Google Releases Data Highlighter Tool

Working with HTML code has always added stress for those trying to work on a website and work on optimization without the help of an expert. Beginners often have a difficult time with coding because it simply isn't the language that they speak; however this doesn't make adding structured data markups to a site any less important. Fortunately, Google has taken measures to help beginners avoid going into the HTML code in order to add in this rich snippet/structured data markup. As of last week on December 12, Google announced a new tool called the Data Highlighter tool.

How the Data Highlighter Tool Works

As discussed above, the main appeal of the new tool is the idea that you do not have to go into the HTML code to add structured data to your site. The Highlighter is essentially a tool where you just point-and-click on the words or phrases where you want to add this structured data and then “tag” them with the appropriate information. You then just click submit and Google will begin improving search results with the data you've provided. There is no need to know HTML, so it makes it quite easy for webmasters. A few other pieces of information regarding the tool include:

• The tool will learn from the markups you added to your content. If you are consistent with your tags, the tool will begin to suggest tags for you in the future. This will happen after about 5 or 10 manually tagged pages.
• It’s currently only available for event-based data.
• It’s currently only available in English; although Google says that the tool is going to expand in the near future.

Marking up your content will help ensure that Google has all of the data needed to improve the search results and eventually give you a higher CTR on all of your snippets. Below is a video Google shared to help introduce webmasters to the tool:

To get started trying the Data Highlighter tool, simply visit Google Webmaster Tools, click on the “optimization” link in your left-hand sidebar, and then click “Data Highlighter.”

What If Your Site Already Uses HTML?

Although the tool may seem great for beginners, many of the more advanced websites have had to stop and scratch their heads. For those who already have HTML based structured data markup on their sites, it makes sense to ask the question: If you use HTML and choose to use this tool, which will Google choose?

The question has been up for debate on Search Engine Roundtable, but the answer still seems to be up in the air. John Mueller seemed to think that providing both types of data to Google would get confusing (and we all know how Google bots hate confusion), and many agree that those with HTML markup code already should just leave the tool alone. It’s for beginners, that can’t be argued, but it’s relevance for advanced webmasters is still to be determined.

If you've used the new tool, let us know your thoughts about usability, success, and whether or not you see this as a positive step for Google.

About the Author

I am one of the owners at CettaTech - Online Advertising. We provide Online Advertising to small businesses. Come and learn more SEO/internet marketing tips and best practices to implement into your website each day. Visit http://onlineadvertising.cettatech.com/Blog to read more helpful articles.

Effectively Managing Your Online Reputation

Everyone knows that a reputation can get you far in business because people like to know that the odds are in their favor. A company with a good reputation has a better chance of being successful and helpful if something goes wrong, so reputation is usually a sure thing for consumers looking to make a purchasing decision. However, what many companies don’t realize is that creating a good reputation isn't as easy as simply being a good company. Because online shopping, online communication, and online advertising have become such a large aspect of business, reputation is harder to manage. Lots of different things happen on the Internet, so it is now the job of the company to manage this reputation. In other words, a reputation will no longer simply come from word of mouth. It’s something to be created and managed. Fortunately, it’s not difficult if you start early.

Aspects of an Online Reputation and How to Manage Each

An online reputation is tricky because people often turn to the Internet when it comes time to research and time to complain. This is a lethal combination for many businesses, which makes management incredibly important. A few places you need to manage your online reputation include:

• Social Media. This is the most obvious area when it comes to online reputation management. Social media includes every type of social network where you can connect with others and include profile information. It’s more than just Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+; it’s StumbleUpon, Digg, MySpace, Reddit, and many more (even if you aren’t active anymore).
• How to Manage Social Media: The easiest way to manage your social media reputation is to remain active and have someone in charge of updating and responding to everything that is said on those accounts. Start by first going through your social media accounts and completely deleting those where you are not active. This will ensure that nothing negative is being said and nothing spammy is being associated with your site without you realizing it right away. Then focus your energy on the networks you do keep up-to-date and make sure you’re always responding to any angry customers as well as updating positive content. Also search for the name of your company from time to time to see if anything is being said anywhere else.

• Link Building. Link building is a great way to make sure that the positive things being said about your company are showing up at the top of a Google search engine results page (SERP). The more positive links that you can build, the better chance you have of not only managing your reputation, but also creating it.
• How to Manage Link Building: A great way to get started with positive link building is through guest posting. Submit a guest post, link back to your website, and then record that link and continue to check back and make sure the link remains in tact. Also consider using the new Google disavow links tool in order to get rid of negative links pointing to your website.

• Company Mentions. If your company is ever mentioned online by another company or individual, you should know about it and get in on the discussion!
• How to Manage Company Mentions: Setting up Google Alerts makes it easy to see when your company is mentioned online. This service is free and allows you to setup an email service that sends you a message each time your company name (or whatever query you’re interested in tracking) is mentioned online. You can decide how often you want these emails, what types of results you want (news, blogs, videos, everything, etc.) and whether you want all results or only the best results. You can visit here to get started.

• Content Creation. Part of managing an online reputation is making sure that every piece of content you put out online is quality and relevant. Be posting for readers and not for search engines.
• How to Manage Content Creation: Manage your content creation by hiring quality writers who really understand your industry. Put a lot of thought into who you are hiring, and make sure that you put content at the top of your priority list. Read everything that is going to be published on your website or hiring someone you trust to do so.

Why Managing An Online Reputation Matters

One of the biggest advantages to having a positive online reputation is the fact that it goes a long way if something goes wrong. In other words, it works well as a defense. No company is perfect, so when your company makes a mistake, a solid online reputation will help ensure that you can recover quickly from this mistake. This is the easiest way for people to come to the conclusion “it’s just me.”

On a related note, it helps to keep a reputation in tact even when nothing goes wrong. Some people are unfortunately cruel and will publish untrue things about certain companies for various reasons—competition, personal attacks, random acts, etc. If your company has zero online management, you won’t have anything to use when it comes time to defend your company (or for people to make a decision about your company in the first place). Manage your reputation, and problem solved.

About the Author

I am one of the owners at CettaTech - Online Advertising. We provide Online Advertising to small businesses. Come and learn more SEO/internet marketing tips and best practices to implement into your website each day. Visit http://onlineadvertising.cettatech.com/Blog to read more helpful articles.

Google Launches Its Own Disavow Links Tool

After much anticipation, Google has finally launched its very own disavow links tool. Bing beat Google to the punch back in July, but the mere size of Google and the power of Google make this announcement even more exciting. Head of Google’s web spam team Matt Cutts broke the news at the end of his speech at Pubcon today and explained that the tool is to be used with caution by publishers and webmasters. Nonetheless, this is a tool that should be incredibly helpful for those looking to stop negative SEO and unwanted links and is certainly a step in the right direction.

It is now day one of the announcement, so small businesses everywhere are asking themselves: What, where, when, and how can I get started?

How the Disavow Links Tool Works

For those who are unfamiliar, a disavow links tool is a tool that allows publishers and webmasters to stop third party sites from negatively affecting a website. This is most often done by competitors pointing unwanted, spammy links toward a website that they see as a threat. This makes the website look like low quality in the eyes of Google, so the site will move down in the rankings. The disavow links tool is now going to be added as a way to stop this type of negative SEO, and the best part is that it puts the webmaster in control. Google explained that using the tool is a three-step process:

Step 1: Download a list of links to your site.

You will want to make sure you have a file with Google that has a list of all the links pointing to your website or websites. You can do this by going to the Webmaster Tools home page, click the site that you want, click “traffic,” and then click download.

Step 2: Create and upload a file containing the links that you want to disavow. Then, create a text file using this information.

Once you have a file that lists all of the links to your site, it’s time to create a text file that contains only the links you want to disavow. You can include one link per line, or you can wipe out links from an entire domain by typing in “domain: nameofthesite.com.”

Step 3: Upload the list of links that you want to disavow.

Once you have your list, you can visit the reconsideration request page, click à check disavowed links à disavow links à choose file à and then select the file you want to upload and click submit.

Cutts did make clear at Pubcon, however, that it’s important a webmaster take all of the precautions that he/she can first before using the disavow tool. In other words, talk with the publisher who has the unwanted links pointing to your website all before you utilize the disavow tool.

Where To Find the Google Disavow Links Tool

The tool has been tested by a few SEOs over the past few weeks, but it is officially available to everyone and can be found here. All small businesses should take a look at the new tool and get acclimated, but it will be primarily used by those sites that were hit hard by the Penguin update, which is essentially an update related to spam and unwanted links.

For more information, you can visit the Google Support page on the tool or watch the video below prepared by Matt Cutts that explains the tool in detail, including who should use it, how to use it, and when you should use it.

About the Author

I am one of the owners at CettaTech - Online Advertising. We provide Online Advertising to small businesses. Come and learn more SEO/internet marketing tips and best practices to implement into your website each day. Visit http://onlineadvertising.cettatech.com/Blog to read more helpful articles.

How to Identify Bad Links Pointing to Your Website

As childish and cruel as it may seem, some companies and individuals are still setting out to destroy their competition not by building quality links to their own site, but by pointing negative links toward the competitors site. Fortunately, Google has taken steps to stop this, called negative SEO, and their biggest step was just announced—the Google links disavow tool. This tool has been long awaited, and now that it has finally been released many small businesses are feverishly trying to take advantage. However, using the disavow tool doesn't always help. In some cases, finding bad links shouldn't involve the disavow links tool at all.

Why the Disavow Tool Isn't Always Your Best Option

Before getting into finding the links you want to disavow, it’s important to understand when and why you should use the tool in the first place. The biggest thing to remember is this: The tool is only to be used when working with links that you haven’t been able to remove on your own. If you see a link you don’t like pointing back to your website, you are to first speak with the website and try to get the link removed. In most cases the website owner won’t even realize the link exists and happily take it down.

If you fail to do this, you could be losing a good link forever. Google has made it clear that their tool is not going to always be 100 percent correct, so it’s crucial that you are able to find and analyze these links on your own. The tool can be used once you find them, but that doesn’t mean it’s the best tool out there to help you identify them. This brings up the simple question: What is?

Different Ways to Identify Bad Links Pointing to Your Site

There are a few different approaches and tools you can use to get started identifying the links that you want to disavow:

• Open Site Explorer – This is one of the most popular tools that a company can use. The tool comes from the reputable SEOMoz and has been used to identify bad links since what seems like the dawn of time. There is a free option and a paid option, so you never have to get more data than you want (if there is such a thing). It’s easy to use which helps it remain one of the most popular.
• Google Webmaster Tools – You really can never go wrong with Google when you’re working with Google. They are reliable because they know exactly what a Webmaster should be looking for when it comes to SERP rankings. The Webmaster tools is free and will allow you to perform an analysis of all the links pointing back to your site. Once you have the links, then you can determine if they are “good” or “bad.”
• CognitiveSEO – This isn’t one of our “go to” tools, but after learning more about it, it seems to be one that really works. This tool is paid because it will do the analysis for you. Although no tool can be one hundred percent correct, this is great for those looking to work with SEO quickly and still effectively.
• Hire an Agency – This last option is one that many people forget because it isn’t necessarily a tool. However, hiring an SEO agency to work with your SEO is one way to make sure your bad links get found and removed. The agency will likely be working with one of the tools discussed above, but you’ll still get a report!

Using these tools will also help you determine what is going on with the competition. You can analyze your links next to your competitors’ links and determine where negative SEO might be happening.

About the Author

I am one of the owners at CettaTech - Online Advertising. We provide Online Advertising to small businesses. Come and learn more SEO/internet marketing tips and best practices to implement into your website each day. Visit http://onlineadvertising.cettatech.com/Blog to read more helpful articles.