With the battle between the smartphone giants Apple and Android (amongst other market leaders) raging on fiercely this year, the number of web users taking advantage of the mobile browsers has risen dramatically. Contemporary web designers should surely be taking mobile users’ needs into consideration now that over 15% of the UK’s internet traffic relies on mobile phone access? According to a recent study conducted by Heart Internet, one of the leading hosting companies in the country, only 50% of 500 web designers surveyed take mobile users into consideration when building a new site.
There’s no denying that the majority of designers and developers are still creating sites for the desktop platform above all other browser options, which is considered by many to be a backwards approach. Now that the mobile web market has risen to such prominence within the industry (according to recent statistics, more smartphones are being shipped into retail outlets than desktop PCs), there are a number of free webmaster tools that are available for professional web designers to utilise if they currently have limited experience when it comes to web design with WAP compliancy in mind. In particular, goMobi offers fast and easy ways for business owners to convert their existing site to comply with the requirements of all mobile phones, while there are a number of free sites that offer the same service such as Google Mobilizer (also known as the Google Conversion Utility) and mobisiteGalore.
With recent trends in mind, designers should take into consideration that their client is likely to be missing out on huge volumes of traffic if their site lacks functionality when it’s viewed with mobile devices. Similarly, search engines such as Google index mobile listings differently to traditional web listings, so from the point of view of an SEO company it would be important to explore the impact that mobile search has on their clients’ SERPs and code sites accordingly.
The use of the ‘nofollow’ attribute has greatly affected the link building process for many website owners. The hyperlink value essentially tells the search engine bots crawling your site not to pay any attention to the links specified. This has its pros and cons – by implementing the ‘nofollow’, you’re ensuring that the specified links aren’t adding to the link juice of your site, ie they won’t be increasing your popularity rating. However, they will still help associate your website with other relevant pages and so improve your exposure. It has been extremely useful to deter spammers from gaining any sort of advantage from posting irrelevant comments on your pages or blogs.
The ‘nofollow’ is an attribute that can be added in to HTML coding – it’s often called a tag by mistake.
All links are set to ‘dofollow’ by default. This means that their worth is assessed by the search engine crawlers as standard. To turn the link path into a ‘nofollow’, use the following code:
rel=”nofollow”
in your code syntax as below:
<a href=”www.yoursitename.co.uk” rel=”nofollow”>Example of Page</a>
If you want to, you can also make the entire website ‘nofollow’ by implementing the code into your meta deta on each individual page. An example is listed below:
<html>
<head>
<title> NoFollow Tutorial Example</title>
<meta name=”description” content=” “/>
<meta name=”robots”> content=”nofollow“>
</head>
<body>
Using ‘nofollows’ correctly will lower the number of outbound links that are indexed by the major search engines and aid a natural, white-hat link building process.
Many social media network users are unsure of the fate of Facebook, and also on the impact that Google’s new social network will have on it. Some think Google + will kill Facebook, and others believe Facebook will stay strong despite the competition. Personally I predict Google + will win the social media battle, but I will explain my views and maybe you will second my opinion.
Statistically
Facebook started off in 2003, not originally as the Facebook that we know today – it was a site exclusive to those on campus where girls could be rated and used to be known as Facemash. It took 3 years for Facebook to become available to everyone over the age of 13, and a further 3 years for Facebook to turn its cash flow from positive to negative for the first time, despite previous investments into the company that added up to roughly $33 million. What may prove to be noteworthy is that Facebook took 852 days to reach 10 million users. Another point is that Facebook is currently worth $50 billion. You may be asking yourself, while these are facts important, they’re just statistics. It will all become clear soon I assure you. Also for your reference here is the history of Facebook displayed in an info graphic blog post
Google+
Google Inc was founded in 1997. Google has come a long way since its first domain; it has many other features which are constantly being released and updated. Plus the algorithms are updated quite frequently which shows that Google has done their best to provide the best search results possible. It has been stated by the SEC, who are run by the United States government, they handle securities and also exchange commission that Google has turned over a profit every single year since 2001. The beta for Google + was released for just a few hours on July 7th, and it took Google + 16 days to reach 10 million users, an astonishing amount of people in such a short space of time. Finally I would like to raise the point that Google as a corporation is currently worth $190 billion dollars.
Time to Compare
Google has been around for 14 years, it has become such a huge part of the internet and our knowledge source. In fact, Google is one of the most popular sources that people turn to for knowledge or advice. According to Statcounter.com, Google rakes in just over 90% of global searches, that’s an astonishing amount, the other search engines are barely visible. Not only is Google the Kingpin globally, Google also dominates the search arena in all continents. The smaller search engines do change around a lot; however no one scratches the surface of Google. So due to Google’s colossal exposure worldwide, this is most likely the reason why Google + has had an explosion of users. You can also notice a trend in Facebook and Google patterns which can be related to how trustworthy they can be. Google will always revolve around its search engine; even Google + uses algorithms to decipher which information and status updates are most relevant for the user. Facebook (Facemash), on the other hand, was merely a drunken teenage project that developed into something completely different.
This can be reflected by their privacy policies. Facebook has a habit of changing the policy for its own corporate advantage. Google has had the opportunity, and if anything they could potentially gain more than Facebook for doing it. However they have not done the same as Facebook in that sense.
In regards to cash flow, Google is much more productive than Facebook. Google took 4 years to make a profit, and in comparison Facebook took 6, this reflects on how much potential the organizations have and also how productive they are. Which leads me to the value of the two companies, as previously stated, Facebook is only worth $50 billion, if you were to multiply that by 3.8 you would result in Google’s worth, $190 billion. That means that Google has an extra $140 billion they can spend on improving Google + and competing with Facebook. In terms of money Facebook isn’t in the same league as Google.
The users are another indication of progress which should be heavily taken into consideration. As above, it took Facebook 852 days to reach 10 million users, Google plus only took 16 days. Google reached the target 5325% quicker than Facebook. That is an astounding percentage to say the least. We should however remember that Google started the trend of social networking, so naturally it took longer to catch on and become popular. So it is fair to say Google’s rapid increase of users could be due to the fact that they joined in the era of web 2.0. It may prove interesting that Facebook has lost 6 million users in the U.S very recently, a statistic derived from Seroundtable.com. Such users may be switching to Google + as the newer and trendier social networking site.
All in all, in regards to statistics, Google definitely has the upper hand in this battle. It is safe to say that Google has the potential both financially and also in work ethics, that Facebook clearly lacks. Looking into the past, it is fair to say Facebook has done a lot of work (they practically set off social networking), however I believe Google has achieved much more overall. They have created countless amounts of projects, even though many didn’t make it out of the lab, but Google is constantly working to better itself and thwart all other competition.
Features
Google +
Google has stuffed itself full of useful features which Facebook was obviously lacking. Obviously Google + has the standard chat and messaging features and so on, but I’m going to describe to you what Google + has that Facebook just doesn’t.
One of the most famous features of Google+ would, no doubt, be its Circles. This is a way you can organise people you have added to your account into specific categories, when you add someone, you choose which circles they come under. Now the brilliant thing is when you update your status, you can choose which Circles see the update – the same goes with media and profile settings. I’ve found from personal experience that they are very easy to manage and they also have a fun little animation which just brings the whole idea to life and makes it a bit more light-hearted. The greatest part about the Circles concept is it prevents one person from having multiple accounts. For example I have a business and a personal Facebook account, both obviously used for different reasons. However with Google+, the Circles feature means that there is no need to have separate accounts in this way. You can group your friends into any form of detail. Not only that, but you can keep your business contacts separate. Now obviously you’re not going to want your clients seeing last night’s stag night photos, but with the Circles features you can keep your business reputable and not even have to worry about it. For example if you were to post an image of you doing something slightly untoward at recent a party onto Facebook, your friends would think it to be hilarious, but if your boss or clients see it, it could damage the business and possibly get you fired. With the introduction of Google’s Circles, you will never have to worry about that sort of thing.
Google’s +1 feature should also be given some thought, it will greatly impact SEO, more than a Facebook like or a Twitter retweet will ever do
Google has incorporated Circles into status update listings, also known as a stream. You can view the stream by the Circles, so now instead of endlessly scrolling through the list in search of something, you can now choose your criteria and narrow your searches.
The Hangout feature is a genius idea, it allows multiple people to chat with text or webcam, you can invite people by Circles or individually. The Hangout activity pops out into another window automatically, so you can still browse on your Google+ with minimal effort. Also another handy tool is there is some form of YouTube browser integrated into Google +, it reminds me a lot of browsing YouTube on the iPhone, but I think that this is a great idea and it also makes media sharing easier and more convenient.
Sparks is a very interesting feature, I believe Google noticed that a lot of social media users just scroll through updates, well now you can save your interests, for example music, and there will be a massive list of media and article for you to gloss over in your free time.
Again with Facebook being an older social media network than Google +, there are features that are obvious and shared with Google + but these are the features that Google does not have.
Facebook has an endless list of social media games available to users, one of the most famous would be Farmville. Up to 20% of Facebook users play games regularly, a figure sourced from Quora.com. Now to those who play the games it can be a great feature, it must be taken into consideration that Facebook did not actually create those games, they just host them. Zynga creates most of the games (such as Farmville and the equally addictive Petville, Mafia Wars) and provide the demanding maintenance and technical support behind the feature. The games can be annoying to those who do not play because a lot of the time you will find your status feed flooded by Farmville and Mafia Wars updates.
Apps are also something on Facebook that seem to be never ending. There is currently an insane range of apps, ranging from shoe creators to birthday calendars and everything between. Again for those who don’t use apps or only choose to utilise a select few then it can become annoying. Receiving a post to your wall telling you that someone has answered a question about you a few times a day can become highly taxing. Plus if you aren’t using that app you can’t receive any of the information, so you, in essence, forced into joining and using it.
Finally, Facebook has groups, now these can be related to Google +’s Circles feature. However, Circles is much, much more developed than Facebook’s’ groups. In fact Circles are so well developed they effect nearly every other aspect on Google +
Time to Compare
It is quite clear that Google + has a tonne of features which Facebook cannot compete with as it stands. Facebook has tried to match the inventions of Google + and have done their best to create features that are similar. For example, Facebook responded to Google’s Hangouts by teaming up with Skype to develop something similar to help them compete. Personally I think the idea of Facebook and Skype teaming up to create something similar to Hangouts is a terrible idea. The bonus of Google Hangouts is that it is integrated into the whole Google + system, and shares the same contact list. Skype alone is essentially the same thing as Google Hangouts, but again it is the convenience which makes it a huge “selling” point.
I believe the main reason why Google has all of these features is because they have obviously looked very deeply into Facebook and found all of the faults, or where there is room for improvement, and they have obviously made those enhancements. A recent article, sourced from OnlineCasinosPro.com, stated that Google + would have a lot of potential for gaming, and I completely agree. It is much more suited to the platform than Facebook because using the Circles concept means that your avoidance of annoying gaming updates is possible. Not only that but you can completely focus on them too, by isolating the updates shown to those that are purely gaming related. These two factors in relation to gaming will greatly help everyone on Google.
Facebook has blocked the contact transfer to Google, which seems to me a little bit childish. It gives off the attitude of “If I’m not allowed it, then neither are you”. There are ways around this. Email lists can be transferred, as well as other sites like Twitter although users may have spent years building their friend lists, but I think the benefits that Google + offer definitely outweigh the “hassle” of transferring friends.
I believe I have made it clear that Google + will one day dominate the social networking world. Although I cannot say when, I do believe that people will begin to open up Google + accounts and use Facebook at the same time, then eventually users will just stop using Facebook altogether.
In sense of statistics and features, Google+, no doubt, has the upper hand. Facebook will die ,the true question is how long will it take.
Google Webmaster tools “Fetch as GoogleBot” allows to check the Google index status of the particular web pages. Recently Google updated this funcionality and added an option to submit new URLs to Google index.
How to submit a URL to Google index?
1. Login to your Google Webmaster account. Select Diagnostics -> Fetch as Googlebot. Add URL address you want to submit to Google Index
2. After clicking on “Submit to index”, you will see a dialog box which allows to select what do you want to submit, only one URL or all URLs linked from this page
There is a maximum 50 URL submissions per week, whilst submitting URLs with all linked pages there is 10 submissions per month. It is not recommended to sumbit every new URL address on your website. Use this tool only then when you want your new URL to be submited immediately.
For quite a while I made the decision to not use any social media applications, I didn’t see much point in them and there was no inconvenience for me in the first place. However I began to notice, by reading through forums and blog posts, that practically everyone in my field was using at least one form of social media app. TweetDeck was brought to my attention and it was stressed that it is an essential application for any social media marketer.
From the word go, TweetDeck proves to be a great tool. Just from the visual aspect of the tool you can see it is well laid out and also very appealing to the eye. TweetDeck also gives the option to change the theme of the app, so you can completely customise your user interface to your personal preferences.
Probably one of the highlighting factors of TweetDeck is its ability to display multiple profiles all in one app. All of the top social media sites are available on TweetDeck: Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook, Foursquare, Buzz and Myspace, with the option to have multiple accounts for the same website. This is extremely convenient as all of your information shows up in one place, without even having to open up your browser.
Due to the different accounts that are available it is of no surprise that TweetDeck has a very specific and interchangeable status update system. It is possible to send a status update to a selection of your choice of different accounts. This way you can stay active throughout your sites with ease. It also shows the word limit, like the actual Twitter site and also accomodates for url shortening.
TweetDeck also has a scheduled updates tool, which allows you to schedule a tweet for later on. Some of your Twitter followers will be in a different country or timezone, thus their activity times will be different. Now if you are not active when your overseas followers are online then this will no doubt result in a loss of followers. If you’re tweeting when they are online you are retaining the interest of these followers. Scheduled updating is a brilliant and life saving tool by TweetDeck, saving intense efforts and possibly late nights of tweeting, just to retain followers from all around the globe.
Another brilliant factor of TweetDeck are the columns. You can basically have as many as you need and you can position them exactly how you want. Topics like: News Feeds, Mentions and anything else you could imagine is available, again all in one programme which makes it a million times more convienient than checking individual websites.
Adding to the convinience, the update box pops up for all columns, in whatever position on screen that you would like. What makes it even cooler is the fact that it still pops up no matter what window you have open. This again saves users time and allows them to be updated instantly.
I recommend TweetDeck highly, I have found it a great time saver and helps amazingly in managing so many different profiles. Anyone in the social media marketing game needs TweetDeck – you will notice how much easier your tweeting life becomes.
Google seems to be growing in confidence, regarding the expansion of its users. The Google invite button has been visible for just over a month now and it’s clear that it is here to stay.
When it comes to signing up, Google has proven that it is easing up with its restrictions. Previously the only way to get into to Google was if they invite you personally, but now its possible to buy a Google invite or just ask for one. This means that more people will join because it is possible and there is a way for the average Jo Blogger to get into Google +They have shown that they are less concerned about a huge growth of users, and they still definitely have the power to invite or bring in more and more users as often as they want. Before invitations could be sent by Google + users, Google sent such requests out to the Press, existing Google users, Techies and some Celebrities.
Many believe that the invitation concept is a great idea because it stops spammers and bots from destroying the Google + system and also prevents the expectation of a friend list that is as big as other such social networking sites.
As all should know by now, Google hit 10 million users after 16 days, despite still being in its beta stages. Google + then went on to obtain 20 million users after the third week. Google definitely has potential to become the giant in social media, and if anything, Google opening its doors a bit more will only convince more users of its benefits.
As negative keywords management and selection being very complex task is very important to keep the keywords listed in small groups. Keeping negative keywords in small lists will make negative keyword management much easier, because you just can assign negative keywords list for multiple campaigns.
Lets say you are an online store selling wood flooring and want to avoid visitor who are looking for local store or showroom. So you can use negative keyword lists to add all the UK’s towns and counties.
