April was exciting with a lot of changes including two Panda updates within 8 days and then the Penguin. Here is a brief overview of some of the big ticket items in the latest search quality updates list:

Increase in the size of base index

The base index size of Google has increased by 15%. It can now show 15% more web pages and documents in the search results.

Index tier

A new index tier has also been launched. Indexing is usually done in tiers depending on how relevant a particular document is to the user. From April, there will be an additional tier to further improve the relevancy of search results.

Search engine ranking for search terms

One of the most basic search signals is the presence of search terms on your page and how they appear. The new update improves the way these search terms are scored.

Keyword stuffing

Google has improved their keyword stuffing classifiers. Could this perhaps be one of the first steps towards penalizing “over-optimization” as Matt Cutts had talked about earlier?

Elimination of domain crowding

Sometimes a search may display too many results from the same domain. Google has now made changes to facilitate retrieval of content from more diverse domains.

Sitelinks update

Sitelinks and megasitelinks are the extra links that sometimes show up below a top search result. The new changes will dig deeper into megasitelinks and show sub-sitelinks. The ranking of megasitelinks will also be improved, along with reduction in snippet duplication in expanded sitelinks.

Changes for Google Places

For local search results, local searches with location terms will ranks local navigational homepages in top spots even when the page does not mention the location. Websites, sub-domains and directories that are relevant to each country or geographical location will be ranked according to how relevant it is to the search location. Two people searching using the search terms will not get identical results, if they are in two different locations.

There are also some other minor updates. To read the entire list, head over to Google’s search blog.

After Panda struck terror in the hearts of webmasters, now it’s Penguin’s turn. Online forums are literally afire with posts about how webmasters are not taking to Google’s Penguin as they did with the tap dancing Happy Feet.

It is understandable that Google wants to continually improve the search results for its users, but each time there is an algorithm update, the webmasters take a beating when the changes affect their hitherto well-performing websites. Judging from the forums, Penguin has not left as fierce a trail of destruction as Panda had, nonetheless many webmasters seem to have been affected.

Even those websites that do everything by the book have been hit. But it is all part of the game as far as Google is concerned.

Penguin algorithm update targets webspam. You may think that you are not doing anything to create webspam and from your perspective you may be right, but nobody really knows what Google’s definition of webspam is. This may perhaps be the reason why even many good quality websites were hit by Penguin.

This is what Google says about its Penguin update: “The change will decrease rankings for sites that we believe are violating Google’s existing quality guidelines. We’ve always targeted webspam in our rankings, and this algorithm represents another improvement in our efforts to reduce webspam and promote high quality content. While we can’t divulge specific signals because we don’t want to give people a way to game our search results and worsen the experience for users, our advice for webmasters is to focus on creating high quality sites that create a good user experience and employ white hat SEO methods instead of engaging in aggressive webspam tactics.”

For those who have been hit badly by Penguin, we go back to the same old Internet marketing fundamentals: Never rely solely on search engines, or a single search engine. Search engines may be the most obvious way that new customers find out about your business, but there are also other methods such as print and TV advertising, word of mouth, web directories, forum discussions etc.

These other methods in fact create a stronger and more stable online presence for your business. So unless you are someone who relies solely on Adwords to pay your bills, you must start looking at drawing in traffic from sources other than Google. Don’t neglect optimizing for search engines, do the basic stuff and also concentrate on alternate marketing practices.

When you don’t depend entirely on search traffic brought in by Google, you can take any hit by any algorithm change. With the changes your rankings may slip for a while, but your business will not take a nosedive just because Google stops sending you traffic. You will have enough traffic and/or customers coming in from other sources, while you concentrate on cleaning up the mess left behind by pandas and penguins.

As you know, the more the number of citations that you can get from trusted sources, the better your credibility with Google. So, as you focus on local search in other directories and search engines, not only do you get more search visibility, but it also helps augment your Google rankings too. Also, it is always good to have your traffic coming in from various sources rather than from just Google. Even if your Google rankings slip for some reason, while you work on getting your spot back, you do not have to stress yourself out because you will not lose all your traffic in one go.

Here are some options for local search you may not have given much thought:

Facebook

People spend a considerable amount of time on Facebook and they also conduct searches via the search box. Facebook displays Pages also in their search results, so if you have a Facebook Page, there is a high chance that it can pop up in a search result.

In 2010, Facebook also introduced its Places option which allows users to announce their location. Businesses can do the same by updating the profile with all relevant information. If a user searches for a business in a particular location, your Page will appear on the search results provided you have updated your location.

Twitter

Twitter has a search option which can search by location. Update your business location in your Twitter profile and also enable “tweet location” which will display the location when you tweet. Whenever someone searches for a keyword or location, they get a list of the latest tweets, so tweet about your product often. Of course this does not mean that you spam your regular followers, just ensure that you tweet something relevant and related to your product every so often.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is the better choice for B2B service providers and professionals. LinkedIn allows you to set up a company page and also provides an option for your current and former employees to associate themselves to the page.

Update your LinkedIn page with location information. LinkedIn search allows users to filter results based on location.

Pinterest

Pinterest is a great network to get the attention of customers if you are in a business that provides services that would look good if represented as photographs. For example, if you run a bakery, provide wedding photography services, sell garments or jewelry, or have a home décor store, Pinterest is something you must not ignore.

Include keywords and location info in each of your pins and boards.

Here are some of the new features that were introduced to make Google simpler, yet more beautiful.

Navigation ribbon changes

The earlier G+ had static icons at the top, but now you have a row of dynamic icons on the left ribbon panel which you can move around as you like. Hovering over an icon will give you a pop up box with a set of actions you can choose from. You can rearrange the order in which the icons appear on the panel. So, if for instance you frequently use Photos and Hangout and you want those icons to be at the top, you can now drag them to the desired spot. Moreover, if you think your ribbon is cluttered with a lot of apps, you can always move them out of the way by dragging them to the lower part of the panel.

With these new features, you can work around your favorites and hone your preferences over time to create a customized G+ experience. The left ribbon panel is also flexible enough to provide adequate space for the next big feature.

Make sharing more evocative

Google is aiming high with this one, to make sharing more evocative. They are planning to accomplish this by making it easier than before to share anything from anywhere with those in your Circles.

Some of the features that Google has introduced include posting bigger photos and videos, conversation cards that you can quickly scan to decide whether you want to join a conversation or not, and an activity drawer which tells you which community is active around content that you like.

Hangout changes

Of course Hangout is not left out; a slew of features have been introduced here. Some of them include a dynamically updated invite list from those in your Circles, quicker access to public hangouts, and a rotating billboard of popular hangouts to choose from.

Here is an overview of all the new G+ features if you want to learn more.

Google has been issuing a lot of warning to webmasters about unnatural linking practices. Webmasters have been getting warning messages about using techniques that are outside of Google webmaster guidelines. The warnings mention that the websites could be using unnatural linking practices intended to manipulate page ranking. They also urged the webmaster to change the website so that Google quality guidelines are met and then submit the site for reconsideration to be included in the search results.

Till now, nobody knew how Google zeroed in on which websites to penalize, especially since they did not mention anything specific about the URLs that are causing the problem. One of the webmasters noticed that the example URLs that Google had shared was never even published on any website because they were caught by the Akismet filter.

This is what leads experts to speculate that Akismet data is what Google possibly uses to decide on unnatural linking practices.

Google announced the availability of Google Maps for 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment Systems (NES). Check out the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rznYifPHxDg. What a happy thought!

Then there was the Google Really Advanced Search, which can really filter those results down. How we survived this far without the really advanced search options is beyond me.

Sergey Brin also announced Google’s partnership with Nascar. In their quest to build a self-driving car, they also apparently decided to partner with Nascar to build one that is capable of speeds of 200mph or more while surrounded by other vehicles.

Glen Murphy of the Chrome design team announced (with a very straight face) the Chrome multitask mode which allows you access to two mice at the same time. Get more done faster. Here is the video: http://youtu.be/UiLSiqyDf4Y

And how about this one which told you about how you could enjoy YouTube videos in a whole new way? Google promised to deliver YouTube videos on DVDs right to your door. You also get trending videos on laser discs.

Thanks for the laugh, Google.

Pinterest spam look like legit pins, but there are many duplicates and the current mega spam pins all seem to be pointed to the affiliate links of Amazon.

Spammers are using multiple accounts and bots to pin and repin images that link back to their affiliate accounts. The more the number of repins, the more popular it appears and the images that have been bot-repinned into popularity even begin to appear in the “Popular” page of Pinterest. These images are high quality and have no features that help them identify as spam. Once the images appear on the Popular page, they are repined by thousands of users again. If anybody decides to purchase an item from Amazon, the money goes to the spammer via their affiliate code.

Steve said the Pinterest opened their doors to spammers when they dropped their “Skimlinks” following some bad press around it. Skimlinks was a script that replaced any affiliate tag in an image with their own.

Pinterest may now be in the major league batting with the big boys. But they need to clean up quick. Spammers can be extraordinarily resourceful and Pinterest guys have their jobs cut out for them.

Here is the latest updated information in Google Places guidelines about how to define service area:

If you don’t receive customers at your location, you must select the “Do not show my business address on my Maps listing” option within your dashboard. If you don’t hide your address, your listing may be removed from Google Maps.

Andrew asks some very valid questions – why he was penalized for a brand new guideline that Google introduced when he already had his listing up and running for 2 years, why the rep on the phone did not update him about the latest requirement to hide the home address, and why he was not notified of the problem in the dashboard.

Earlier, Google penalized you if you hid your address. Now, depending on the nature of the business and where you receive your clients, you are required to either display or hide the results.

For blended search results, the best way to decide whether an address must be displayed or not seems to be dependent on whether a user can and should use Google Maps to find the business location.

It does make sense of course that the address needs to be listed only if you receive clients at the said address. Google is obviously streamlining Places guidelines for a better user experience, but they have neglected (or considered it unnecessary) to publicize the new updates first instead of axing hundreds of listings which were perfectly in the good books till now.

A phone call or a notification which alerts the small business of the new change would have made the process a lot smoother instead of this punishing approach.

Google must learn how to communicate updates and guideline changes in a less confrontational manner.

However, there is a little something that mars the celebratory mood. Not only has Google decided to close down the older forum (we are not complaining), but they have also inexplicably decided to remove all the content in the old platform instead of archiving it (we are complaining, loudly!).

But Mike Blumenthal managed to salvage some of the posts and has generously made it available on his website. Here is where you will find some valuable content from the older Places forum [http://places.blumenthals.com/].

This resource is of great value for all local search professionals. Thanks to Mike, we still have access to a lot of information on earlier support issues, updates and bugs. Those who are interested in how the platform slowly evolved will find Mike’s Places link invaluable.

For latest updates and help on Google Places, head over to the new forum page.