Google Site Killer

[AgentProvocateur]

Google has been kicking my butt for the last 6 months, too.

Bob, you may want to add a Wordpress plug-in placing social media share buttons (Facebook, Twitter, Google+) on your blog posts, so it's easier for people to share/like your content. I just read a case study about the influence Google +1s have on ranking. We might be able to help our fellow insurance forum members by rewarding good content with +1s. You seem to have a good Google + presence, maybe all you need is more social shares.

The guys out-ranking me seem to have strong authorship ( & better design, and most likely a better backlink profile), and I'm trying to figure out how to best use Google Plus, to strengthen my authorship. I still have my by-line showing up in search, but Google dropped my ugly mug from appearing with my blog posts, I assume for lack of authorship juice, and not for more justifiable aesthetic reasons.

 

[somarco]

As I understand there is no rhyme or reason to why your pic shows up (or not) in a G search. I had a social plugin (Jetpack) but found it really slowed down my site, even when most of the stuff was turned off. At one time had too many plugins that not only slowed the site but often were in conflict, so I am mostly lean and mean now.

I use Yoast SEO primarily. Does a lot of what I need and want. The XML site map generator is weak and I probably should disable that and replace it with Google XML generator.

Yoast addresses G+ authorship and includes a slot to report updates to G and Bing webmaster tools.

I work very hard (and hopefully smart) on my G+ presence. Seems to work better for posts than pages, but maybe that is my imagination.

 

[ltcadviser]

God, I wish I understood 10% of what you guys are talking about......guess I need someone to push my site socially...

 

[CatalystLocal]

Thx again. Do you have a site for this partner? You can spell it out wefixthings dot com. I am sure others would be interested as well.

Sorry, they are like a silent partner that handles the work I refer to them. (I'm only one person so can't do everything myself - but they have a whole team I've trained to do what I used to do before I got too busy.) What I explained above is not a standard service they offer, so I'd need to introduce you to them and explain what we discussed and what I think they should do in your particular case.

Do you have an opinion on the Yoast Local SEO plugin?

I don't have 1st hand experience but everyone at my forum seems to have great feedback about it. I have not heard any negative feedback.

somarco just found out my forum Admin is in the hospital, so I'm even more buried than usual, having to do everything he usually does for me. So if I am unable to get back here tomorrow as promised, that's why. I'll do my best to though. It's just that to finish researching your case and explain everything would take more time than I have today. But Mon or Tues I'll try to do it.

Linda Buquet

 

[CHUMPS FROM OXFORD]

Re authorship pic...recently Google reduced the number of pics showing up because of spammng, overuse etc. Not all posts and pages should have your authorship on it.

 

[scagnt83]

According to Google they show rich snippets and authorship info as they see fit. See the bottom of this post for more info.

This is something I have been researching lately and playing around with.

But I will say that the G+ pages are complicated. I currently have 3... and it is a mess trying to make them sync up how you want.


Google just came out with a new feature in webmaster tools called the Highlighter. It is a tool that makes it easy to show rich snippets in search results. You literally point and click on the aspects of the page you want to show. But you have to have it physically showing on the page. For example, if you wanted to show a star rating in the search results you can highlight where you have it on the page and it will save it for Snippets. But it is still limited compared to using true Schema.

Speaking of Schema, I found a plug-in called "All-in-One Schema.org Rich Snippets".
It puts a Rich Snippets section on all posts. It makes Schema *** proof.
I have started to do Fixed Annuity Reviews on my website and am using it for my reviews.
Not only does it put the Schema in for the Star Snippet in the search results, but it also creates a small box at the bottom of the post showing the Review info.
The only negative is that some of the JS & CSS are not that well optimized (according to google's site speed anaylzer). But some of you guys with more knowledge than me could figure out how to fix that. But so far I am a big fan of the Plug-In. (and I am not a fan of using plugins when I dont have to)

WordPress › All In One Schema.org Rich Snippets « WordPress Plugins


Here is it in action on my first Indexed Annuity Review for the American Legend III Indexed Annuity by Great American Life.

this is what google claims to show when it appears in results

Notice under the Authorship section it has the note about displaying results "as they see fit".
Here is the Learn More link that it says to click. https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/1306778?hl=en

----------

I had a social plugin (Jetpack) but found it really slowed down my site, even when most of the stuff was turned off. At one time had too many plugins that not only slowed the site but often were in conflict, so I am mostly lean and mean now.

At first I loved plugins, now I am not a fan.

JetPack has some really cool features, but I found out that it does really slow things down. So I got rid of it. Then I realized that all of my contact forms were created via JetPack!!

So now Ive had to add a new contact form plugin (Contact Form 7).
But it is not nearly as slow and hindering as Jetpack was.

Jetpack had the social elements, but all of that can be done other ways. Yoast SEO has social linking. Twitter has an API code for a timeline. And the social sharing buttons can be done via a much lighter plugin, or through API codes directly from those social sites.

----------

God, I wish I understood 10% of what you guys are talking about......guess I need someone to push my site socially...

It has taken many late nights reading very boring blogs/whitepapers/etc. along with lots of surfing around google webmasters tools to get the tiny bit of knowledge I do have about this subject.

And yes, social, especially G+ seems to be more and more important. When I look at my competitors who are on Page 1, they have well over 1k links on FaceBook, Twitter, etc. Usually not as much on G+ but still well in the hundreds.

http://InsuranceLibrary.com actually helps me with social link building.
I answer a question and they have a link on the page to tweet out my answer on my twitter page.
Then, I have a different site/app that pushes my tweets out to my FaceBook page.
So one answer on Insurance Library along with a quick tweet (from the answer page), puts it on 2 social media sites.
Then IL links with my G+ Profile and helps to build Authorship on G+.

It takes a bit to set it all up but once it is setup its easy.

 

[somarco]

guess I need someone to push my site socially

This woman might be willing to help spread the word. Of course you will have to cut her agent in on the action.

if I am unable to get back here tomorrow as promised,

No problem. I feel like I am imposing on you, but you did ask . . .

Not all posts and pages should have your authorship on it.

Are you saying to manually limit the pages with rel=author? All my pages and posts are automatic, but I do decide which ones I push to G+, Twitter and FB.

 

[AgentProvocateur]

I was expecting the Wordpress Schema plug-in to help me, since I mainly write insurance company reviews, but I had another drop in traffic after using Schema item review on my recent reviews. The drop may have been unrelated, but I de-activated the plug-in.

scagnt83, I hope you have better results, and please post if you see the Schema plug-in makes a difference in search results for your annuity reviews.

 

[scagnt83]

I was expecting the Wordpress Schema plug-in to help me, since I mainly write insurance company reviews, but I had another drop in traffic after using Schema item review on my recent reviews. The drop may have been unrelated, but I de-activated the plug-in.

scagnt83, I hope you have better results, and please post if you see the Schema plug-in makes a difference in search results for your annuity reviews.

Well that sure is discouraging....

Maybe I should just learn Schema. When I tried Markups the page preview did not show some of my graphics (the stars) which I needed for the markup.

My site is new and does not get huge traffic yet. But I will keep track of PR and see how they do.

I do find the plugin a bit bloated and slow. So maybe I will try with markups again. idk. I just like the stars in the search results.

 

[AgentProvocateur]

Well that sure is discouraging....

Maybe I should just learn Schema. When I tried Markups the page preview did not show some of my graphics (the stars) which I needed for the markup.

My site is new and does not get huge traffic yet. But I will keep track of PR and see how they do.

I do find the plugin a bit bloated and slow. So maybe I will try with markups again. idk. I just like the stars in the search results.

The stars never showed up on the search results for me. Don't change what you are doing, or be discouraged by my experience, because it may have had nothing to do with the Schema plug-in.