Over 500 consultants and agencies were surveyed about their pricing models by AYTM Market Research and SEOmoz in a survey conducted in December 2011. The results based on the answers given by agencies of all sizes are put together in this Infographic:
What do you think about the cost pitted against the range of services provided? Share your views.
United States markets have the maximum job opportunities in the SEO related sectors. The hot hiring spots and the salaries offered were put together in an infographic titled- SEO Salary Guide: For Top 20 U.S. Markets.
Onward Search has created this highly informative pictorial, and you can download the guide for a detailed study.
Google+ has been in the news since its launch, and specially with the rate at which it has grown. It had 10 million users within a few days, and even on an invite-only basis, it collected 25 million users, and the number of users shot up to 50 million in a couple of days of the network going public.
Whenever Google makes a change in its search algorithm, it makes for big news. The search engine has recently revealed a compilation of the latest algorithmic tweaks it has made. Google's Matt Cutts, has posted a blog about the recent 10 algorithm changes made by Google.
Google really likes to shake things up. The search engine has now updated its Caffeine algorithm to show more recent search results when time centric events and information are searched, like developing news stories and product reviews.
In an infographic by Skyrocket SEO the latest and the most popular SEO tools used by the search experts for optimization have been revealed.
These insights are from a survey of 420 participants worldwide regarding the SEO tools they use and for the purpose they use them for. Study the infographic to know the tool that you may find useful for yourself.
Page Speed or site load time is an important factor in summarizing user experience. It also has an impact on the site's search engine results placements too. How Google determines site speed and what number of sites' ranking is affected by site load speed, was what the webmasters wanted to know, and this was addressed by Google's Matt Cutts in a video.
Among many other things, Matt said that approximately 1 out of 100 searches are affected by the site speed ranking factor. He said and we quote, “that it would actually change the ranking to a noticeable degree.”
The search industry in an uproar after Google's announcement that they will now encrypt searches and outbound links by default, for signed in users. With the SSL in place, the SEOs and webmasters will not get the valuable search query string via the referrer. The fact that this data will be available to AdWords advertisers, has really angered the search community. The assurance by Google that only 10 percent of searchers will be impacted by this, but the data still remains significant
The Impact On SEOs And Webmasters- Without Referral Data, SEOs Are Blind!
The search industry is wounded deeply by this. Optimization will be hit directly as SEOs evaluate the keywords that work for them from the organic keyword data only. This leads them to design landing pages and other methods to improve the user experience as well as the site's performance. There will be no way to ensure that the traffic gets converted.
Also, at the moment, experts are trying to work their way around this but to no avail. Now an SEO has to give more emphasis on ranking rather than conversion. With no idea about the keywords dictating the users' movement on the site, an internet marketer will be clueless as to how to personalize content based on the keyword or search phrase. Even if this personalization is termed as cloaking by Google, SEOs make this effort to provide users with exactly what they come looking for on the site.
Google has been often quoted as saying- "Focus on the user and all else will follow". However, with the referral data blocked from SEOs then, a webmaster cannot focus on his users at all!
“Google's Double Standards?”
SEOs the world over are crying foul over Google's new move towards secure search. The search engine announced this in the blog post that changed it all. Now, Google has changed the way secure search works for users that are signed in its services. This means that if a signed in to Google user does a search, it will be on a secure socket layer (SSL) and the search term referrer data will not be passed on. But, if you are using Google PPC, then you will get the keyword data for the searches made.
What Is The New 'Secure Search'?
Google says that in order to make search a customized experience, it is essential to protect personalized search results. That is why the users signed in to Google will have their search queries encrypted.
As Google says, “Over the next few weeks, many of you will find yourselves redirected to https://www.google.com (note the extra “s”) when you’re signed in to your Google Account. This change encrypts your search queries and Google’s results page. This is especially important when you’re using an unsecured Internet connection, such as a WiFi hotspot in an Internet cafe. You can also navigate to https://www.google.com directly if you’re signed out or if you don’t have a Google Account.”
With the secure site search, the websites that get the clicks from the users will not know the search terms they were clicked for. This leaves the search experts and webmasters in the dark as they will not know the keywords that are working for them. They will lose valuable data that helps them understand what people come looking for on their site. They will just know that someone came!
Why Is Google Doing This?
The Panda 2.5 is moving forward, and on the night of the 13th of October, a minor update was rolled out by Google. The update was confirmed by Google's Matt Cutts in a tweet. The webmaster forums have a raging discussion going on about the same, where site administrators have reported a severe loss of traffic.
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