This is the #ThrowbackThursday edition of the Daily Golden Nugget. This week, I'm jumping back to Nugget Number 93 from December 1, 2010. The topic is Trading Links with Local Businesses.
Linking to Avoid
Google has placed heavy penalties on websites that use link building to affect their ranking. The VIEW FULL GOLD NUGGET
Whenever Google comes out with a new webmaster guideline, I wonder what they are up to. Every action they take has the potential to aide or disrupt the normal flow of the internet that we all rely on now. Take, for example, the announcement of their mobile-friendliness ranking factor and the potential for disruption that VIEW FULL GOLD NUGGET
I typically don't write about current trends in the search engine optimization (SEO) and search engine marketing (SEM) industry, but today's topic is both a reassessment and a follow up to a previous Nugget about Google Penguin.
Penguin Basics
In April 2012, Google started fighting online spam in a big way. Prior to that month, one of the most common methods of achieving high Google search ranking was to pay a company to create links to your website. A single fee of $79 could get you thousands of l... VIEW FULL GOLD NUGGET
For today's Daily Nugget, I'm answering a direct question that came in from one of my readers. Did you know you can send me questions? Submit them through the contact form on the jWAG site, or send them to me through Google+ or Facebook.
The answer to this question is a little technical, but this brings together a few different topics.
This week I've been explaining the differences between Technical SEO,On-Site SEO, and Off-Site SEO.
While the technical aspects of search engine optimization include a lot of analysis and analytical thinking, the on-site optimization requires a creative flair for writing, photography, and customer satisfaction that... VIEW FULL GOLD NUGGET
I was recently reviewing the "Links to Your Site" inside Google Webmaster Tools (WMT). You can find this report in your own Webmaster Tools account by clicki... VIEW FULL GOLD NUGGET
As a reminder, Google Penguin is a filter that Google created to detect when your website has too many unnatural links pointing to it. The key word there is "unnatural."
Google's original method of ranking websites was to count the number of pa... VIEW FULL GOLD NUGGET
Google Panda and Google Penguin are two filtering mechanisms that Google uses to block websites from appearing in SERP results when they've disobeyed with Google's website guidelines.
There's plenty of confusion between what each of the filters do and how to figure out if you've been affected by one. I'm going to try to clear up some confusion with that today.
The Panda filter helps Google's search algorithm figure out the difference between good quality content and bad quality content on websites. Good content refers to anything that is well written, interesting, adds value to your website, and is not duplicated on another website.
What counts as good content? Google's goal is to get you to write high enough quality to be published in a book or a magazine.
Today I'd like to talk briefly about the adverse affects of paying a company for link building. This is a topic that many SEO professionals have written about a lot this year in the wake of the Google Penguin Update from April 2012. I'd like to cover this topic again now that 6 months have passed.
As a recap of what was in the news 6 months ago, Google has a filtering algorithm that detects when you have too many links pointing to your website with the same keywords. It's called the "Penguin Filter."... VIEW FULL GOLD NUGGET
It's Independence Day in the US, a day when Americans should reflect on what it took for the original colonies to stand up and form a new nation. From coast to coast there are patriotic displays of red, white, and blue, parades, fireworks, and families and friends gathered together for backyard barbeques.
Since many of you are probably getting ready for your own outdoor celebration I'll make today's Daily Golden Nugget brief.
I was poking through Google Webmaster Tools over the weekend and I realized that Google is showing more of your internal navigation links within the report "Links to Your Site > How your data is linked." In the past this report was a good place to see how people were linking to you from other websites, but now it's also reporting your internal navigation.
There's been a big stir in the SEO community since April 24, 2012 when Google turned on a new filter algorithm they call Penguin. This new filter is designed to remove a new level of spamming websites from the SERP.
Last month Google did a lot of work to improve how they detect spamming websites and link building strategies that provide artificial boosts. We have no love for anyone who pays a service for rapid link building, and now Google has also figured out how to detect these link building schemes.
We've been watching our tracking very carefully before mentioning this topic, as usually we don't want to rush into speculations without hard proof.
Jewelry related websites were seriously penalized in SERP ranking if they has 20,000 or more inbound links from pages with thin content. You may remember from previous D... VIEW FULL GOLD NUGGET
"...articles are easy to follow and seem to have information one can use right away." -Ann, Gallery 4, Hamden CT
"...serious kudos to you. We love your straight talk, pertinent information and plain language. I don't know how many industries have something of jWAG's caliber available, but I learn from the emails every day. Really, really nice work, and very appreciated." -Cheryl Herrick, Global Pathways Jewelry
In yesterday's Daily Golden Nugget I explained how you could 
Today I'd like to talk briefly about the adverse affects of paying a company for link building. This is a topic that many SEO professionals have written about a lot this year in the wake of the Google Penguin Update from April 2012. I'd like to cover this topic again now that 6 months have passed.
