It is much easier to be proactive than reactive when it comes to SEO – rebuilding lost rankings can take a considerable amount of time and effort. Work with a digital marketing partner that can recommend proper preparations for important algorithm updates to keep your site from being penalized.
By Asher Fusco, HeBS Digital
When Google rolled out its Panda algorithm update in February 2011, it upended search engine results pages (SERPs) in a major way, affecting 12 percent of all results. The algorithm adjustment essentially penalized low-quality sites and rewarded sites with engaging, high-quality content. Since the initial rollout of Panda, the search engine giant has introduced a number of updates and changes – as of late April 2013, the company has produced 25 Panda updates and a host of other updates, dubbed Penguin.
Because Google is always changing its algorithms in minor ways, the threat of another Penguin or Panda update might not seem like much to worry about. But Google is currently busy preparing a major Penguin update that will have a major impact on SERPs, according to SearchEngineWatch.
The new service makes encouraging fresh reviews easier by giving registered hotels the option to send customizable, bulk emails to their guests asking them to write a review about their customer experience.
Effective SEO inherently encompasses two main areas of execution:
Local SEO is a daunting and intimidating task to tackle for any small business. Google’s algorithms seem all the more mysterious in the local realm, and competition is fierce in almost any market. It used to be that the goal for a local business was to land in the “10-pack”, or the top 10 businesses for a set of local keywords. Google would then show a map charting the location of the top 10 rankings, with subsequent information listings. A few years back, Google changed this to the “7-pack”, thereby limiting top ranking opportunities even more. It goes without saying that your goal as a small business owner is to land in the top 7 for your targeted keywords. So how do you achieve this lofty vision? Through the cornerstones of great SEO: Fantastic content, smart citations and link shares, great customer service, and crafty social media. It’s a tricky task for sure, but it’s a mountain you absolutely can conquer.
Greater onus is placed on social signals, or social ranking factors, than ever before. This article looks at the main social networks and which signals are given greater weight by the search engines.
DudaMobile has put together this short guide packed full of helpful hints, facts, and best practices to ensure you’re truly making the most of your mobile website.
Google algorithms have always been something of a mystery, but for many webmasters they have become a nightmare. Over the last year, keyword searches have become erratic, understanding how to improve page rank is more confusing than ever and the search engine giant is penalizing online businesses for all sorts of ungamely reasons.
One of the first decisions in the hotel development or acquisition process can have a lasting impact on the success of the project: whether the property should be branded, and whether that brand should manage the property. The hotel’s brand will be a defining part of the profitability, image and value of the hotel, and there may be no other decision which has a greater effect on the future of the property. Similarly, the management of a hotel can enhance the value of the brand, protect the owner, or detract from the value of the hotel — by as much as a 50% swing.
The much-maligned Google Plus has received copious amounts of attention in the past couple months after becoming the number-two social network in the world. A report released by GlobalWebIndex, a collection of market research on web usage conducted by London-based consultancy Trendstream, found that Google Plus had accumulated 343 million active users by January 2013, up from 90 million total users a year before. This massive surge means that Google Plus has passed Twitter (288 million active users) but is still a distant second to Facebook (693 million active users).
56% of email marketers plan to focus more on their email campaigns in 2013. Are you maximizing conversions and clickthrough rates for every email you send?
You need to think smarter and act faster. This will require a toolset that facilitates openness, collaboration, and accessibility to shared knowledge. That’s why we’ve put together this exclusive ebook, the 
On March 7th, the entrepreneurial-focused site BusinessBolts.com released 
There is no escaping the need for third-party distribution channels, but hotels should be using them to their best advantage. In this exclusive interview, EyeforTravel finds out how the Onyx Hospitality Group is managing the challenges and opportunities, which from mobile are “tremendous”.
The results of the TripAdvisor’s TripBarometer highlight country level, regional and global trends within the travel sector and reveal insights into economic outlook, travel planning, booking methods and traveler expectations. Specific to the U.S., the report shows strong indicators for increased travel spending and accommodation profitability in 2013
Technical SEO can often be brushed aside a bit too easily in favour of things like content creation, social media and link building. However I’ve always believed that there are many opportunities for increasing traffic by looking inwards rather than outwards. One of the biggest areas of this for me is to make sure that your website is as accessible as possible to the search engines.
A bit of warning. This is not for you if you have been awesome doing all that is good and great in SEO for your clients. This post is meant for all those who have been experiencing (even until now!) the wrath of Google’s Panda/Penguin algorithm. This article is written for those who are still clueless not seeing the “light” yet, in spite of all their efforts to resuscitate their websites.
As Web marketers or online business owners are inundated daily with information about search engine optimization (SEO). One expert says one thing, another expert offers completely different facts. This leads to confusion about what really is going on in the SEO industry.
The biggest mistake marketers make with Twitter is not realising its full potential as a way to bring in more revenue. Most people don’t look at Twitter as a marketing channel that can generate revenue for their business, but did you know 42% of companies have acquired a customer via Twitter.
Marketing dollars have shifted away from old-school expenditures like PR and cold calling. These days, businesses are putting their money behind blogging and social media in an effort to follow their customers online. But they still lack the time and resources needed to master these skills and make the shift effectively. As a result, they’re looking to outside agencies for help.
Human beings are primaeval at times. As a school kid I dreaded the lunchtime ritual of picking football teams. Captains would be chosen to pick the teams and as someone in the line up you hoped to get picked early. I, like many other kids, was deeply worried about being one of the last to be picked. The message could easily be put another way: “you’re no good at football.” With hindsight it feels likes a small thing to get worried about, but there are some very basic yet fundamental human emotions at work here:
The average attention span online is about eight seconds. The question is, how do you get someone to read and convert on your landing page in that short time frame?
An update to Google’s spam detection algorithms will grow the number of reviews appearing on some Google+ Local pages. And Google has 
In the coming year, based on 
Customer reviews are a hugely important in ecommerce for improving your conversion rate, and 
Do you have a Facebook page set up? Would you like to increase the amount of conversations taking place on your page?
2012 has arguably been a more eventful year for Google than the past few years combined. I should know – I write about this stuff. All year long, I read more news about the search giant than my brain could reasonably handle. Needless to say, I was never short on good material.
Recently our company was approached by one of our clients who held in his hand a printout of a form letter he had been spammed with that read as follows,
2012 has been a year of change in social media. Twitter and LinkedIn worked to make segmentation easier. Facebook bought Instagram and took strides toward making global marketing easier.
his is a guest article by Max Starkov, president and CEO of 
Flexiscreens.com is an Australia business based in Tasmania, producing flexible insect screens from premium-grade materials and delivering them world-wide. They’ve been plagiarized and targeted by copycat competitors but have always enjoyed good rankings and resoundingly good client testimonials due to exemplary products and services. The past year has been a roller coaster ride. First they were rewarded by Google, and then they were punished.
How are you planning to get more leads for your clients in 2013?
When planning your agency’s 2013 marketing campaigns, have you included search engine optimisation in your strategy?