It has emerged that Google has announced updates to its search ranking systems. From now on, websites who are gaining a false start on competitors by using pirated content are likely to be penalised. 

Google’s Amit Singhai said: 

"We will begin taking into account a new signal in our rankings: the number of valid copyright removal notices we receive for any given site. Sites with high numbers of removal notices may appear lower in our results.” 

But what does this mean for you? 

The good news is that if your site is chock-full of cracking content that’s yours and yours alone, then you’ve nothing to worry about. In fact, these updates could help your rankings if your competitors use content that infringes copyright law. 

But now more than ever, it’s clear that if you’re going to be ranking well in Google, you need to be featuring content that’s definitely yours. Make sure that your website uses copy, pictures and videos that are purely yours or used with permission. 

Help! I’ve been slapped by the updates and it’s not my fault! 

Fear not. Nice Mr Singhai will allow you to state your case, and any unjust removals will be reinstated:

“We’ll continue to provide ‘counter-notice‘ tools so that those who believe their content has been wrongly removed can get it reinstated. We’ll also continue to be transparent about copyright removals.”

Phew. 

If you are worried that your content may have been copied, or that the person who wrote it may have ‘lifted’ it from elsewhere, then one handy tool for checking duplication from Copyscape can be found here.

Would you like to make your business more visible on Google? Does your website need original, compelling content? Find out how we can help by contacting us today on 029 2076 6467 and have a chat with our friendly SEO and copywriting teams.

Congratulations are due to two of our very own Pay Per Click advertising experts, Chris Gurner and Amy Lyddon, who passed their Microsoft adExcellence exams this week with flying colours! 

Tackling 100 questions on all aspects of Microsoft’s adCenter platform in just 90 minutes, our in-house PPC gurus chalked up a very impressive average score of 87% between them.

These qualifications are now added to the growing list held in the company, including numerous Google AdWords and Analytics exam passes.

Both Amy and Chris are very pleased with their results and feel that their time and effort have been well rewarded by an increased understanding of the strengths and potential of working with the adCenter platform. 

It has long been known in the paid search industry that Bing and Yahoo! users (who the Microsoft adCenter platform targets) often make for higher quality traffic when it comes to website conversions. This is down to a number of interesting factors concerning Bing and Yahoo! users and the different demographic compared to Google users. Bing users tend to be slightly less web-savvy (probably as the search engine comes as the defaul option on most laptops and PCs), which means they browse and search less thoroughly. Ultimately this results in higher conversion rates – as long as you get your PPC ads just right.

Studying for adExcellence success has increased Chris and Amy’s understanding of the nuanced differences between adCenter and AdWords (Google) advertising. With a fluent, finely tuned grasp on the variations between the two platforms, the Liberty Pay Per Click advertising team have the knowledge and skills to use both mediums to the full advantage of our clients. 

If you’d like to learn more about how Pay Per Click advertising can boost your business online, across a range of platforms and search engines, please do not hesitate to get in touch with the Liberty Marketing team today. Fill out an enquiry form or call now on 029 2076 6467.