If you rely on Google for any significant website traffic, you've likely heard about their latest algorithm change, dubbed "penguin." This one blasted a huge number of well-ranked sites into virtual oblivion.

Today I'll help you sort things out and share some easier, less stressful ways to get traffic and income online, so you don't have to rely on the big G anymore.

OK, let's talk a little about Penguin. Basically, it was Google's latest algorithm update in the last week of April, 2012. It resulted in an extremely large number of blogs and sites plunging down the SERP's. Sites that were over-optimized for specific keyword phrases seem to have suffered the most from this latest algo update. If your site didn't meet Google's new standards for backlinking, content and keyword use, then you probably paid the price. If you want to read more details about Penguin including how it affected many people, hop on over to my old fríend Neil Shearing's blog for more of the ins and outs.

What's my opinion of the whole thing?

Frankly, I'm starting to become less and less of a fan of Google. My attitude toward the big G started really shifting a few months ago. That's when their new page layout algo, essentially started penalizing sites containing what they considered to be too many ads above the fold. (This despite their own ad-heavy layout in many search results.)

To me it seems they have too much power to crush little businesses, literally overnight. That's not a good thing in my opinion. I mean, it's one thing if a small business is playing dirty with black-hat SEO, but it's something altogether when someone is playing by the rules and guidelines set by Google itself, and getting caught in the crossfire anyway.

OK, that's all I'll say about the whole Google thing. That and the fact that I think that I'll join the legions of others who are moving their search activity to Bing from now on. After this latest algo change at Google, many folks including me are finding that Bing is now delivering more relevant search results anyway.

I even heard someone say "Bing It" instead of "Google it" the other day at the supermarket checkout line. (Gosh, you know things have come full circle when a Microsoft owned property becomes the alternative choice - I remember the days when everybody hated them!)

OK, so now that I got that off my chest, let's talk a little about getting traffic and income without relying on Google ranking at all. Or any search engine for that matter.

If you read some of the comments at Neil Shearing's blog, you'll understand why relying on Google for the bulk of your traffic can be such a huge mistake. Years of work wiped out overnight. Thousands of daily visitors gone in a matter of minutes.

So why oh why do so many people put all their eggs in the Google basket? My guess is that it "seems" easier and cheaper than all the other traffic strategies. And sure, it's nice to have a steady stream of traffic coming in at no cost. I've been there and loved it too. But I knew it would not last forever, so I made a commitment 10 years ago to not ever spend more than a few hours a month on SEO.

Instead, I focused on other traffic strategies, such as Strategic Alliances, and you should too. Getting traffic and income this way is far more reliable and far less stressful.

The Strategic Alliance Plan...

With every shake-up at Google comes an opportuníty hardly anyone ever talks about. Think about this for a second. If many of the top ranked sites in your niche are pushed down the SERP's overnight, they are obviously replaced with other sites and blogs. These newly top-ranked web property owners will see a sharp boost in traffic literally overnight. So much they may not know what to do with it. This is where you step in!

Take the list of keyword phrases you used when setting up your own site and search Google for one of these terms every day. Then contact the top 5 ranked sites for each keyword phrase and offer them something irresistible. (More on that in a minute.)

That's 25 personal invitations going out every week. If you get even one or two favorable replies you'll have a lot more traffic in a few weeks. Here's how...

It's all about the "irresistible" proposition you offer. Here's an example of what works so well it can change your life...

Source: http://www.seo-news.com/

   A QR code (Quick Response code) is a type of two-dimensional barcode. 

   QR Codes are easy to generate and can be read using smart phones (and other types of readers). 

   With a QR Code you can code the URL of your website, or a passage of text or other information which can then be decoded quickly with a smart phone.

How to create slick effects with CSS3 box-shadow - RedTeamDesign demo

http://www.red-team-design.com

Google has announced that they made 52 changes in April. Which of these changes are relevant to your website rankings and how do you have to react to these changes?

What has happened?

Every month, Google publishes the changes that they made during the last month. This April, Google made 52 changes. Not all of these changes are relevant to the rankings of your web pages.

Some of the changes dramatically changed the way Google ranks web pages on the search result pages.

Which changes are relevant to your web page rankings?

The following changes have the biggest impact on the position of your web pages on Google's search result pages:

• Improvements to how search terms are scored in ranking. One of the most fundamental signals used in search is whether and how your search terms appear on the pages you’re searching. This change improves the way those terms are scored.
• Keyword stuffing classifier improvement. We have classifiers designed to detect when a website is keyword stuffing. This change made the keyword stuffing classifier better.
• More authoritative results. We’ve tweaked a signal we use to surface more authoritative content.
• More domain diversity. Sometimes search returns too many results from the same domain. This change helps surface content from a more diverse set of domains.

These first two items probably refer to the Penguin and Panda updates that Google released last month.

Other items in the update list referred to sitelinks. Some search results might get two layers of sitelinks instead of a text snippet. Google also updated the algorithm for local searches and the way titles are displayed for some pages.

How do you have to adjust your web pages?

If you want to get high rankings on Google, you have to make sure that your pages offer what Google's latest algorithm requires. The Top 10 Optimizer in IBP can help you to analyze your web pages for Google's latest algorithm.

The Top 10 Optimizer in IBP is based on the analysis of Google's current top 10 results and it always tells you how to get high rankings with Google's latest algorithm.

The optimization method that is used by IBP makes sure that IBP always works with Google's current algorithm. You will get detailed advice that will make sure that your web pages get high rankings on Google.

 

People who think that SEO is the same as spamming will have a hard time with Google's new algorithms. People who use white-hat SEO methods will benefit from Google's changes.

Source: Axandra.com

"Compelling content." "Written with the search engines in mind." "Google loves quality content."

These phrases are bandied around by all and sundry when it comes to the qualities of content writing, and such well-meaning but often-oblique instructions can actually serve to confuse many new writers.

What you really need is something altogether simpler. A single instruction, one thing to keep in mind that will ensure your writing comes out well every time.

And I think I have just the thing:

"Value."

The Imaginary Google 'Value' Search Filter

What if there was a little box that you could tick when making a search in Google which said: 'Clíck here to show only pages which actually provide value to the reader.'

How many people would click it? Somehow I don't think I would be the only one.

Just think how much that would shake up the SEO industry!

Suddenly everybody would be talking about the value of good writing rather than links, keywords, density, or whatever else is the flavor of the month as dictated by Google's latest algorithm shake up.

But even without the magic 'value' filter, the fact is that if you focus on providing value in every piece of content that you produce, you'll not only write better content, but you also write better SEO content.

I'm no SEO expert, but I do know that Google is always trying to provide the most relevant content to its users, and no matter what changes it decides to make in the future, you won't ever need to be one algorithm adjustment from catastrophe if you focus on content that provides genuine value.

I'm not saying that keywords are not important. Many of my clients come to me with keywords to incorporate into their content. But they are always secondary. Focus on providing value as well as keyword-optimized content, and you're onto a wínner.

Everything else is secondary.

Value & Quality are Two Different Things

One important issue is that some writers confuse 'value' with 'quality writing.'

Let's not dismiss the importance of quality. Quality is important, but at the end of the day it is far down the ranks when compared with value. Delivering work to your clients which is littered with spelling and grammatical mistakes is not going to win you any friends, but this does not necessarily mean that it provides value.

I've read many articles which had perfect grammar, commas in all the right places, faultless spelling, etc, but which I stopped reading a third of the way through because they lacked any value.

So just what is value, exactly?

There's More than One Way to Provide Value

Value means writing content which the reader 'can get something out of.'

That could be information, but although providing the reader with useful information is one way to provide value, it is not the only way.

Three other excellent ways to provide value in your writing include:

1. Humor

When someone sends me a funny video on YouTube which makes me laugh, I consider that to be good value. It may not teach me anything and it may not answer any of my pressing problems, but it's exactly the sort of thing I will immediately email to my friends because I know that it will make them laugh as well.

Humor is so underrated in content writing. Some people will even tell you to avoid it completely. But if you can make people laugh, you are giving them a reason to read your content, and you can't do better than that.

Source: Seo-News.com