Google Penguin – Branding Signals for SEO
“My online business is decimated because of Google Penguin! I was on the first page of Google for Halloween Costumes til April 24th, now I’m buried. We’ve been doing white hat SEO since we started, had one of the best SEO agencies in the US for our Internet Marketing. I don’t trust you SEO guys anymore and I’m tried of shelling out money for no results. What can you tell me to do that is different then everyone else out there”
This was basically the telephone conversation with a prospective student/client on Sunday who called me in desperation at home.
After taking a look at his site my reply to him was simple and to the point, “It’s all about the brand”
In 2008 Google CEO Eric Schmidt spoke before an audience of online advertisers stating: “The Internet is a cesspool where false information thrives, brands are away to rise above the cespool”
So what is a brand anyway?
Branding Signals for SEO
As Internet Marketers there are branding signals that we need to focus on:
- Social Media Branding
- And Links
Social media branding is as simple as creating a Google Plus account, or a Facebook Places page and using them to link back to your website.
Branded links are basically your company name, brand or URL linking back to your website.
Google Penguin Training Video
During this 13-minute YouTube SEO video presentation on Branding Signals for SEO we go into detail on how to build your branding profile, what ratio you should target along with a few other SEO tips.
Also at the end of the video we do have a special offer for our full Google Penguin video training program.
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20 Responses to Google Penguin – Branding Signals for SEO
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Yes, social media branding is crucial. Thanks for getting the word out.
Welcome to the nightmare that is the dreaded Google Penguin – or is it a Panda? Does anyone know? I keep hearing conflicting terms for the latest Google algorithm shifts. If I understand the process of branding correctly, then I know I need to start expanding from my blog and onto social media. A plugin that automates the posting of links into the major social media networks each time I update my Word Press blog would be very useful.
I have read many articles and watched plenty of videos to have developed a feel for what is generic, and widely available information / SEO techniques and what strategies are more valuable. After watching this video, I get a good feeling that this trainer has strategies to teach that are well worth trying. I understand you don’t just give out your nuggets for free. That makes sense to make me want to sign up or buy the SEO Scout.
This new Penguin way of optimizing page content requires that your content look very natural as opposed to repetitive or spammy / key word stuffed. So then, it makes sense that the concept of branding include embedding a mixture of images, video (with embedded meta data) and flash content. After all, it is rich media that contributes to overall branding of a business.
This concept of branding is a very interesting one and one I would like to master. But I am also wondering about the actual impact of social signals. I read a bench mark study where the Google + module was compared to an identical web page without any social signal rating. The page with the high Google + rating consistently got more traffic. Is this a human perception factor or is it search engine spider related?
I have a very good feeling about these trainers and their SEO courses. You can tell when a trainer is talking about sound techniques and when a person is giving you generic, commonly known, rudimentary information. Based on the small sample size we get from this video, it is enough to inspire my confidence and compel me to sign up for one of the courses.
I would call it more a social engagement factor rather then being a perception or spider factor. The more likes, the more plus’s and the more content is being shared and bookmarked is just a small piece of the puzzle. However the more social engagement where people are talking about a particular product and/or service is what counts.
Penguin is an algorithm, Panda is more an update to their existing algorithm from what I understand from their Google Blog
After being hit by the Penguin stick, like good content marketers we are trying to focus on improving brand signals for our site. But I keep coming up against what exactly brand signals are. I can understand that if you are called ‘Ziggle’ and someone links to you with that in anchor text or mentions that name, that would be a brand signal. But we’re on a generic domain, so what would constitute brand signals in our case?
Your brand could be the name of your company, your URL string, even your name/address
Thank you for explaining what the penguin and panda really are, every now and then I get confused about what they are putting out and sometimes I just need someone to explain it to me. You have done a great job explaining them and the comments that you have answered for other people have been great as well. Thank you for the post please keep up the good work.
As far as I know, Brand Signals are memory triggers. Any tangible cue (sight, sound, touch, taste, smell or action) that directly equate to a brand is a Brand Signal. Through associative learning, these multi-sensory signals supply the stimulus necessarily to evoke an innate response. This provides the tangibility necessary for consumers to understand how the brand’s identity equates to its given meaning.
Someone told me that Hypnotic “Power Words can increase your conversion rates. He taught me that words really do make a difference in the story you tell, and the sales you make. Imagine if you had the power to influence people’s subconscious minds. He then proceeded to tell me about three trigger words which I could add to my content which would make a clear difference. This got me very interested in additional forms of branding signals.
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How do you find out what your competitor’s ratio of types of links is?
You can do it with either the SEOMoz tool or SEO Majestic both of which are paid tools. You first download the links, categorize them and then figure out the ratio. Or after downloading your links you can use this tool to, its free: http://www.marketsamurai.com/anchor-text-analyzer.php
Can you download the links from open site explorer?
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