Search Engine Roundtable

Google Clarifies: No, Ads Shouldn't Help Rankings & No, SEO Isn't Bad
Search Engine Land
“SEO isn't good for users” and “It's a bug that you could rank highly in Google without buying ads, and Google is trying to fix the bug” are two quotes from a Google employee that go directly against things Google's said before.
Future of SEO: Change, Convergence, CollaborationSearch Engine Watch
Googler: SEO Is A Bug, And Google Is Trying To Fix ItWebProNews
SEO tasks that can be carried out in under 15 minutesInternet Marketing News
Search Engine Roundtable -PR.com (press release) -Press Release Centre (press release)
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This is not the first time that Apple has reacted to entities trying to game the App Store rankings. Mobile marketing company Tapjoy was famously kicked off the iOS platform last year after providing users incentives for downloads through virtual currency. This latest threat comes as some developers may be turning to third-party services overseas where users are paid to download apps in order to have them rise in the rankings.

The practice of paying users to download apps or flood the Web with posts has been called “water armies” because of their willingness to inundate the Internet with content or downloads for the right price. It is a way to game various ranking systems by playing off what algorithms are looking for. There are different tactics for water armies, such as link and content farming or posting to social media channels. Google has battled water armies in its SEO rankings for some time with its Panda program.

The same concept applies with the Apple App Store rankings. Users getting paid to download apps so as to rise in the rankings became enough of a problem that Apple felt the need to speak out on the subject. As Apple is usually tight-lipped about its metrics and methods, the announcement is a bit of a wonder in itself.

Apple paid $700 million to developers last quarter with the top performing apps likely taking up the bulk of that revenue. Hence, it is very important for publishers to get their apps in the top rankings as it is the difference between making hundreds of dollars on an app or thousands.

There are a variety of third-party marketing services that developers can use to avoid the ire of Apple. Options include analytics firms like Flurry, Localytics, Apsalar, PlayHaven (among others) to more traditional marketing outlets like public relations firms or mobile marketing studios like SapientNitro or AKQA.

In any business, marketing is not easy. There is really no easy fix. Attempts to game the system are likely to be punished or be scorned by the larger community. Apple has put its foot down on this issue several times. Tapjoy found out the hard way and has been spending a good portion of the last year finding ways around the App Store (through its own application marketplace and HTML5 initiatives).

The best advice to get into the top of the rankings of the Apple App Store is to have an app worthy of the attention. Releasing a mediocre app and gaming the system will only work for so long as users find it subpar and start flooding the reviews sections with calls for the developers head on a pike.

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Power Marketing Offers Real Estate SEO Services To Improve Search Engine Rankings
Connectus.net (press release)
Power Marketing is offering real estate SEO services to improve your ranking in search engines. Power Marketing is a full-service real estate marketing firm that offers real estate SEO services to improve a company's website rankings in search engines.

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Multichannel Merchant

5 SEO Tips to Increase Your App's Popularity & Google Rankings
Multichannel Merchant
You've got iOS and Android apps. You already know discovery in the App Store and Android Market is a challenge. Now there's a powerful new channel consumers can use to find and download your apps – and increase your app's popularity: Google.

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Clear and Compelling Video Thumbnails Can Boost SEO Rankings
Multichannel Merchant
Here's why that's important for your SEO rankings, and how to make sure you're doing video thumbnails well. It hasn't been easy for online merchants to maintain SEO rankings on Google in recent months, thanks to Google's ongoing updates.
SEO Amplified Introduces Risk Free, Pay for Ranking Local SEO ServicesPromotion World (press release)

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SEO experts look to fresh content to boost search engine rankings
Castleford Media (blog)
It seems that more and more SEO experts are adapting to Google algorithm changes made by realising the potential of unique content. In Business2Community (January 22) industry commentator Chad Pollitt said that the online landscape was constantly …
Copywriting – the new SEO?Boosh Articles (press release)
Why SEOs are Finding Themselves Reporting to Content MarketingBusiness 2 Community

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Cloudnetmedia.com Releases Alternate SEO: A Program To Boost Page Rankings …
WebWire (press release)
CloudNetMedia.com announces the launch of Alternate SEO that helps business owners recover website page rankings after Google Panda update. The product is designed to be user friendly and help business owners navigate new search engine rules. …

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