Webcology #326 – Windows 10 Announced – Schmidtty luvs Stevie

Windows 10 Announced – Schmidtty luvs Stevie

Air Date: January 29, 2015

  • Exciting news from Microsoft as it unveils yet another part of its “move to the clouds” strategy, Windows 10
  • Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt says Steve Jobs is his hero
  • Wikileaks blasts Google for quietly handing emails to governments
  • Google says it fought gag orders in Wikileaks investigation

Podcast: |

 

Digital Marketing Made Easy

This might get me in trouble with my peers in the online marketing industry but I need to share a truth with you all. Most of the work done in digital marketing is really quite simple. From the creation of a website to the propagation of Ad-groups, web applications are designed to make input and modification as easy as possible. This blog and much of the technology that supports it is infinitely simpler to use than the technology we used two decades ago, at the beginning of my career.

It gets complicated when you realize that the panoply of digital marketing channels, each of which is relatively easy enough to enter, affect each other in subtle and often profound ways. Digital marketing gets even more complicated when you consider there are hundreds of millions of other people working the Web, some of which are competing for the attention of the same groups of consumers across some or all of those same marketing venues. To further complicate what should be easy, each marketing venue has different user habits, terms-of-service rules, widely ranging audiences, and where one might work for one type of product or service it might not work for another. There’s a lot of time and money to be spent figuring out which one does which to what and when.

Suddenly, the idea of digital marketing became quite complicated again. Though the various interfaces are easier the over all environment is far more challenging now than ever before. That’s why a market developed from which a professional cadre of webmasters practice search and social media marketing. It is our job to make the extremely complex understandable and easier.

Posted in Jim Hedger - SEO by Jim Hedger. No Comments

Webcology #325 – Suggesting Improvements to Google Search and WebmasterTools

Suggesting Improvements to Google Search and WebmasterTools

Air Date: January 15, 2015

Dave and I cover a number of topics including:

  • Google is asking webmasters to suggest improvements to Google Search and WebmasterTools
  • Is Facebook really a path to the KnowledgeGraph?
  • Facebook WORK is sort of like Google’s Wave but Facebookier.
  • Canadian economy is facing difficulties. With the CDN loonie dropping to $0.85 US, Canadian companies are effectively offering US customers a 15 percent discount which could be 20 percent tomorrow. (the more you know eh?)
  • Google Domains now open to all US residents

Webcology #324 – 2015 The Year of The Podcast

2015: The Year of The Podcast; Moz Responds to Controversial Whiteboard Friday Article

Air Date: January 8, 2015

Co-host Kristine Schachinger and I discuss

  • Moz.com’s response to a controversial Whiteboard Friday article
  • the Charlie Hebdo magazine terrorist attack
  • why everyone is talking about why 2015 is the year of podcasting
  • SEO misinformation and the appearance of a phony SEO expert on the Celebrity Apprentice UK

Podcast: |

Webcology #323 – The Biggest Search Stories of 2014

The Biggest Search Stories of 2014

Air Date: December 18, 2014

This was our last show of 2014 so we used it to talk about the biggest stories of the year that was. We discussed Google Chrome’s new non-https warnings for users who visit an unsecured site, a major WordPress security concern for users of the RevSlider Premium Plugin, and Bing’s prediction 2015 would be the “year of wearable technologies”.

Here’s a breakdown of the other big stories from 2014:

The Good

  • Google and Mobile
  • The SEM Post
  • AliBaba IPO

The Bad

  • Google Glasses
  • Net Neutrality Debate
  • Facebook Messenger App

and, The Ugly

  • Sellout of Incisive Media and the decline of SEW
  • Uber vs the World
  • Bendable iPhones

Podcast: |

Webcology #322 – Most Downloaded Apps – The Right to Be Forgotten

Most Downloaded Apps – The Right to Be Forgotten

Air Date: December 11, 2014

Co-host Kristine Schachinger and I discuss a host of topics including the most downloaded apps for Android in 2014 and comments made by Sir Tim Berners-Lee about the EU policy  on The Right to Be Forgotten.

We also discuss a weird phenomena in Google search where old pages which have been 301’ed to updated URLs are showing up in Google SERPs. Ghosts of pages past or just a quirky bug?

Podcast: |

Webcology #321 – Yahoo On The Rise – Penguin Now Everflux

Yahoo Sees Big Search Bump From Firefox; Google Penguin Will, like Panda, Keep on Running

Air Date: December 4, 2014

Yahoo has seen its market share rise in the US after it recently replaced Google as the default search engine in updated versions of the Firefox web browser. Dave and I discuss the implications of a three search engine market and welcome competition back to the search engine landscape.

We also discuss a handy flowchart published by Janet Driscoll Miller about when a business owner should seek out a consultant.

Lastly, we talk about a video from Google’s John Mueller where John suggests the link quality focused Penguin algorithm has been folded into the greater algorithm. While we might see tweaks here and there, we are unlikely to see another major Penguin update. Penguin is now everflux. Dave and I discuss how this development effects SEO.

Podcast: |

This Poem Belongs to Facebook

This poem belongs to Facebook
They own it right and true
I gave it to them when I typed

A short response to you

My history belongs to Facebook
I signed those rights away
I made the choice to sell my voice
To watch your cats at play

Culture belongs to Facebook
It’s in the TOC
Faster, bigger, and wider data
Examining you and me

Of interest to statisticians
And insurance salesmen too
Your life’s a series of numbers
A portal into you.

Posted in Jim Hedger - SEO by Jim Hedger. No Comments

Webcology #320 – Google Results Ruled Free Speech

Google Search Results Are Free Speech in the U.S. – Google Rolling Out Mobile Friendly Label

Air Date: November 21, 2014

Another show covering a huge range of topics including;

  • A court rules that Google Search Results Are in the U.S
  • Google is rolling out a  label for mobile generated search results
  • Is Google Penalizing Websites With ? If so, how?
  • Google’s DoubleClick Outage Affected about 55,000 Websites For
  • They’re back…Google News Testing Alongside Images

Note: Webcology will be not be aired on Thursday November 28 because WebmasterRadio.FM wishes everyone, including the engineers and producers, a very happy Thanksgiving.

The “Freedom of the SERPs” edition.

Podcast: |

Webcology #319 – SEO Openness Brings More Visitors to Twitter

SEO Brings More Visitors to Twitter

Air Date: November 13, 2014

A hot-button topic show covering a huge range of topics.

  • Twitter notes that making hashtags available to search bots has brought a 10-times increase in non-logged-in visitors to their website. Hashtags have a measurable impact in search results.
  • TeaParty group FreedomWorks is now and completely getting it wrong
  • Google says that over 50% of navigations through Google are secured sites
  • Google signs 60-year lease on and hangars at Moffitt Field

The “Those Trucks Can’t Fill the Tubes Fast Enough” edition.

Podcast: |

Webcology #318 – Digital Marketing Predictions for 2015

Digital Marketing in 2015 Predictions; Is Matt Cutts…Leaving Google For Good?

Air Date: November 6, 2014

guests hosts as we cover predictions for the digital marketing world in 2015. Furthering the speculation, we ask the terrible but very real question, “Is Matt Cutts gone for good?”

It was a fun episode with a great guest host.

Podcast: |

The Benefits of Hiring a Professional – LinkedIn Xpost

Alan wrote about a highly successful Panda recovery Digital Always Media assisted with in his article, , published at LinkedIn. Here’s an excerpt from that piece.

Organic traffic from Google, Bing, and other search engines is the life blood of most websites. Search is how most people will first discover your site, some of which will become your customers. Without this free traffic source companies need to spend real money on various forms of advertising to drive traffic to their websites.

Remember search engines are basically electronic sorting machines. The goal of a search engine is to sort and rank the best content that matches with a users search query. Websites that are constructed to optimally mesh their content with the search engine’s sorting algorithm will tend to rank better than other websites that haven’t optimized. Yet when it comes to optimizing their websites to work with the search engines, many organizations leave in the hands of inadequately trained staff or to lower-cost/lower-skill companies or individuals who claim to offer SEO services.

In a recent article, “”, I detailed an example of what it can cost a company in lost traffic and time to recover that lost traffic. To err is human and in some cases, to err can be quite expensive.

To read the entire article, please .

Posted in Alan K'necht by Jim Hedger. No Comments

Webcology #317 – Duane Forrester Gone from Bing

Duane Forrester Out at Bing; Google Inbox: Pros And Cons; Big 3rd Quarter For Baidu

Air Date: October 30, 2014

We covered a number of topics this show, the biggest news being:

  • Duane Forrester, the Bing spokesperson to webmasters, was part of a massive lay-off at Microsoft as his division was cut
  • A woman in Montreal settlement from Google after a StreetView image shows too much cleavage
  • Pros and cons of Google Inbox
  • Chinese search giant Baidu reports $2.2billion in Q3-2014 revenues
  • Google wants to earlier with a tiny pill in your bloodstream.

Podcast: |

Webcology #316 – Penguin 3.0 Update and Co-references in Follow-Ups

Co-references In Followup Queries and the Google Penguin 3.0 Update With Bill Slawski and Chuck Price

Air Date: October 23, 2014

We had two special guests on the show today, Bill Slawski from , and Chuck Price from .

  • Chuck Price dropped by to talk about the long anticipated Penguin update, Google’s first major link-update in over a year.
  • Bill Slawski jumped in to discuss how co-relations in follow-up queries effect Google search results.

This was the first show after the Penguin Update.

Podcast: |

Webcology #315 – Google vs Amazon

Amazon Is Main Competitor to Google? Google Admits Spam Is A Hard Problem For User Generated Content Sites

Air Date: October 16, 2014

A new rivalry is forming as Amazon moves into territory Google has staked as its own. Dave Davies and I discuss Google Chairman Eric Schmidt’s comments that Amazon is Google’s main competitor.

We also cover,

  • The expansion of same-day delivery service from Google
  • Google’s admission it has a hard time dealing with spam on User Generated Content sites
  • When it’s too late to disavow bad links in the face of the Penguin update
  • Google is now testing mobile friendly text notices in search results, and,
  • A new eye-tracking study from Gord Hotchkiss shows changes in the way searchers look at search results.

Podcast: |