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October 2013 Newsletter
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In this Month’s Newsletter…

* Google’s latest changes and how to handle them
* Featured Client: russellrhodes.com
* From the Blog…

Google’s latest changes and how to handle them

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Google has certainly been shaking things up as of late. Two major changes they made are of particular importance to all website owners…

Google’s “Keyword not Provided”
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Earlier this month, Google made the decision to encrypt all Google searches using SSL. Although a good thing for privacy reasons, one major side effect is the loss of keyword data for organic (i.e. not paid) search results. Webmasters can no longer see the majority of the keywords and phrases people use to find their pages.

This means that you can’t easily see what keywords are driving traffic to specific pages or products, which makes it harder to optimize a page for a particular keyword. You lose that “immediate feedback” you relied on previously.

What can you do? Google Webmaster Tools will provide historical keyword data (although in a limited fashion). This can give you a general idea of what keywords are popular for your site. Pay-Per-Click (PPC) ads still report keyword data, so you can use low-cost PPC ads to test out keyword viability.

A good summary of this change may be found in the following two articles:

http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2300838/Google-Keyword-Not-Provided-How-to-Move-Forward
http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2298881/What-Not-Provided-Google-Hummingbird-Mean-for-Small-Business-SEO

Google’s Hummingbird Update
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Google also unveiled a very large change to its indexing system called Hummingbird. In a nutshell, the new algorithm does a much better job at understanding what people are searching for, and finding the best answer to their question. Google focuses on “conversational search” and can better interpret web pages and their meanings.

A good breakdown may be found at:

http://searchengineland.com/google-hummingbird-172816

The bottom line is Hummingbird reduces the effects of SEO techniques like keyword stuffing, backlinks, anchor text, etc. and highlights the overall purpose and usefulness of web pages. That does not mean SEO is dead. It is still vitally important to have proper titles, use of H1 tags, getting links, etc., but the days of gaming the system to artificially increase your ranking are numbered.

The good news is focusing on quality content that people find useful and will help answer their questions will be rewarded better by Google. How do you achieve this “quality content”? Starting a WordPress blog on which you post information about the industry you’re in or offer insights and helpful information about using a product or service is always worthwhile. Additionally, how-to videos posted to a YouTube channel and writing your own personal take/review on products in your store are also good ways to create unique and useful content that both your potential customers *and* Google will find compelling.

Copyblogger has a great article about Hummingbird and what it means to content creators:

http://www.copyblogger.com/google-hummingbird/

Featured Client: russellrhodes.com

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This month’s featured client is russellrhodes.com. Russell Rhodes was founded in 1997, creating high-end personalized Christmas gifts for gift stores nationwide.

http://www.russellrhodes.com/

For more detailed information on this month’s featured client as well as a listing of all past featured clients, please go to:

http://support.lexiconn.com/news/viewforum.php?f=4

From the Blog…
Here are some recent posts from The LexiConn Blog:

Tis The Season… For Sales!
http://www.lexiconn.com/blog/2013/09/tis-the-season-for-sales/ – Popular ShopSite features and tips to help you plan your sales for the upcoming season.

Mobile Technology and Analytics
http://www.lexiconn.com/blog/2013/10/mobile-technology-and-analytics/ – Mobile ecommerce reports currently available in Google Analytics.

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Sincerely,
- The LexiConn Team

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