Adrac Ltd: Content Farming – is there a solution?

There’s been a lot of discussion about how Google’s search results pages are losing their search quality and ranking spammy websites.

Run a search on google.com for ‘nfl jerseys’ and the first 10 websites that load are pretty spamtastic. Do a similar search on google.co.uk for ‘search engine optimisation’ and some of the top 10 websites are using black hat SEO techniques to deceive search rankings.

My examples are numerous and pose the question: is there a solution to the growing level of search spam? Can we filter out farmed content and achieve a purer, quality search result?

Google’s rightful claims to its data by Ehsan @ Adrac Ltd

Following Danny Sullivan’s Search Engine Land blog post, which broke the news of the Bing sting, Google has updated its blog to explain what happened. It makes for interesting reading.

I feel that Google has every right to complain about Bing’s behaviour and boast about its own search results. It defies logic that search engines with allegedly different algorithms and criteria for ranking should be using each other’s data. Imagine what would have happened if Google had been caught snatching data from … oh, hang on … *cough*

Google’s quality team has been the focus of a lot of complaints in the recent months. I’d like to come out in support of them: they are doing an excellent job, especially when you consider how many different ways spammers are trying to manipulate the search giant.

First, it was link farming, which Google was easily able to resolve with the Florida Update. Now, the current level of content farming is really hard to track, because content is the search engine’s power – tricky, eh?

However, I believe that Google will resolve this issue in time. And I also believe that any other search engine would have already collapsed with all the spam that it handles. It has a right to be proud, and to claim for what it has achieved. As do we all.

Adrac Ltd: Spam, tar, brush and good SEO copywriting

Good search engine optimisation is worth its weight in gold. Good SEO is not a rarity but it does involve experienced, qualified and honourable professionals. No, that is not an oxymoron when it is applied to SEO.

In the Guardian this week, Charles Arthur reported that Google has become a “tropical paradise for spammers and marketers” who are making it impossible to perform a useful search.

Spam is undesirable; it works because it tricks systems and people; it is allegedly clogging up the internet and wasting people’s time. Sadly, spam seems to be working significantly well for its perpetrators to continue to produce it.

On topic, search engine optimisation includes – but is not exclusively – keywords. Spam is a meaningless stream of words that tries to simulate quality and relevance; professional SEO copywriting uses keywords in a sensible way to enhance a website and is always, always written with the user in mind.

The job of the SEO copywriter is to enhance the website visitor’s experience of the company, service or product, to give them something useful, enjoyable and relevant.

Excellent copy – whether this be news, feature articles, blog entries, press releases or product and service information – attracts quality traffic, targeting the type of visitor who is more likely to spend money with your company.

This kind of service, offered by established accredited companies, is so far away from spam it is positively vegan. So do not let negative stories about internet marketing steer you away from enlisting the help of an SEO specialist.

Google and Twitter release 2010 trends by Tariq @ Adrac Ltd

This past week, Google has predominately been in the clouds with its Chrome Web Store and Chrome OS pilot program.

However, while it was promoting the Chrome brand, it also announced its annual Zeitgeist, an overview of the popular searches of the year.

My first thought was “… really? People searched for that?”

To explain, I assumed the web is so firmly embroiled with the entertainment industry that we would expect celebrities to always be at the top of the tree in searches. WRONG. The quickest rising query of 2010 was Chatroulette with Friv and Myxer also in the top 10?

At least when Twitter will announce its 2010 overall top trending topics, we will see something to showcase our maturity in the top 10. Oh wait, Vuvuzela and Pulpo Paul are there. I have to admit I also tweeted about both these topics when they were trending – oops!

Then there is YouTube, where millions of people spend endless hours watching the most random clips ever created. Did we expect anything else from its top 10 of 2010? Again, I must admit I contributed to their success; I had watched all 10 of the clips before the list was announced, such as the Bed Intruder song, Tik Tok Parody, Greyson Chance.

A year ago Pulpo Paul, Chatroulette and Antoine Dodson were not in the consciousness of the public. This just goes to show the power of the internet; even the most apparently random things in the world, with the right exposure and online presence, can achieve worldwide recognition in one year, or even within an hour.

Adrac Ltd: Local search in the UK

Google Places aims at the idea of immediate, accurate results for Real World events.
Users can search GP for events happening close to their location and these are displayed as a list of purely local results.
Formerly, the local rankings were presented alongside normal results for a search, as a kind of free gift or secondary offering, like Local was a shabby neighbour of worldwide search.
Searchers, the UK search engine, agrees that Local Search is a valid way forward, and has invested in this kind of service over the long term.
Technical director Kym Kinlin told Adrac: “Searchers has always recognised the value of Local. We’re a relatively small nation … we understand how focused searches reap better rewards.
“These benefits are also for British companies, which reap the rewards of increased traffic, not just to their website but right into their shop, pub, restaurant or hotel.”

Why Schmidt reminds me to embrace grocery shopping, by Jackie @ Adrac

The prospect of humans being chipped to enhance their search experience is so bizarre that I actually checked my calendar didn’t say April 1st. I’m still not entirely sure that Google’s Eric Schmidt isn’t playing with us, even a little: perhaps it’s fun to wind us up and watch us hop madly.

Still, this is thought-consuming subject. I sat in my modern office at Adrac and imagined myself in an ultra-modern world like Minority Report; I am walking through a shopping centre mall and the advertising boards are asking me about my satisfaction with previous purchases and targeting my needs tastes preferences in their next sales pitch.

I reflected muchly on the fact that my pets are chipped, so if they get lost, I have a better chance of being reunited with them.

I also thought a little more about ID Cards in the UK and how the idea really raised our hackles: the British Bulldog has a fighting streak when it feels its freedom is being threatened.

Time is precious because we like to work hard and play hard in the 21st century: however, I’m prepared to shoulder the inconvenience of the grocery shopping trip navigated using a hastily scribbled list on the back of an old envelope; in return for knowing that, for at least some portion of the day – probably when I am asleep – I am not observed or data routinely collated about me and my life habits.

Though perhaps even the fact I am “not connected” is data in itself!

In this “always-connected” age where we have our mobiles on us all the time, it is sometimes difficult to remember what it is like to be able disconnect ourselves and enjoy our own company. One day, we might not have this luxury.

Adwords & Twitter: reputations count – don’t they?

Google is seeking to maintain or improve the reputation of its AdWords campaign. After all, it’s no good trying to get customers to click through if they’re in danger of being fleeced by “rogue” pharmacies, as the search engine’s lawyer Michael Zwibelman described them.

The “don’t be evil” motto might also be behind the move. Google has a keen sense of its own social conscience.

Less about Google, let’s talk about Twitter, before our readers start thinking the dominant search engine is all Adrac thinks about. But we’re not going to examine the pros and cons, effectiveness and ROI of this aspect of social media. Adrac just wants to ask, “why is it so easy to hack?” We’re quite incredulous that a gaping security loophole that had already been identified was duplicated across to the new-look Twitter design, and exploited.

The Guardian technology section has a great “how it happened” description here. Feel your jaw drop, and pick it up again, if you passed over the news the first time around.

Reputations matter. But it says something about human nature that we continue to use services where their reputation re: privacy or security has surely been shattered. Don’t we care?

Website Design Improves Search Rankings

We often come across fantastic businesses that have brilliant products and services to offer, but unfortunately struggle with search engine ranking. This is such a shame, not to mention frustrating for the business as the internet is one huge pie and everyone is fighting for a bigger piece.

Adrac’s Ethical Link Building Follows Search Engine Guidelines

Many websites fall foul of organic link building and use unethical practices as a way of gaining publicity for their sites. Adrac has always maintained ethical link building techniques, reinforced by a recent blog post offering link building recommendations from Google.

Google’s recommendations for building quality back links mainly boil down to one thing; good content will earn you quality links.

To summarise Google’s recommendations for quality links;

• Produce good quality content which users will want to share within their community and link back to your content.
• Get involved with a community around your topic through contributing to forums and blogs- make sure what you have to say is positive and not just about spamming your site.
• Using humor can gain great links and get people to talk about your site. Try using viral and social media channels.
• Directory submission; Google suggests tackling this carefully as directory entries can be a great way to promote young sites on the internet, but only if the directory is topical and of good quality. Google discourages mass directory submission, but instead recommends using a moderated and well structured directory.
• Dabble with social media; linking to your site can be made easier for those who aren’t as tech savvy, through social media sites and bookmarking on sites like Facebook and YouTube.

This is all good news to us, as Adrac consistently use good practices to build great quality back links and believe that using good quality content and great interaction will bring you out on top.

Google Add-On Blocks Web Analytics

Google has launched a new version of its search facility with an add-on allowing users to opt out of having their Web usage tracked. This has sparked some concern for internet marketers who rely on web analytics for their industry.

Google reported in their official blog that the encrypted version of its web browser; Google SSL, will effectively inhibit third parties from intercepting a user’s web usage information. For web masters, this will mean less information about how a user came to visit a particular website. If a user is using Google SSL, it is unlikely their keyword data will be stored in web analytics.

As a result this could have serious implications for search engine optimisation as information about how users reach a site, and which key terms they used, is unavailable.

Google SLL does not offer complete anonymous browsing however, Google will still collect search data in order to improve its search service.

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