Google News: Google Analytics Layout Changed

Google seems to be in very aggressive mood these days. It seems like google has either decided to complete a to do task list which the google engineers might created in beginning of the year & as we are near to end of the year they are just started completing that to do list or Google has decided to cover headlines of almost all famous SEO blogs daily :)

After hummingbird, penguin update & No PR update announcement, one more change thrown by google today. Google analytics layout has been changed. Though this is not for the first time, Google is famous for back to back changes. Again withing 15 days 4 changes/announcements by google making SEO industry keep on moving.

Today's Google news is traditional google analytics navigation layout have some changes. Overview section which was showing direct, referral & organic traffic has been changed by a panel, namely, "acquisitions" which has 2 new subitems, namely, "overview & Channels"

Overview channel will give you an overview of overall performance of organic search [via search engines], direct traffic, referral traffic & social traffic with details separated in 3 parts.
1. Acquisition
Giving overview of total visits, % of new visits and new visits.
2. Behaviour
Gives an overview of bounce rate, pages/visit and avg. visit duration.
3. Conversions
Gives an overview of goal conversion rate, goal completion & goal value. This is the only section which gives you choice of selecting 1 goal out of x no of goals you have set. So you can see the performance of each goal you have set by selecting any from the small drop down buttonn.

Each of these section will give you the value in % and not in actual digits and that in horizontal bar chart.

Channel section will give you details of almost everything you might be seeking for. Channel section also have all the sections Acquisition -> overview has. The only twist is this section will give you more detailed values in form of actual digits rather than % or bar chart. You can see all the values with details so you can track from which channel out of 4 namely, organic, social, referral & direct. Again conversions have the selection option to measure the performance of individual goals.

You can navigate in traffic sources by clicking on traffic channel for more details as you were doing before. Rest of the things are as it is.

When you open the analytics, at first glance you might feel like lost in your own home. It's like after having relaxing sleep when you open your eyes interior of your house has been changed which might make you uncomfortable for a while as we used to be habitual and familiar with the old stuff and it seems bit difficult to get used to with new things. But when you take a deep breath and navigate it seems more productive, helpful and satisfying the meaning of name "analytics" which make your analysis task bit easier & more productive by comparision.

Though Google used to implement changes for better user experience for sure weather it is for normal net surfers or webmasters but back to back changes are making SEO industry bit uneasy with the stuff :)

We will wait for new changes or announcement by Google which will again rule the headlines of many authorised SEO & digital marketing blogs. And that can be expected in nearer future as per the footprints of google :)

Till then keep on reading digital marketing blogs for more updates, tips, tricks and guides on digital marketing topics. Feel free to leave your mark by leaving your questions and feedbacks in comment.

Read more »

Posted in: analytics layout change,ashseo,ashvyasseo,Google analytic appereance update,Google analytics,google news,google update,major changes by google

Google News: No Google PR Update in 2013

Google's web spam head Matt Cutts came up with new headlines of many blogs and articles on twitter when he replied to Niels's question that he would be surprised if there is any page rank update in 2013.

In detail, Niels Bosch asked Matt Cutts on social media website twitter "Will there be any PR update before 2014? And Matt simply replied "He will be surprised if that happened". Check the below image of their tweet conversation

No PR update before 2014

As the SEO industry knows it's almost more than 7 months last PR updated by Google and as per Matt, It won't get updated in nearer future. So those who were eagerly waiting for PR update have to wait more. Friendly advice I would say just stop getting worried about Page Rank because even Google might not getting much bothered about Page rank itself. And as per the symptoms of not updating PR, it seems PR will be one of the very minor factor to be considered for search engines rankings. We can also expect PR just flew away with any of Google algo bird.

What is Page Rank?
Those who are not aware of the fact that what is page rank here is brief for you. Page rank is a google toolbar digit which is kind of measurement of website having which kind of backlinks. As many well reputed & high PR websites are linking back to you as max page rank your website earn. Maximum page rank is 10 and minimum is NA or 0. Twitter has 10 Page rank. Google is very unbiased in terms of page rank as Google's own page rank is 9. Page rank is all about backlinks and have nothing to do with quality of content you have.

Page rank is topic of criticism since many years by SEO experts as higher page rank has been used by spammers to spam the net by paid links or bulk link building to get high page rank. SEO experts used to not bother much about page rank and care more for other better factors like traffic, quality, branding, reputation, etc. And I think after defending so many criticism  against page rank Matt just replied in one of his recent videos that page rank will be updated less often. Google always used to advice to be more concerned about other factors to improve user experience and rankings rather than keeping eyes on PR. Somewhere in it's support Google's own web browser Gogole chrome don't have toolbar or built in PR check tool. As we all know new hummingbird algo changes old PR algo of ranking of Google. So Indutry experts are saying it can be predictable that page rank will be updated less often and then will be thrown away.

So PR is dead?
At the moment we can't say so strongly. We can just wait and watch and focus our energy at better place rather than focusing on page ranks.

Keep sending your feedbacks in comments.

Thanks

Read more »

Posted in: ashseo,ashvyasseo,google announcement,google news,page rank,Page rank facts,PR update

Google News: Penguin Algo Updated

One more news from Google about an algorithm update. On 5th Oct, 2013, Matt Cutts, web spam head of Google announced that new version of Google penguin algo is released and it has affected 1% of search queries. Though 1% is as per Matt Cutts. Actual effect we will get to know in few days by reviews of experts & reactions of those who caught by this update. This announcement was made on social media website Twitter. Matt given it a name Penguin 2. Though many SEO experts has given it different numbers because after the first penguin update there were 4 major and few major penguin updates. Google used to announced it as penguin updated and the SEO experts given it various names by attaching different numeric digits. I think after the first penguin algorithm update this can be considered as some major change in the original penguin algo so they given it name Penguin 2. All previous updates must be the minor one so Google didn't bothered to give them numbers. So moral of the story can be rather than getting in to the confusion of numbers just focus on fact that PENGUIN IS OUT now.

Penguin 2.0 Algo Update Announcement by Matt Cutts

What is Penguin Algo Update? [Overview & History of Penguin Algo]

For those who are not from SEO field or those who never heard name of penguin algo before, I would like to say this penguin is not that black & white bird. But this penguin is that hunter who used to hunt those sites who are involved in spamming and witness of low quality SEO practice. First Penguin was announced on 24th April, 2012 and many big brands was caught by this update all over the world. It was the update which affected 3.1% of queries as per Google but I witnessed that change when so many SEO people were just clueless what is happening and what can be done next. Because at that time traffic of websites just gone 50 to 80% down who get caught by it. Of course it was quite difficult for them to figure out which links were of low quality & how to get rid from them. Even after removing those links they were just have to wait for next algo refresh to check weather the actions they took were right or not. One of the big Google penalty that was which made many SEOs reckless. After the 1st update 26th May, 2012 2nd penguin update announced which was followed by 3rd Penguin algo update announcement on 5th Oct, 2012; 4th Penguin algo update announcement on 22nd May, 2013.

Who will affected by Penguin 2 Aka 5th Penguin Update?

Those sites which has low quality backlinks or over optimized [over optimization means blind link building without checking for relevancy or quality with almost same anchor text] will get negatively affected by this update. And trust me it will hurt very badly. daily traffic goes 200 to 20 :o and it is fact.

Those who were already hurt by previous penguin updates and took necessary action to get rid of their penalty can hope for positivity and might get out of their penalty.

How to check weather your site is affected by Penguin or not?

Simple just keep watch on your traffic for 2-3 days. If you see major changes in your traffic then you are affected by Penguin. Sometime few algo update affects get visible later in other part of the world than US. So in that case keep eyes on traffic for a week. After 7 days, if you don't see any major changes then you can take deep breadth & get relaxed and focus your energy on regular progress. :) In counter-case, hope not you get caught but if you get caught then you have to pull up your shoes and need to find out all your backlinks then either you have to disavow it or have to remove it permanently and then wait for next algo refresh to check results weather your effort worked or not. When I am writing this I felt like I'm talking about some life taking disease which has no hope of survival :D and praying for God grace :) but precaution is always better so to get rid of there DO SMART SEO RATHER THAN HARD/WORTHLESS  SPAMMY SEO. 

Is Hummingbird flew away?

If you are thinking penguin will rule the Google & hummingbird just flew away than wake up time. Hummingbird is overall ranking & indexing algorithm of Google. While Penguin is just a part of main algo which will fight with low quality spammy sites. So both hummingbird & Penguin & panda & all animals of Google zoo will work together for getting best result for better user experience.

Prediction time

Though no other SEO expert stated this but my gut feeling is saying that after this 2 major updates we can expect new version of Panda or similar update in nearer future.

As any other webmaster I have checked my sites and no bad news for me or my clients. What is your status? You can give your feedback in comment and PM.

Read more »

Posted in: Effect of Penguin,Google algo update,google news,Google Penguin update,Humminbird,Penguin 2 announcement,Penguin History