Web Design, Website Development and Internet Marketing - One Page Expert Guides

Written by: Crispin Sheridan

When it comes to hunting for reliable sources, credibility is vital to how useful (or useless) a source may be. The same goes for sources on the Internet. But, as most of us know, identifying credibility on the web can be tough. Google wants to make it easier with authorship markup.

The relatively new project, which officially started being supported by Google in June 2011 and is still in its beta stage, sounds familiar. It allows websites to publicly connect individual authors to their respective content across the web by adding the rel=author tag to content.

"We hope to use this information - and any information - as a ranking signal at Google," Othar Hansson said in an official Google video discussing authorship markup between him and Matt Cutts. "...we'd want to get information on the credibility of authors, from all kinds of sources, and eventually we'll use that in ranking."

Google will use this information "to help people find content from great authors in search results," according to its official Webmaster Central Blog.

Pages using authorship markup are represented by a rich snippet in search results. Visually, the rich snippet link offers much more. In addition to the standard search results we see every day, rich snippets offer additional intertwined information that separates it from non-rich results.


The top search result shown above is a rich snippet. It offers standard search-result information plus rich media like Bas van den Bald's picture as he was the author, a link to the author's Google+ profile, structured data from Google+ (in gray), and links to more work by the author.

But what does authorship markup mean for search engine optimization? Here are four ways authorship will serve SEO:

1. Authentic, credible, trustworthy sites will be easier to find. Think about it: current standard search rankings are pretty anonymous. Those of us searching for something specific don't really know how to differentiate which results are more useful - or authentic, credible, and trustworthy - other than whatever shows up at the top of the of the first search engine results page (SERP) is expected to be most useful. Sometimes that is the case, but not always.

2. Websites will be on a more level playing field. Authorship markup allows low-ranking sites with original content (oftentimes overlooked because the content has been recreated on different, higher-ranking sites) to rank higher on SERPs because of factors we addressed in the above bullet. Authorship offers another algorithm element to better serve search and it will be noticeable in instances where useful but low-ranking sites show up high on SERPs.

3. Search is becoming more social. By combining both social search and regular search, Google is tying a reputation to an individual, not just a specific site or company. This is making search more social than ever before. Many will say this is a shameless way to make authors join Google+, and they're probably right. But it also places a name, face, and reputation on results. Now, that's social!

4. The addition of another algorithm influencer takes weight off others. Authorship markup allows Google to further modernize its algorithm to keep pace with the natural progressions in the changes in the way people expect search to work. This is not ideal for businesses that have thrived off of maintaining the status quo of SEO, but it is good for the humans using Google. No longer are big sites able to sit back and expect to show up at the top because of who they are. Changes and new functionality such as the authorship tag are sure to continue and it's critical for search marketers to continue adapting along with it.

A SearchMetrics study published in late April 2012 illustrates that approximately 17 percent of search queries included at least a single instance of authorship markup within the first 100 search results. A million keywords were analyzed and more than 170,000 of them offered rich snippets somewhere on the first 10 SERPs.

Authorship markup, now on the cusp of being a year old, is clearly having an effect on search. And it's only going to increase. Curators of the web need to be mindful of the effects rel=author has, and use it to better serve search across the web. Have you already implemented the authorship tags on your site? If so, have you seen any gains in visibility, clicks, and conversions?

See the full story at: www.clickz.com

For more information about seo firm and seo services, just visit us at www.7strategy.com

Written by: Tim Ash

Many a parent has angrily warned their children "Don't push my buttons!" and of course what they are implying is that the children know exactly what to do to create a certain response, or reaction, from Mom or Dad. When you think about it, isn't it funny that an expression that has been around for generations is so applicable to web design and conversion optimization today? Most landing pages include a button as part of the main call to action. So the question is: do your visitors know exactly what to do? Are your buttons so clear that it leaves no doubt in the visitor's mind as to what will happen when it's clicked?

Here are some guidelines you can keep in mind when creating buttons that beg to be pushed.

First, Prioritize

Ideally you should have a single, clear call-to-action button on your page. If you have more than one, you need to create a visual hierarchy so that their importance is clear to your web visitor. One way to do that is to change the color or size of the non-primary buttons to something visually less interesting (make those buttons duller and smaller).



If you have two side-by-side buttons, remember that the one on the right is by convention considered the default one (most likely to be clicked on). You may consider demoting some of your secondary buttons to text links.


Experiment With Format

The exact format of the button matters. Experiment with a wide range of button shape parameters to see what works best. Possible changes to the button include:

• Shape (amount of rounding and corner "radiasing," or having them remain square)
• Dimensionality (drop shadows and curves)
• Color (contrasting and ideally unique on the page)
• Visual embellishments (adding small triangles or chevrons to indicate action)
• Size (try radically smaller or larger versions)

Be Specific and Manage Expectations

Buttons should accurately describe the intended action. Make sure that the button describes exactly what will happen when it is clicked. For example, many e-commerce sites mistakenly put "Buy It Now!" buttons next to products when the actual action is "Add to Cart."


Another common mistake is to use the label "Order Now" when you really mean "Proceed to Checkout." This causes unnecessary stress and anxiety for visitors as they try to figure out the threat or opportunity presented by your button. It is always best to remove the hesitation and assure them that taking the next step is a small and safe action.

Use unambiguous standard language for all button labels. Do not try to be funny or cute. The attempt will often be lost on the audience, especially when you consider the international nature of Internet traffic. Most people from other cultures who are non-native speakers will find it difficult to process and understand unfamiliar button labels.


Label From the Perspective of Your Visitors

Button text should always be written from the perspective of your visitors and address their intentions and desires. In many cases you should try to complete the thought in the mind of the visitor: "I want to..." Appropriate examples of possible completions for this sentence include "Download the Whitepaper," "Start My Free Trial," "Get Details," or "Select This Plan." This formulation is unlikely to work with commonly seen button text such as "Submit," "Create Account," or "Reset."

Remember, good usability is all about matching and managing visitors' expectations. The last place you want to fail in this task is on your buttons. And while there are some general best practices like those outlined above, the only way you'll know what works best for your audience is to test it. Never assume that a button style that works on a competitor's site will work on yours. Test button color, shape, design/styling, label, position, and size. Because, unlike Mom, you really do want your buttons pushed.

See the full story at: www.clickz.com

For more information about web design companies and web site designers, just visit us at www.7strategy.com

Written by: Ron Jones

Keywords have always been the foundation of any SEO campaign even with the latest algorithm updates like Panda and Search, plus Your World. With these new changes, the basic principles of SEO are still valid by having relevant targeted keywords in title tags, headings, and landing page content. However Google is always looking at new ways to provide searchers with a better, more relevant experience.

According to a recent article from The Wall Street Journal, Google announced plans to raise the bar even more by moving to a semantic search technology, which, according to Amit Singhal from Google, will take the experience to a higher level:

"Google Inc. GOOG is giving its tried-and-true Web-search formula a makeover as it tries to fix the shortcomings of today's technology and maintain its dominant market share.

Over the next few months, Google's search engine will begin spitting out more than a list of blue Web links. It will also present more facts and direct answers to queries at the top of the search-results page."

While this sounds like a new direction, Google and other search engines have been trying to provide search results based on intent for some time with location-based search, universal search, and other methods.

What Is Semantic Search?

Semantic search is the process of understanding the meaning of keywords people use and matching it to their intent. Before semantic search, the results could not differentiate between individual phrases like "Saturn" the planet and the automobile brand "Saturn." With semantic search, artificial intelligence is used to understand the actual meaning of words, the relationship between multiple word phrases, and the searcher's intent. Armed with this approach, search engines can provide more relevant search results, thus offering a better user experience.

Knowledge Graph

According to Google, it provides good search results only if there are landing pages that include keywords from the search query. Google doesn't really understand the query but attempts to match the keywords from the query. Google can answer questions like "How tall is Mount Everest?" However it cannot seem to go beyond simple facts. Notice the answer to the question is now built into the search engine results page (SERP) as "best guess" and that it is based on information from other sites.



To overcome this dependency, Google is building "a huge knowledge graph of interconnected entities and their attributes." This graph is a database of structured information that is pulled from the web. As it grows with more and more entities, it will help to understand searchers' queries and provide answers to more complex questions.

This knowledge graph will be the support system for Google's semantic search efforts and will help Google to answer questions itself, instead of relying on other websites.

Semantic Search and SEO

So you may ask yourself what this means to the future of SEO. One thing to consider is that you will not only be competing with others for ranking in the SERPs but also Google since it will pull its results from its own source and not from other websites.

Another aspect is the emphasis you put on keyword research. You not only have to understand the meaning and context around your keywords, you also need to develop specific content around those words that match the right intent. Most people place a lot of emphasis around keyword search volume. That only shows how often the keyword is searched on but doesn't provide any insight into the context or intent of what the searcher might be looking for. You will need to look at other factors to help you gather that insight.

To help you better understand what a person means when they use a keyword you should frame the keyword into a question that breaks down several options on what the intent is. For instance, if someone searches for "mountain bike," what they are trying to answer might be:

• What is a mountain bike?
• Where can I get a mountain bike?
• What are the different brands/models of mountain bikes?
• How can I compare different mountain bikes?
• How can I fix a mountain bike?

I could go on and on but I am at least getting closer to understanding what the intent might be. So to do SEO in the semantic search world you need to go beyond just keyword popularity, you need to answer the question: what is the searcher's intent?

As you conduct your keyword research you should weigh keyword factors other than just search volume. You can look at relevance, competition, intent modeling, persona mapping, etc., which will add more dimension to your keywords.

Also, social media is a great tool for placing context to keywords. With many social media tools you can type in a search term and get a list of tweets and posts that are part of a conversation. Seeing the keyword used in a conversation will give you some better insight on intent.

As semantic search evolves more in the future it will become more and more important to focus on picking the right keywords based on user intent and mapping them to relevant content.

See the full story at: www.clickz.com

For more information about seo firm and seo services, just visit us at www.7strategy.com