Your March 2011 Issue of "SEE What You're Missing" from Search Engine Experts

SEE What You're Missing

In This Issue

Google Penalizes J.C. Penney

Google Penalizes Overstock.com

Google Changes Search Algorithm

Websites Demand Transparency

Google vs. Watson

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Thank you for reading
SEE What You're Missing, a publication of Search Engine Experts. We encourage you to forward this newsletter to a friend and also to visit our website.

Sincerely,
Ken Saunders
President
o: 513.379.3800 x11
c: 513.259.1126

Welcome to SEE What You're Missing, Search Engine Experts' monthly eNewsletter covering the world of search engine marketing, including search engine optimization and pay-per-click campaigns.

This month there was quite a bit of activity for Google - they penalized two large companies (J.C. Penney and Overstock) for trying to 'game' the organic results; and they changed their search algorithm to penalize 'content farm' websites. Our first three articles cover these items. The fourth article is the response from business where they are asking (demanding?) that Google identify our their penalty criteria. The last article this month is a little lighter and discusses how Google could perform on Jeopardy, given the success of IBM's Watson.

We'd like to hear from you. If you have any questions about organic, local, or paid search, please contact us. And if you decide that you do not want to receive our eNewsletter, use the link at the bottom of this issue to remove yourself from our mailing list.

Google Penalizes J.C. Penney

Pretend for a moment that you are Google's search engine. Someone types the word "dresses" and hits enter. What will be the very first result? How about the word "bedding"? "area rugs"? The New York Times investigated and found out how Penney was able to obtain high rankings for thousands of terms. This article was the catalyst for Google penalizing the J.C. Penney website organically.

Read the full article here

	Google Penalizes Overstock.com
Google is penalizing Overstock.com in its search results after the retailer ran afoul of Google policies that prohibit companies from artificially boosting their ranking in the Internet giant's search engine. Read the full article here

	Google Changes Search Algorithm To Combat Content Farms
You may notice that Google is functioning a little differently today. The search engine recently made a major change to their search algorithms in order to strike back at so-called "content farms". These sites, which feature large amounts of mass-produced content angled to rank high on Google, have been accused of reducing the overall quality of search results. Read the full article here

	Websites Demand Transparent Google Penalty System
Only a few website owners are aware that obscure penalties applied by leading search engines cause unexplained falls in visitor traffic. The website owners feel search engines have the ability to act as judge, jury and executioner over their sites, and they would like the penalty system to be much more open and transparent. Read the full article here

	Could Google Play Jeopardy Like IBM's Watson?
It was amazing to watch IBM's Watson supercomputer playing Jeopardy a few weeks ago against past human champions. But could Google have done the same thing? This article goes behind the scenes of these two search masters to understand what they can - and can't - do. Read the full article here

Search Engine Marketing News and Insights

Each edition of SEE What You're Missing provides information and links to some excellent articles. As the only certified Search Engine Marketing Strategists in the central Midwest, Search Engine Experts provides our clients with more customers and higher revenues through better exposure in the major search engines. We hope that the information provided in this eNewsletter helps you to better understand the SEM industry and the rapid changes taking place.
If you'd like to contact us about improving your search engine visibility and driving more revenue through your website, please call 513.379.3800 or send us an email.