Schemer is Google’s latest web service coming soon to everyone and it sounds pretty cool.

Schemer will allow users to get involved in Google recommended activities in their area. It includes a list of new things users discover and do online and are recommended on the basis of the users’ location and interests.

Some examples of Schemer tasks include playing the large piano at FAO Schwarz in New York City or taking a bike ride up to Hawk Hill in San Francisco.

As told by Google:

Whether it’s exploring a new city, checking out a friend’s movie recommendations, or just finding new activities for your weekends, Schemer lets you discover new things to do, share schemes with friends, and make the most of your day. Schemer is based on a simple yet powerful concept: schemes. A scheme is any activity you’d like to do.

Schemer has a strong social element to it (perhaps influenced by Google+) – you can not only find things to do in your free time but also share your interest in specific schemes with your Google+ friends.  Schemer will also allow you to save your schemes of interest to a list of things to be done later.

Schemer has currently teamed up with sites like Bravo, Entertainment Weeklym GeekDad / GeekMom, Idealist, IGN, Lifehacker, National Geographic, Outside, Parenting.com, Real Simple, Rolling Stone, Southern Living, Time Out, Thrillist, US Department of the Interior and Google-owned Zagat and we can expect the list to grow over time.

Schemer is currently available by invitation-only. Users who are interested in becoming a part of this service can register their email address at www.schemer.com and wait (patiently) for the invitation from Google.

Google has released a video explaining how Schemer works, which you can view below.

A Google user recently asked our favorite Google employee, Matt Cutts some tough questions about the Google PageRank toolbar which I though might interest all you lovers of the PageRank metric.

The question that was asked was: “I use the Google Toolbar to monitor PageRank. I read on the Internet that it gives old and quite unreliable data. Can I have reliable realtime PageRank information about the sites I administer? And how can I identify causes of a PageRank drop?”

Matt answered the question in a video for all of us to see, which I have included below, but I have also summarized the main points.

• The information in the Google PageRank toolbar is only updated 3-4 times a year
• This is due to Google not wanting webmasters to become obsessed with PageRank
• Matt advises that webmasters should concentrate their efforts on optimizing their website instead of obsessing about PageRank

In regards to identifying the causes of a PageRank drop, Matt says the main reasons for a PageRank drop are:

• Recent canonicalization changes/ issues
• A drop in the number/quality of website’s that link to your site
• The most common reason is because you are selling links from your site. This is a violation of Google’s quality guidelines and Google will demote your PageRank to stop those links coming from your site. To reverse this you must remove the links you were selling and submit a reconsideration request to Google.

Check out Matt’s video answer for more details:

The DMOZ Directory is the equivalent to the Holy Grail (almost) when it comes to link juice for Google SEO. For years, DMOZ has been considered the first “port of call” when starting your link building journey in any SEO campaign.

Due to its overwhelming popularity, it is almost impossible to get into DMOZ these days. So with this in mind, what role does DMOZ play in determining a websites ranking in Google?

This was a question recently asked to the Google Webmaster Team and Mr Google himself, Matt Cutts, answered in a short video below.

Matt mentions that the DMOZ directory is showing its age, however it should still be considered a valuable SEO source.

In regards to ranking, a website gets no special reward/ranking boost from being in DMOZ. A link from DMOZ is worth the same as a link from anywhere else; it’s just that the DMOZ directory tends to have a higher page rank. So a link from DMOZ could carry a little more page rank for your site, just like a link from any other highly reputable sources.

Apart from ranking, Google actually uses the DMOZ directory for computing snippets. If you block a page on your website with robots.txt then Google can’t crawl that page. So instead they will look at the listing in DMOZ. If the listing mentions what the particular page is about, then Google will use this information.

Finally, Matt says that due to its age, Google are always testing assumptions when using DMOZ.

There are other ranking factors that carry a lot more weight, so you should concentrate your efforts on these.

While we as users often talk about the changes Google introduces into its search result pages, be it improvements in the algorithm, or addition of search tools to look of the page we seldom think about what all happens at the back end to make these changes possible. Keeping this in mind Google has released short video that gives a deeper look into the thought processes and type of work that goes into improving the quality of search result, the future of search and the future of Google as the world largest search result provider.

The purpose behind releasing this video is that Google feels that as the internet continues to grow each day and as search gets more personalized, users always have a choice of which search engine to use and this is what keeps Google motivated to work harder.

Here is the video so you can check it out yourself:

What I found most interesting was that every creative idea suggested has to pass some intensive scientific testing and prove its usability before being approved and launched. Every change in the algorithm that doesn’t get desired reaction from users, is given an equal amount of re-thinking to identify the problem area and find a subsequent solution. The analysts at Google called the ‘ranking engineers’ get together and sit through many brain storming sessions to determine what data can be integrated into an algorithm.

When introducing a new change, Google runs the experiments with a limited number of users/participants termed the ‘virtual sandbox’ to document and collect user reactions and feedback data. Not only this, but Google talks about including professional analysts from outside the Google family, to evaluate and compare different search rankings before rolling out the changes to users worldwide.

I will leave you with one final thought – In 2010, Google ran more than 20,000 different experiments out of which only 500 were launched. They certainly are a busy bunch of people at Google!

Just last week Google expanded the listings in its search results, so how can you take advantage of this change? The first place to start with is your content.

If you’re unaware of this news on sitelinks there are more details here, but, essentially, organic search results will now include full-size links, display URL and a one line description below their listing from the pages meta description tags.

Copywriting expert Heather Lloyd-Martin has been quick to jump on the idea of optimizing your content specifically for these expanded sitelinks through a video which I have shared below.

Heathers advice includes examples of what you should and shouldn’t do with your meta description tags and is well worth a look.

The main takeaway from this video is that Google is now displaying around 30-35 characters from your meta description tag in each sitelink. While this is not a lot of room to work with, you need to ensure that those opening words result in a meaningful snippet. You can do this by having well written and concise meta descriptions across all pages on your website.

If each of the pages on your website doesn’t have a meta description tag, then its time to get busy creating them. Otherwise this is how your listing could look in the Google SERP’s:

Doesn’t look very professional, does it?

So only with a few changes in the meta description tags, you can now expect to see an increase in your organic click through rate (CTR). Good luck!

Google recently launched a new Chrome toolbar, Google Related, which shows you useful and interesting content related to your search while you browse the web.

As you roll the cursor over the thin bar along the bottom of your screen, Google will provide videos, maps, reviews and other information relevant to the search. Users can also share their search results with friends by using the built-in +1 button.

Google have provided more details on Google Related in the video below.

Google has put in plenty of effort recently to make search results more personalized/accurate and this latest addition falls into this category. Google hopes this toolbar will save searchers time and reduce their need to juggle between many websites without missing out on the relevant information on these sites.

For example if you are looking for a restaurant in San Francisco, Google Related will search and display relevant results. To preview one of these items just roll over the item and it will pop up in a preview box, so if you roll over the video result it will pop up and play in the same preview box without the hassle of changing windows.

Google Related works in the background to find the most interesting and relevant results on the subject you are searching for, however you can hide and or completely disable it through the Options menu.

Currently, Google Related is only available for Chrome and Internet Explorer browser users and only if you have configured your toolbar’s search site to be Google.com. Given that Google announced that they’re ending support for their Firefox search toolbar last month, I think we can assume that Firefox users are going to miss out on this toolbar.  Apparently, we can expect to see Google Related for other country-specific search alternatives (ie Google.com.au) in the future too.

To learn more about this feature and get your Google Related toolbar, simply visit www.google.com/related.

Google’s recent Panda algorithm updates have had quite an impact in removing spammy websites from the SERP’s but there is still a long way to go before they are all gone for good. Did you know that you can play a part in ensuring these sites don’t rank well?

Although your website has high-quality content, there are, no doubt, sites and landing pages that rank higher in the search results. While this can be frustrating, there are steps you can take to turn the tide on these sites.

A video from the team at SuccessWorks outlines 3 stategies to combat your spammy competition. Here’s the video:

This is what you shouldn’t do:

1. Worry – although this spammy site is ranking above you they might not necessarily be making money. The quality of the site reflects the quality of the company. Consumers aren’t naïve, they wont purchase from website’s that look suspicious.
2. Copy this competitor’s strategy – although it might seem that this is the type of content that Google wants, this isn’t the case. This goes against Google’s best practices.

Here are the 3 tips from the video:

1. Check your data – is the key phrase you are being outranked for really that important to your overall revenue.
2. Review your content – can it be improved? You have probably had your website for a while and become content or blindsided with the content. It might be time to pass it onto external eyes to provide some feedback on how to improve it.
3. Start leveraging social media – this will increase the likelihood of people visiting your site from a variety of sources, not just traditional organic rankings. A good place to start is with a Facebook page, a Twitter profile or a Google Places page.

Do you have any additional tips? If so feel free to share them below.

It’s well known that your home page is the most important page on your website. It’s your visitors “first impression” of your whole website and also the main page listed in the search engine results, so it had better be good.

One thing to consider on your home page is the number of words it contains. What is the optimal number of words I hear you ask? Good question! Google’s Matt Cutts vaguely answered this question recently with the following statement:

If you have more content on your home page, there’s more text for Googlebot to find.

Not a very helpful answer is it. So I went searching for more expert help and came across a video from copywriting expert Heather Lloyd – Martin. I have included the view here so you can watch it. It’s only a quick one (5 minutes), so it won’t take up too much of your time.

Heather actually suggests that there isn’t a particular word count you should stick to. Instead you should look at your home page content from your visitor’s perspective. Concentrate on the messaging your visitors need to read in order to take further action on your website.

The key to good content on your home page is to have 2 types – content that is written for readers and also content that is written for the search engines. Ensure that the content you include is a value-add for both your visitors and the search engines.

If it’s time to give your home page an overhaul, then check out this article I wrote earlier this year: Dos and Don’ts of Creating a First-Class Home Page. It will provide some tips on what you should and shouldn’t include on your home page. Good luck!

The official rules for writing HTML are defined by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). If you don’t follow these rules for your website, will you be penalized by the search engines?

Although it doesn’t have a direct impact on Google rankings, W3C validation is incredibly important for browser compatibility and overall site usability.

Google’s Matt Cutts explains more in the video below.

Google crawls all sites, irrespective of coding. But there are some occurrences where sites aren’t indexed because of syntax errors.

If you’re website passes W3C validation then it will be very clean coded and most importantly easy will be easy to update in the future.

To help webmasters ensure their websites coding is correct, W3C has provided a number of free online validation tools. Here is a list of these tools and some others from 3rd party providers:

• W3C Markup Validation Service
• W3C CSS Validation Service
• W3C Link Checker
• W3 Schools Web Page Validation
• Multipage Validator

While the tools provided by W3C are likely to be the most accurate, I would also suggest testing your site with the online tools provided by 3rd parties, just to be thorough. If there is any discrepancy between the results, then it might pay to take a closer look at your HTML code.

If all of this content is flying over your head, then I would suggest sourcing a website developer/coder to take a look at your site.

In an effort to judge site authority and quality, its likely that Google will include W3C validity in their algorithm in the future; so now would be the time to get your code up to scratch.

“The Mobile Movement” study was recently conducted by Google to get a better understanding of Smartphone users and the results show just how addicted we are to the Smartphone in our daily life.

89% of the people surveyed (5013 US adult Smartphone users) indicated that they used the Smartphone for their daily live activities. This shows that Smartphone’s have become a compulsory extension of the desktop computers allowing users to multi-task even while they are consuming other forms of media.

Interestingly, the majority of the users considered their Smartphone to be an indispensable shopping and information seeking device. Whether it is for researching a product over the internet before actually buying it or for finding some local information about a business, mobile users heavily rely on their Smartphone.

Some of the key highlights of the study conducted are:

• 81% of users browse the Internet, 77% search, 68% use an app, and 48% watch videos on their Smartphone
• 72% use their Smartphone while consuming other media
• 93% of Smartphone owners use their Smartphone’s while at home
• 95% of Smartphone users have looked for local information and 88% of these users take action within a day, indicating these are immediate information needs
• 71% search on their phones after an ad exposure
• 82% notice mobile ads, especially mobile display ads and a third notice mobile search ads

The video below, created by Google, gives a visual summary of the findings from the study

This report strongly suggests that with mobile dependant searches are soaring by the day. Business owners should take mobile advertising seriously and develop influential ads that will catch a prospective customer’s eye and make a prompt purchase decision.

Have you had success with mobile advertising? We would love to hear your thoughts below.