First, at our very own SEO Chat forums, we have this thread, where our SEO gurus discuss the effects they are seeing and what you can expect from this latest update.

After that, head on over to Cre8asite Forums where a similar conversation is being held.

Threadwatch.org also has some interesting threads as well – two in particular. This one, listing the top sites affected by the update thus far, and another one, where one user is looking for any positive stories coming out of Penguin 2.0.

Finally, I would be remiss if I did not point out this forum discussion at Webmaster World, where the update is discussed in great detail.

Have any other threads you think are interesting or informative? Let us know in the comments section or in one of the many topics listed above!

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The post Google Penguin 2.0 Update Discussion Threads appeared first on SEO Chat.

What you don’t see as often is a guide to participating in one. Twitter chats are still a relatively new concept, and knowing the ‘rules’ to follow when taking part can be difficult. Not all chats have etiquette they expect to be followed, and those that do can vary in their expectations. Then there are other issues, like how to find a Twitter chat, how to keep up with one and how to post to it in the first place.

But I have some good news for you: it isn’t hard to take part in a Twitter chat. Here is a quick guide.

Finding a Chat

The easiest way to find a Twitter chat is just to check the website, blog or Twitter account you enjoy and see if they have one. There should be some kind of an announcement saying when it will be. But this relies on whether or not they have one at all, and so you might find yourself having to go to other sources within that niche that hold them.

You can find huge lists of tweet chats that are broken down into niche/category. But I normally choose to go to two different master lists, one on is here, the other on TweetReports. The list on TR is just alphabetical, unfortunately, but it is very helpful if you aren’t too pick about topic. The list on Wikipedia is better for searching, and you can see them based on day they are held, alphabetical or by subject.

How to Follow a Chat

All Twitter chats are going to be organized by hashtag. But their live update feed isn’t as useful for following the conversation as you might think, and it can help to use a third party monitor for that hashtag for the duration of the chat.

Any social media dashboard will do. But my favorite (free!) options are Twitter Chat and TweetGrid. You can watch the chat in a unique way, and post using the same hashtag to take part in the conversation.

Proper Twitter Chat Etiquette

The first step is to check and see if they have their own listed rules for the chat. Most will, and there will be moderators to ensure all rules are followed. But whether there is a set of guidelines or not, here are some ways you should always behave:

• Be mindful of their schedule. Twitter chats are only a certain amount of time long. In that time, the holders of the chat will have an itinerary. If there is a guest speaker then the itinerary will be even more strict to give everyonenst the time set for each segment.
• If you come late, read back. If you come into the chat when it has already been in session, that is just fine. They are happy to see you any time. But don’t ask people what they have been talking about, or start chatting before you know what has been covered. Scroll through the past tweets and catch up before you start speaking.
• Introduce yourself. Whether you are there right at the beginning or near the end, remember that you are joining in a conversation. Offer a quick, one-tweet introduction and say hello.
• Don’t start fights. This should be obvious, but a lot of times the conversation can get heated. A bit of healthy debate or disagreement can be fine. But it should be limited to a certain amount of discussion time, and it should never be rude or get personal. If you want to continue a debate for more than a few tweets, take it to PM.
• Only contribute something real. This is not like a traditional chatroom. Those logs are going to stay there for awhile, and be readable by anyone who searches out the hashtag or just views your feed. So don’t treat it like an old school chat with endless, pointless comments. You should make sure what you tweet as part of the conversation is relevant and helpful.

Have some tips for participating in a Twitter chat? Let us know in the comments.

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Ann Smarty is the pro blogger and guest blogger, social media enthusiast.

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All of this is worked out using EdgeRank, a site-specific algorithm that filters through posts to decide whether or not they are important enough to match the specifications you have given each user or page. It is the reason that certain updates make it onto your friends feed, and others don’t.

How Does EdgeRank Work?

It starts by breaking down your own usage to find out how you interact with certain types of posts. This makes up more than half of what the algorithm measures, with the rest based around how your social network interacts with the same posts, usually center around more popular content.

Your personal interaction will define whether you see more or less of the posts from a certain user or page. The more you click on links, hit like, comment or share, the more likely you are to see posts in the future. When you frequently post on someone’s wall, for example, you will see them become a preferred user for your friend feed. If you frequently click on links from a page, you will be more likely to see them on your feed over pages you don’t interact with.

But what about those posts that your friends like? How come you only see a certain amount of those? That is based on the network-wide interaction, rather than specific friends. If you do have regular contact through Facebook with a user, you might see more of their comments and likes. However, usually you will see these because more than one person has shared, liked or commented on it. The more users on your list that have interacted with a specific post, the more likely it is you will see it on your own feed.

With me so far? Good.

You will also have posts based on how often you respond to the certain post type. For example, if you often comment on photos then you are more likely to see photos. If you often comment on statuses, you will be more likely to see statuses, and so on.

Conclusion

There you have it, a quick breakdown of how EdgeRank works. Of course, there is a lot more to it than that, but the main concept is pretty simple. It is meant to be intuitive to your needs by checking your Facebook usage and adapting accordingly.

It is just another way that Facebook has proven themselves to be the social network to beat.

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Ann Smarty

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Ann Smarty is the pro blogger and guest blogger, social media enthusiast.

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The post In Simple Words: How Facebook EdgeRank Works appeared first on SEO Chat.

But it is really only right of me to give Google the same shots. After all, it is at the top and there is no way to resist lobbing up a couple of rotten tomatoes to hit the big guy in the face. So here are some of the best Google jokes I have seen around the web (ironically found through the same search engine; take that, Bing).

Weird Auto-Complete Results

It isn’t technically a ‘joke’, but there is nothing funnier than some of the bizarre suggestions given by Google auto-complete function. Suggestions like:

• Can I get pregnant from a dog?
• What happens if you put self-raising flour on an orphan?
• What If Your Knees Bent the Other Way
• Where is Chuck Norris?
• What would a chair look like if your knees bent the other way?
• Do ginger people have ginger pubes?
• How wrong we were to think immortality meant never dying…

… and many other truly strange, often disgusting but always funny suggestions from Google’s search engine. But want to know what is truly hilarious about these? They had to have been asked often enough to seem to Google like a frequently asked question or common phrase. Apparently a lot of girls are afraid of their dogs getting them pregnant. Just let that soak in for a second.

Life Before Google: A Short Story

I love Shoebox, an excellent comic series about a dog and a bunny. This is probably my favorite, because it is something I have thought about a lot. I am old enough to remember well the days before Google. When we had to look at actual maps or in the phone books. When if we knew a lyrics from a song, but not what the song was, we were just out of luck unless we happened to hear it again somewhere. It was a life of agony; we didn’t know it, but we were the walking dead.

Now Google has come and swept away that misery. Never again will we spend hours trying to remember where that one half-recalled quote came from. Just a few seconds of typing and we will know that it was from a Christmas themed episode of Wings. Hell, we can even see who was working on crew when they filmed it.

Yes, life is sweet.

One Does Not Simply…

Google Maps can give you some amazing directions, and I have always preferred it over programs like MapQuest. But one way that they are superior is in their handling of sage advice. Such as how one does not simply walk into Mordor.

Related question: Has anyone else ever wondered why Gandalf didn’t just fly an eagle to Mount Doom and drop the ring into the fires there himself? He could have Google Mapped the route.

Pearls Before Swine: Praise Google

Google is pretty much our Internet overlord and master at this point. If that is not yet the case, it will be. Clearly, we are a society that cannot live without the sweet, sweet embrace of their many varied services. Seriously, when was the last time you went a whole day without using a single program offered by Google? If you had a single day in the last several years you could claim this, you are a liar. Or a time traveler. Though I bet even time travel in the future will be handled by either Google or Apple.

This cute little strip from the comic Pearls Before Swine talks about the supremacy of Google. It would seem that one little ram doesn’t know his place.

The IT Crowd

Anyone who has not seen the British sitcom The IT Crowd needs to do so now. I mean it, don’t even finish this article. Just go to Netflix and marathon the series until your eyes bleed and you can’t walk straight. It will be totally worth it, trust me.

For those of you who are fortunate enough to have watched this gem of a show, I bring you a nostalgic clip of our dear Jen. She is head of the IT department, and she is desperate to warn her fellow department heads of the danger of breaking the internet.

Protip: Never type “Google” into Google.

Do you know of a good Google joke? Let us know in the comments!

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Ann Smarty is the pro blogger and guest blogger, social media enthusiast.

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The post Best Google Jokes appeared first on SEO Chat.

How did social media actually influenced our life and the society in general? In my opinion (and I am an early adopter) it has had a positive impact. I am all for the widening of the world we live in, and easy communication around the world.

Social media has definitely made us closer to other parts of the world – as someone who used to do the worldwide business from Ukraine, I am the one who can totally appreciate it!

It doesn’t mean I don’t see the back side of the coin. I do know the cons along with the pros…

The Good

First, we have the obvious: communication. We are living in a time where the world is open to us. We can contact anyone around the world, at any time, with just a few keystrokes. It is free, unlike calling across the ocean, and live. We can also share elements of our life, from what we enjoy to photos of ourselves and those in our lives. It is like being a part of that person’s world, even though distance keeps you apart.

We also have the communication between people and businesses. Since they have paved a new way for interaction between the two, customers can now tell brands exactly what they want. Businesses can then use that information to tailor their products of more appeal. They used to have to spend a ton of cash for this kind of marketing data. Customers used to have to spend hours on phones getting more and more frustrated when they had a problem or complaint.

There are also causes and information. Social media has made it possible for like minded individuals to discuss important topics, widen their personal knowledge and discover things they never knew before. For example, young people around the world are now more involved than ever in their country’s politics. The last presidential elections in the US are proof of that. Social media has contributed to that increase in a big way.

Non-profits are seeing the benefits of using social media for their awareness campaigns. Sites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and others are a cost effective means of spreading the word and getting support. Not to mention socially shared petitions from sites like Causes.org, reaching hundreds of thousands of people.

There is no doubt that there are many reasons to love social media.

The Bad

But not all consequences of this technology are good ones. Like the way it has allowed us to hide behind screens and limited our social interaction face to face. You get the feeling of being social without having to go out and socialize. In the same vein, it gives you the feeling of being a friend (or having friends) without having to put in any actual work to build the relationship. Just think of how many people you have on your Facebook friends list. How many of them do you see on a semi-regular basis? At all?

Then we have the issue of how it has taken over our lives. I hate being out in public and seeing people on their phones. Seeing them talking never bothered me as long as they weren’t being obnoxious. Nor does sending off a quick text bug me; maybe they are meeting someone and telling them where they are, or something. It is the obvious Facebooking or tweeting or whatever else that keeps people’s eyes glued to their phones.

I never check social media sites when I am out doing something. Whether it is grocery shopping, getting dinner with friends or waiting in line, it is just so impolite. It also shows a serious problem with distraction in today’s society. We can’t enjoy the world around us for an hour without retreating back into that safe little digital box.

Productivity is pretty much shot thanks to social media, as well. Admit it, you check your profiles during work, or find yourself wandering over to YouTube or your favorite blog during work hours. Here is a fun little game: every time you get distracted by a social media site, make a little strike on a piece of paper. At the end of the day, count all the strikes and feel your heart drop into your stomach as you try to estimate how much time wasted it represents.

The Ugly

Some of what social media has done isn’t just ‘bad’, it is flat out ‘ugly’. Like the number of relationships that have been broken up over social networks. Now, don’t misunderstand me, I am not saying that Facebook is to blame for this. It is just a tool that has seemed to make it easier to cheat, or to do things that cross a boundary in your relationship. Like flirty PM’s with that high school sweetheart you haven’t seen since graduation. Or much more blatant infidelities that are sure to be caught the first time you forget to log out of the computer you share with your spouse.

Then there are the sheer number of stupid, vein people on Facebook. Yeah, it seems a little mean to point out. But I bet you are thinking of at least one person who would fit into one (or both) of these categories.

Each status message is a flat-out attention whoring sob fest, usually vague. Or way TMI about their struggling relationship with someone they should have dumped six months ago. Let’s not forget the badly spelled, grammatical nightmares that you would need a magic decoder ring that translated moron into English to read. If you want proof that this kind of thing is spreading, as is the self-centered douchebaggery that most of us try to keep out of our lives, check out Lamebook sometime.

Conclusion

I think that the effects of social media have been somewhat balanced, to be honest. There are many good things about it, and many bad things. In the end, if you can keep your own life centered in reality and use social networking as a small part of it, you should be just fine.

For those who can’t, it might be time to turn off the computer for a bit and go for a walk.

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Ann Smarty

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Ann Smarty is the pro blogger and guest blogger, social media enthusiast.

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The post Social Media and Society: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly appeared first on SEO Chat.

I see many people getting confused when you are talking about name anchors… “Is this what we need to build links for?”… Ugh, no.

The two are used for different functions entirely, and they have different tags used to make them.

Link Anchor Text

The simplest way to explain that: anchor text = visible text of the link

For example, let’s say you were speaking about Google’s search engine. In the post itself, you might mention that Google has been offering lots of cool user tools

Notice how I have anchored the link into the text speaking about Google. Clicking on that link will take you top their website. This is the same process used by people who want to connect articles together. So they would anchor a link to relevant text speaking about another post on the same blog, or page on the site.

<a href=”http://URL.com”>Anchor Text Used Here</a>

Google: Link anchor text is believed to be the most powerful SEO element. Read more about that here.

Linking to Anchor

When people adapt books, scientific studies, research papers, tutorials, or any other kind of wall-of-text style page, they will create different anchor points within it to make navigation simpler for the reader.

Name anchor allows you to point the reader to a specific part of the page…

<a name=”Section Title”></a>

Next, create the link pointing to that name anchor. This will use the standard link code, but will feature an ‘#’ before the anchor to signify that it is pointing to a section within the same page. It will look like:

<a href=”#Section Title”>Text</a>.

Google: This link may be picked up and used by Google to form the search snippet to point the user to a specific part of your web page:

Conclusion

Most of us have to do it on a regular basis; it’s the terminology that can be misleading!

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Ann Smarty

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Ann Smarty is the pro blogger and guest blogger, social media enthusiast.

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The post SEO Terminology: Link Anchor Text Versus Linking to Name Anchor appeared first on SEO Chat.

They have their hand in social media and networking, shopping, travel, academia…really, you would be hard pressed to find anything online they have not been involved with in some way, directly or indirectly.

It is easy to look at them as our Digital Masters and forget the more humble roots that they sprang from. Here are a couple of ‘firsts’ from the company that has grown into a powerhouse.

First Indexed Page

Google’s crawlers had to start from somewhere. The starting point was actually Larry Page’s own Standford page, which he released the first bot to. It indexed the page and moved on, creating the massive database we use today.

First Home Page

In 1996, Google was launched as a Standford web page, rather than as its own site. That was its first incarnation, which lasted for a year as it slowly gained steam and eventually its founders thought it was time it got its own place. That was in 1997, where it became Google.com.

What is interesting is that during this time, it was labeled as ‘Beta’ for the first time, and available for widespread use. So in a way, it has had two first home pages.

First Logo

Google didn’t have an official logo until 1997, when it was moved to its own site. The original was created by co-founder Sergey Brinn, who made the colorful image we know today using GIMP. It would always remain in this general incarnation, including the same colors minus a slight change from orange to yellow on the second ‘O’.

First Investor

It is well known that Brinn and Page did not have a lot of luck catching the attention of investors in the beginning. But they did manage to turn one head, and it landed them their first $100,000. That initial investor was Sun Microsystem’s founder Andy Bechtolsheim, who will forever be credited with having helped the biggest online company in the world take their first steps.

Fun fact: Google was not incorporated when he invested. But the check said Google Inc., so the duo decided they should probably make the title official.

First Employee

Other than the founders themselves, the first person to work for the company was Craig Silverstein, a PhD candidate in Computer Science at Stanford University. He left the company in 2012, having played a major role in the company and products overall development. Without him, you can be sure Google would not be the success it is todat.

Silverstein now works for Khan University.

Have any firsts for Google that you think are especially important or interesting? Let us know in the comments!

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Ann Smarty

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Ann Smarty is the pro blogger and guest blogger, social media enthusiast.

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The post Google’s “Firsts” appeared first on SEO Chat.

But their search engine was not made for everything. There are quite a few areas where it has tried – and failed – to be the best choice.

This topic was brought up on Quora not too long ago. The top purpose voted by users of things not to use Google for was medical research information. Even Google Scholar isn’t that reliable, and they suggest Embase, Medline and Pubmed as the three primary resources for searching out medical studies. Though poster Erica Friedman points out that a comprehensive search will take quite a few more search engines.

Another answer that stood out to me was ‘people searches’. Suzanne Boland says what many of us have probably discovered: Google is useless for searching out people. You are better off doing a deep web search through a specific engine. For example, Spokeo or Pipl. These let you search by name, location, email, address, ect. They will bringWhat NOT to Use Google Search For up public information and social media profiles, respectively.

One thing I have found is terrible for finding results on Google is torrents. I don’t mean illegal ones, but those that are specifically authorized by creative content licenses. These are so difficult to find using a Google search, which gives preference to illegal download sites and trackers. Which is why I use legal torrent search engines and sites instead, which only track those that the creators have given as an open source project. You can find a list of these here.

What are some uses you think Google is useless for? Let us know in the comments!

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Ann Smarty

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Ann Smarty is the pro blogger and guest blogger, social media enthusiast.

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The post What NOT to Use Google Search For appeared first on SEO Chat.

But with popularity comes the cynics. Quite a few parody sites have popped up, pointing out the less impressive results of the Pinterest phenomenon. Here are five of the best..

1. Pinstrosity

There are some excellent projects and tips offered on Pinterest. But some of the categories on the site are more reliable than others, and the more crafty ideas tend to be lacking in final results. This site is broken down into categories as well, like missing directions, misprinted supplies, cleaning tips gone awry, DIY project fails and less than stellar recipes.

2. Pinterest, You Are Drunk

Every once in awhile you will see a pin that is so overboard you can’t believe it exists. Like this bride who has a train that presumably runs to the end of the Earth. Or these croquet covers for the toilet. If you have ever seen something on Pinterest that makes you question the sanity of the original poster (and those who pinned the photos in admiration), then you probably belong on this site.

3. Really, Pinterest?

Not all pins are insane, some are just odd. A baby chick peeking out adorably from a hamburger bun? This site has that. Funny sign misspellings? Yep, they have that, too. A large, naked woman in nothing but a see-through raincoat and boots walking through the street? It’s here on this Tumblr account for you to gawk at.

4. Pinterest Fail

A couple of months ago I gave into the morbid pull of Pinterest and decided to try an artsy craft with my kids. They made it look so easy! Just shave some broken crayons into a muffin tin with liners, book it on a low temperature and made beautiful stain glass images on cellophane. The end result? Stained, waxy fingers and a ruined muffin tin. I could have easily submitted the fail to this blog, where it would be in good company.

5. WTF Pinterest

I have definitely seen some weird stuff on Pinterest, but weirdest has been some of the reactions from the pinners. The most hilariously useless pins are given special boards where people will ooh and ah over them like a firework show. If you are easily offended (such as in this “Put a Baby On It!” post), this blog might not be for you. For for those of us who are connoisseurs of sarcasm, it is a great place to call home.

Have a parody you think belongs on this list? Let us know in the comments!

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Ann Smarty

Community Manager at Internet Marketing Ninjas

Ann Smarty is the pro blogger and guest blogger, social media enthusiast.

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The post 5 Funniest Pinterest Parodies appeared first on SEO Chat.

Most of us have witnessed these failures first hand, and if you want a refresher course just check out this helpful infographic that illustrated the many attempts. Google has not had the best track record, with their successes usually through purchasing already established sites like YouTube.

When they launched Google+ amongst a huge amount of hype and fanfare, I am sure I was not the only one poised for disappointment. After all, we had been there before and it didn’t tend to be worth the invite to check out the new site. But they managed to get it right this time, and G+ was an immediate hit.

Even with hiccups along the way, such as with privacy issues (this is Google, after all). Now that it is available without an invite, and their services have all been linked through a single login, it has continued to grow in popularity.

So, why do so many people still claim Google+ a failure?

How Do You Solve a Problem Like Statistics?

The biggest complaint most analysts seem to have with Google+ is the numbers. Last year, the Wall Street Journal wrote a piece claiming that the social media site had become a ‘ghost town’, despite their incredibly high user numbers. In fact, the average time spent monthly on G+ was lower than Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, Twitter, LinkedIn, and even Myspace. Ouch!

For those of us who have been paying attention, these accusations are nothing new. In the past analysts have been quick to point out that most of the profiles that are on G+ seem to be inactive, or barely active. In fact, the high user rating might be blamed on the auto-creation through Google Accounts. A point backed up by this report in 2012 that showed how few shares are gathered by G+ compared to other social media sites.

The Way They Failed

I think this gives a strong indication of where Google+ has missed the mark. They never became a social network, and perhaps they didn’t mean to be. It is more a slightly socialized element to a wide array of services. But like so many of their other products, it isn’t actually aimed for the average user. In fact, it is rather inaccessible to the average social user, thanks to a unique but complicated platform design that most just don’t seem to gel with.

That gap is useability is so wide that the Huffington Post last year found that one in three of Google’s employees were inactive on the site. When even the people who work for you aren’t using our product, it is a bad sign.

The Way They Succeeded

After saying all of that, I am not suggesting that Google has actually failed. On the contrary, I think they have made some incredible progress in creating a unique kind of social network. One that is aimed more at the computer and technology enthusiasts and industry leaders than the average Joe. There is also a distinct edge for business use, and with Google Authorship they have made it a must have for the average blogger, as well.

For the first time, Google seems to be playing to their strengths rather than trying to take a bite out of Facebook. They are becoming more established within this niche, and they are surging in popularity as a result. We now include G+ automatically when we name off the major social media sites on the web, which we never would have done before with some of their other attempts.

Conclusion

Has Google+ failed? I suppose it depends on what they were trying to achieve in the first place. If they wanted an open, accessible social platform for all users on the web, then yes, they probably failed.

But if they were trying to make a business, blog and tech geek friendly version of other sites with a unique format, then they succeeded beyond anyone’s hopes. The numbers they provide are still pretty shady, and I don’t think anyone believes them when they talk about their active user base. But I am personally willing to forgive them for their fibs. As long as they never try to bring back Buzz.

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Ann Smarty

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Ann Smarty is the pro blogger and guest blogger, social media enthusiast.

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