Five For Friday: Google Language 101 – Metas, SEO, & Link Building Without Content

December 12th, 2014 by Search Influence Alumni

12507215604_e7408e02c4_z1. Link Building Without Content Creation  – Search Engine Journal

A common misconception about link building is that content creation is a necessary part of it. While new content certainly helps, Jon Ball recently posted an article arguing that updating content is not always necessary, especially for small businesses that lack the resources to invest in new content. Small businesses, he claims, shouldn’t dismiss link building just because they think it is too costly or time-consuming. Fortunately, Ball offers five link building approaches that do not require content creation.

2. Google+ Finally Lets Us Pin Posts! –  Marketing Land

Finally, Google+ users can highlight certain posts to make them stand out. Early last week, Google+ announced that users can now pin posts to the top of their pages. Google+ is a little late on the trend, as Facebook and Twitter have already offered this feature to users. So far, Google+ pinned posts are only visible on a desktop or Android device. What does this mean for businesses? With this new feature, you can increase the visibility of posts you want your users to see.

3. 2015: Over Half of Search Spending Goes to Mobile – Marketing Land

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A new study conducted by eMarketer shows that in 2015, spending on mobile paid search ads and SEO is predicted to be at 50.1%. This is due to a change in consumer behavior, which has veered away from searching on desktops to show a preference for searching on tablets and smartphones.

4. Caution: Don’t Ignore Meta Descriptions – Search Engine Land

Google has continually stated that meta descriptions do not impact search engine rankings, which has led many people to disregard them. However, Neil Patel argues that these descriptions are still important. While the content in a meta description is not considered in Google’s search ranking algorithm, the click-through rate (CTR) is part of Google’s search ranking algorithm. Instead of ignoring meta descriptions, businesses should write optimized meta descriptions to increase CTR and overall site rankings.

5. Five “Googley” SEO Terms Explained – Search Engine Watch

Misunderstanding search industry terms could cost you an entire SEO campaign. Kristine Schachinger discusses five commonly misunderstood Google terms that can lead to negative implications in the long run. In Schachinger’s opinion, the most commonly misunderstood Google terms are:

  1. Robots.txt
  2. Google DNS
  3. Penguin, Panda, Penalties
  4. Duplicate Content Filter
  5. PageRank

To avoid accidental negative SEO implications, she offers the correct definition and usage for each commonly misunderstood Google term.

Thanks to Christopher Sessums for the blue five and Trulia for the mobile app images!