Democrat, has found himself part of the national story about North Korea's apparent hacking of Sony Pictures in what appears to be a successful attempt to prevent the company from releasing a movie about a fictitious effort to assassinate the country's dictator.
The emails involving Hood have led search-engine behemoth Google to file a federal lawsuit against the attorney general in federal court in Jackson.
Google alleges the emails highlight that Hood is working with the Motion Picture Association of America to harass the company in violation of federal law, including violating its free speech rights through his massive subpoena of Google documents.
Hood, whose issues with Google and other Internet companies have been ongoing for years, said he is only doing his job, trying to prevent Google from "leading kids to illegal sites."
In a statement late Friday, Hood -- current president of the National Association of Attorneys General -- said he was calling "a time-out so that cooler heads could prevail." He said he would "reach out" to Google's legal counsel "to negotiate a peaceful resolution to the issues affecting consumers that we attorneys general have pointed out in a series of eight letters to Google."
But in recent interviews Hood has defended his working with the motion picture industry as revealed by the leaked Sony emails. The emails where Hood was prominently mentioned have been reported by various national media outlets, including the New York Times.
"There is nothing inappropriate about working with a victim," Hood said, saying his office does that all the time. "They (movie companies) have had their property stolen."
The motion picture and music industries have long been concerned about the release of their products on the Internet where they are watched or listened to for free.
Hood, a veteran prosecutor, conceded that many people, especially the younger generation, do not see anything wrong with being able to download the latest movie or song at no charge, but said he believes strongly in protecting a person's or company's "intellectual property."
He said it is especially important in Mississippi, which despite its poverty and small population has produced an inordinate number of musicians and writers.
But Hood said his work with the motion picture industry is almost a byproduct of his primary mission, which is to get Google to adjust its search engine so it does not lead people -- especially juveniles -- to sites where they can purchase drugs illegally.
In a recent news conference, Hood had a screen capture on the wall in his Jackson office where a Google search using the key words "buy drugs" led to Internet sites where Hood said prescription drugs can be purchased illegally online.
Hood said Google has proven it can prevent such sites from showing up in its searches because when there is a search for child porn the search engine does not provide any Internet sites. In Germany, Google blocks Internet sites associated with the Nazi party, Hood said.
"All we are trying to do is get Google to be a responsible citizen," he said
In its defense, Google said it has worked with Hood and other attorneys general to limit searches, and to limit access to You Tube videos that instruct people on illegal activities.
But Google has argued Hood and the AGs should be focused on shutting down illegal websites, not on a search engine.
Hood countered that many of the Internet sites are out of country and out of the reach of states' attorneys general.
Hood said the motion picture industry is helpful because it can provide expertise needed to tackle a large company like Google. He pointed out Google in 2011 agreed to "forfeit" $500 million to the United States for past bad behavior.
In an attempt to fight back, Google sues Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood, claiming unjustified attacks and that the attorney has violated federal laws:
"Because Attorney General Hood's 79-page subpoena constitutes an unjustified attack that violates well-established U.S. laws governing Internet platforms and online intermediaries, we are today asking a federal court to set that subpoena aside." says Google's Public Policy Blog.
In the 44 pages document Google claims that, for the past year and a half Jim Hood has threatened Google with a lawsuit unless it agrees to eliminate from its search engine certain sharing sites from YouTube, ad systems, or others such as: websites, videos, or ads not created by Google, that the attorney considers dangerous.
In his 79 page subpoena the attorney demanded for Google to hand over data from the search engine's system. Hood's representatives have responded, by saying that Google hasn't been willing to cooperate. This subpoena contained detailed explanations on the requests made to Google that the tech giant offer access to specific documents. According to the same subpoena, Google had "sent more than 99,000 jumbled, unsearchable documents in a data dump."
Hood wants to prove that Google is violating the Mississippi Consumer Protection Act. and has served Google with a subpoena of 79 pages in October 2013.
The attorney says that Google has been facilitating several illegal online activities from making drug sales easy, to online piracy or human trafficking, and he claims that Google has been profiting and keeps profiting from all of these situations.
Hood stated that the ones put in danger by Google are mostly kids and teenagers. He wanted to demonstrate how easy it is to be a "criminal" or to find illegal prescription drugs via google. You just type the words of interest , and google will lead you straight to it:
"Some kid in Mississippi types in, 'Buy drugs,' they're going to find a way to buy some.""If they're stealing music and movies and software, that's bad, that's a crime. And if Google's assisting them, that's a crime." Hood said.
In its defense Google has mentioned the Communications Decency Act of 1996, an act which regulates online publishers or search engines and federal laws regarding copy writing and importation of drugs.
Even more, Google has implied that the attacks of Hood have been motivated and supposedly financed by the Motion Picture Association of America. In November MPAA has started a campaign against the tech company, when Sony has been attacked by hackers and extremely sensitive emails and data were stolen and leaked allover the internet. Jim Hood has promptly denied any involvement and has called out everyone who has information or evidence that can prove Google's illegal acts. Image Source: Attorney General Jim Hood
Google said that it will shutter the Spanish version of its news service next week in response to a new local law that allows Spanish publishers and newspapers to charge the search engine each time their content appears on Google News.
That means Google News will no longer be available to Internet users in Spain. But it also means that Google News users in the United States and elsewhere will no longer be able to access the real-time updates from publications such as El Pais, La Vanguardia and El Periodico de Catalunya.
Google has been engaged in a high-stakes battle with the Spanish Association of Daily Newspaper Publishers. The industry group aggressively backed and ultimately won approval for a Spanish copyright law requiring that content providers be paid for the use of snippets and images drawn from their news stories. The law takes effect next month, and violators are subject to fines of up to 600,000 euros, or about $743,000. (While some are calling the new law a "Google tax," it will also apply to other online news services.)
The argument is simple. Google says its relationship with publishers is symbiotic. No, say the Spanish publishers, it's parasitic -- and they're done being hosts.
"For centuries publishers were limited in how widely they could distribute the printed page," Google executive Richard Gingras said in a blog post announcing the decision. "The Internet changed all that -- creating tremendous opportunities but also real challenges for publishers as competition both for readers' attention and for advertising Euros increased."
What's worse for Google than the Spanish law is that the issue probably won't stop at Spain's borders. The Spanish publishers have the backing of the European Newspaper Publishers' Association, which holds among its core principles that "In the digital environment, respect for copyright by all market players, including search engines and news aggregators, is a necessary precondition to ensure a sustainable press sector in Europe." In other words, the rest of Europe wants Google to pay for using local news content, too.
What has the European publishers so upset? Google News does to news stories what, in many ways, Google's search engine does to Web sites. It collects what's available online and presents it in a way that makes it easy and pleasant for Internet users to find what they're looking for. That Google built its index of the World Wide Web without anyone's permission in the late 1990s did a great deal to make the online world navigable to the average user.
But there is a difference. Google search results don't really resemble Web pages. But Google News looks a lot like the front page of an online newspaper. And that makes publishers nervous that they're being replaced.
Google News has been good for Google. Launched by a company engineer who was disappointed by what turned up from a search for "World Trade Center" in the hours after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Google News has helped turn the search giant into a more real-time, responsive service.
But Google argues that the service is good for publishers, too. The company has said that it drives "over 10 billion clicks a month to 60,000 publishers' websites, and we share billions of dollars annually with advertising publishing partners."
One irony in the dispute is that Google has never run ads on Google News, in part so that it can present the site as more of a public service than a product. Google has argued that having no ads on Google News means there's no revenue from which to pay publishers. Of course, Google, as a multibillion-dollar company, might be able to find the money elsewhere. But forcing Google into a pay-for-snippet model, some online activists have argued, threatens to disrupt the Internet ecosystem and damage the "right to link" that has long defined the World Wide Web.
So, for now, Google isn't willing to play ball.
Related Article Google says death threats don't trump copyright law on YouTube
Google filed suit in federal court in Jackson, Mississippi, this morning to block a probe being led by state attorney general Jim Hood, alleging that he's treading in areas controlled and preempted by federal law.
"Congress broadly immunized interactive computer service providers from state regulation for displaying information created by others," write the search giant's lawyers.
Yet for the last 18 months, they allege, Hood "has threatened to prosecute, sue, or investigate Google GOOG unless it agrees to block from its search engine, YouTube video-sharing site, and advertising systems, third-party content (i.e., websites, videos, or ads not created by Google) that the Attorney General deems objectionable."
Hood was not immediately available for comment—we will append his comments when received. But he has asserted that his office has probable cause to believe that Google is violating the Mississippi Consumer Protection Act, and served Google with a broad 79-page document subpoena last October. The responses will be due in January, unless Google wins the temporary restraining order it is seeking in today's suit.
In a letter to Google last November, Hood wrote that "overwhelming evidence shows that Google facilitates and profits from numerous illegal online activities ranging from piracy to illegal drug sales and human trafficking."
He cited, for instance, the fact that in August 2011 Google entered into a nonprosecution agreement with federal prosecutors and agreed to forfeit $500 million for "allowing online Canadian pharmacies to place advertisements through its AdWords program targeting consumers in the United States," as a Justice Department press release described the deal.
Google maintains, however, that the Communications Decency Act of 1996, which regulates the behavior of Internet publishers and search engines, as well as other federal laws relating to copyright and drug importation, are meant to preempt the field into which Hood is intruding. According to Google's petition, in July 2013 Hood and 45 other state attorneys general "acknowledged in a letter to Congressional leaders that "federal law prevents State and local law enforcement agencies from prosecuting" Internet platforms.
"The Attorney General has demanded in several meetings," continue Google's lawyers, led by Jamie Gorelick at Washington, D.C.'s Wilmer Hale and Fred Krutz of Jackson's Forman Hardy Watkins Krutz & Tardy, "that Google pre-screen or block third-party content and search results that merely may involve illegal activity, even at the cost of burdening lawful, protected speech. He has even sought a '24-hour link through which attorneys general' can request that links to particular websites be removed from search results 'within hours,' presumably without judicial review or an opportunity for the target websites to be heard."
In fact, according to the suit, Google has "created a custom reporting tool" for Hood to use to seek expedited removal of YouTube videos he finds objectionable, but he's used it only seven times, the suit says. This amounts to less than 0.000004% of the YouTube videos Google took down in 2014 following its ordinary policies and procedures, the suit alleges.
In footnotes, Google also suggests that Hood is doing the bidding of the Motion Picture Association of America, which it claims has helped draft letters and other documents.
In a blogpost on its site Thursday, Google general counsel Kent Walker characterized the assistance the MPAA has given Hood and a few other state attorneys general as a "secret, coordinated campaign to revive the failed SOPA legislation by other means." (The Stop Online Piracy Act was legislation proposed in late 2011 that would have permitted companies to petition the Justice Department to seek court orders requiring ISPs to block customers from reaching particularly egregious foreign-based, rogue sites. In January 2012, after hundreds of web sites, including Google, posted anti-SOPA political messages on their home pages, and invited the public to inundate congressmen with calls and emails, the bills were abandoned.)
Kate Bedingfield, a spokesperson for the MPAA—whose members include Walt Disney Company DIS , Paramount Pictures VIA , Sony Pictures SNE , 21st Century Fox FOX , Universal CMCSA , and Warner Brothers TWX —said this: "our primary objective is to protect our members and their creative works—employing voluntary initiatives, policy solutions and legal actions. When wrongdoing is taking place online, we work with and support appropriate law enforcement officials, including the Attorneys General, as do many other industries."
As for Walker's blogpost, Bedingfield added, "Google's blog post today is a transparent attempt to deflect focus from its own conduct and to shift attention from legitimate and important ongoing investigations by state attorneys general into the role of Google Search in enabling and facilitating illegal conduct – including illicit drug purchases, human trafficking and fraudulent documents as well as theft of intellectual property. We will seek the assistance of any and all government agencies, whether federal, state or local, to protect the rights of all involved in creative activities."
Google has suspected since at least November 2013 that Hood's investigation enjoyed significant assisstance from the MPAA. As reported by the New York Times earlier this week, Hood provided Google a 10-page, single-space electronic letter, written in Word Document, that revealed on its face, if one simply clicked on "file" and then clicked on "properties," that it had been written on the computer of a lawyer at Jenner & Block, one of the MPAA's outside counsel.
Its suspicions were exacerbated when The Verge reported that stolen emails, disclosed in the recent mammoth computer hack of Sony Pictures, showed that the MPAA was coordinating a campaign against "Goliath," which appeared to be a codename for Google. The New York Times and Huffington Post then reported additional evidence of such a campaign earlier this week, based both on freedom of information act requests and stolen emails from the Sony hack.
The MPAA and Hood are strange bedfellows. Hood has often worked closely in the past with contingent-fee plaintiffs lawyers, prompting the ire of the Chamber of Commerce's Institute for Legal Reform, for instance here (pages 11-14) and here (page 96).
I wrote about Hood in 2008, when he teamed up with plaintiffs lawyers Dickie Scruggs to mount a multi-pronged legal assault on State Farm in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. (Scruggs later went to prison for bribing two state judges. He was released earlier this year.)
Recently on Twitter, long-time SEO Joe Rega said something a lot of us have been thinking for a while.
I'm just gonna throw it out there; I think Google Webmaster Tools needs an app, or at least a mobile friendly site
— Joe Rega (@JoeRega) December 16, 2014
Google has been talking to webmasters for years about the importance of mobile and multiplatform content, and has an exceptional app for Google Analytics, yet their main product for webmasters looks like this:
Is that mobile friendly? Fortunately, Google has given us a test to determine whether or not a site is mobile friendly, and the answer is…
No. It's not mobile-friendly. Google has failed its own test.
This is not to pick solely on Google, as Bing has the same problem:
And this isn't even just to pick on search engines, as many of the SEO tools I use every day are not only not mobile-friendly, but are nearly impossible to use away from a desktop.
BrightEdge has a lot of great data, but you can't really see any of it on a smartphone without more than a little effort.
SEMRush may be mobile friendly once you log in, but I wasn't able to do that on a smartphone as the keyboard that popped up obscured the login box.
And Moz has warmed up to mobile SEO slowly after basically declaring it dead four years ago, but it's difficult to tell that by looking at their platform on a smartphone.
I understand that all of these are fairly large organizations with a lot of priorities that are sometimes conflicting, and that it sometimes shows in their content. And it is selfish of me to want this content to be mobile, as I find it useful enough to want to access regardless of where I happen to be. But tweets like Joe's show that I'm not alone here.
Anyone else think SEO tools like these should practice what they often preach and invest in mobile content? If we get enough affirmative votes in the comments, perhaps we can help them make the business case internally.
But really, do we need a business case for mobile in 2015?
If more than half of all search traffic doesn't come from mobile queries already in 2014, it will by 2015. Google and Bing, and the SEO platforms that depend on them, should know this better than anyone. SEOs like me and Joe are no longer early adopters. Mobile is mainstream.
Over the years, I've watched all of these platforms slowly incorporate more mobile search data into their products. Now it's time to take the next step: Build a usable mobile web or app experience so that your users can access the content from anywhere. Users like me will thank you for it.
What do you think? Whether you're an SEO wanting data on the go (or at home, where smartphones are used most often) or an SEO platform rep wanting to share your perspective, let's discuss a solution that works for everyone in the comments below.
Some opinions expressed in this article may be those of a guest author and not necessarily Marketing Land. Staff authors are listed here.
Register Now & Save! Marketing Land's SMX West search marketing show is already the event that more than pays for itself through practical tips & techniques you'll learn. But earn even more by booking now with Super Early Bird rates before they expire! See the agenda & learn more about the show.
About The Author
Bryson Meunier is the SEO Director at Vivid Seats, is an SEO veteran with more than 14 years experience both agency and in-house, and is a thought leader in permission marketing as a columnist and a frequent speaker on SEO and mobile marketing.
(Some images used under license from Shutterstock.com.)
Sign up for weekly recaps of the ever-changing search marketing landscape.
Associated PressGoogle See Also 
Facebook Is Doing Apple and Google's Job For Them 
The 10 Most Popular Apps Of 2014 
More Evidence That Google's Massive New Android Update Is Coming To The Galaxy S5 Soon 
Upgrade to the new Firefox »
