In layman’s terms: Google updated their core algorithm - what does it mean for marketing mangers?

The last 2 weekends have brought some major changes to Google’s core algorithm, and depending on a number of factors, it could effect how your website “ranks” on Google. 

What was the update?

In a nutshell, Google's Panda update has now been integrated into their core algorithm. When Panda rolled out in 2011 it was more like a filter that was applied after the search results were processed (after the core). Now it has been rolled into the core algorithm, and will be applied to sites overall and is part of their “core ranking signals.” Google continued to update their algorithm through this last weekend.

What’s a Panda update?

In order to improve the quality of search results, Google rolled out an update in 2011. The update targeted “content farms” and “scraper sites” that were gaining top listings with “shallow” or “low-quality” content. Lowering or removing these sites from user searches will increase the relevancy of the results and fight off web spam. However, they continue to thrive on social media.

What's a content farm and a scraper site?

Content Farm - "a website that contains very large quantities of content, typically of low quality or aggregated from other sites, generated solely to ensure that it appears high on the list of results returned by a search engine." Or to generate ad impressions.

Scraper Site -  "a website that copies content from other websites using web scraping. The purpose of creating such a site can be to collect advertising revenue or to manipulate search engine rankings by linking to other sites to improve their search engine ranking through a private blog network."

How will this effect my site?

For most of you, not much. If you are a retail site, and have been executing a healthy SEO strategy, then you are well prepared for this change (and have been since 2011). Panda loves deep, responsible, content. If you have product landing pages that uniquely and clearly communicate the intention of the page, then you are safe. If you copy content from other websites for the intention of driving traffic for ad revenue, I would advise consulting with your SEO strategist immediately to determine how this update will effect your site.

Bottom line, Panda was designed to fight web spam and garbage content - if your concerned that you might be a generator of either, then you might want to consult your SEO strategist.

USB Drive On Mac OS X Full - No Files On Drive

I had a situation the other day where I had a 32GB USB Flash Drive that was "empty," but when I tried to copy a 3 GB file to the drive, I received an error that the drive was full or there was not enough space. How is this possible when there are no other files on the drive?

It has to do with the way MAC OS handles "trash." The other day I deleted 27 GB worth of files from the drive, and while your Trash bin remains full on the OS, the files are not actually deleted from your thumb drive, but rather moved to "hidden" or  .Trashes status - hoarding all of your free storage. 

There are a couple of ways to remedy this: Empty your Trash bin, manually delete the hidden files, or Format the drive (this will erase everything on it).

To manually delete the hidden files you may use the Terminal application or a 3rd party application to show these hidden files.

Click here to learn about showing hidden files from Terminal.

Click here to read about apps that show hidden files.

To Format your drive on MAC OS, follow these instructions.

Paragon NTFS for Mac OS X not working after installing El Capitan update

Are you experiencing issues writing to NTFS Formatted drives after upgrading to OS X El Capitan? Then you might have to reinstall Paragon NTFS for Mac OS X. 

Before you reinstall, you can try disabling and re-enabling usage inside of the NTFS for Mac OS X panel inside of System Preferences.

To reinstall, simply download the current version from Paragon's Website here.

I am currently using v 14.0.332

Recall or Not To Recall: The Question of Promotion?

Breaking News

It seems like every week there in a manufacturer issuing some sort of product recall, and automobile manufacturers in particular have had a difficult year in regards to recall notices. Just in the last 2 weeks alone we have seen major recalls by Ford and Volkswagen involving nearly 900,000 vehicles. Since January of 2014, there have been over 100 million - that's 100,000,000 vehicle recalls, and the trend is only increasing in 2015. The challenge for advertisers at the manufacturer and franchise level is: How do we address these recalls?

Play or Downplay?

Manufacturers tend to downplay the news about a recall, both in terms of the notice itself and any PR associated with the recall. This makes sense, as a manufacturer you want to avoid a negative brand perception. You respond quickly and appropriately, but try to refocus the news on items that will not cause a persistent negative sentiment. However, is this the right move for a store or a franchise? 

Facetime Matters

The answer very much depends on the situation. One thing that is for sure is that the franchise and its employees are the ones who are going to have to deal with the majority of the brain damage associated with the recall. If you bought a brand new Ford and it has a recall, are you going to drive across country to Ford's Corporate Park and bang on the door demanding to be compensated? No, you're going to go to your local Ford dealer. If you bought a new child car seat and there is a recall, are you going to drive to Graco's Corporate HQ and demand a new seat? No, you are going to drive back to Babies R Us or call Amazon and demand satisfaction. This affects the way we (I am a Marketing Director for a franchise) market and engage with our customers about such recalls, since we will not only face negative brand sentiment, but also the customers themselves many times.

Play For Positivity + Profitability

Addressing such recalls at the franchise level can be a win for both your customers and your profits. Performing recalls, or restoring a customer's purchased product to a safe operating condition is a great thing, and if performed correctly gives you a chance to leave a positive impression on that customer - especially first time customers. Although a customer's opinion of that recalled brand might have been negatively affected, their impression of your franchise, dealership, or store might been positively influenced, and this might open the door for potential sales and referrals at a later date.

Start Small & Carry On

If you're hesitant to bring negative attention to your store, begin with a campaign that will target only those customers who have been affected by the recall. Next, create organic web pages that explain the recall and how your business can help. Lastly, used paid search (together with your optimized organic pages) to help target searchers who are looking for information on the recall. Move forward with campaigns that you are comfortable with and remain optimistic - as the real affect of recalls on sales is very debatable.

Plan, Plan, & Plan

Lastly, it's important that recall strategy becomes a core part of your planning. As products become increasingly complex, recalls will also increase in quantity, and unfortunately so will the need to address them.

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