Google Algorithm Update
Last Thursday, Google announced they were updating their search algorithm to downgrade sites with too many ads. Specifically, this algorithm change hits websites that have more ads than content above the fold (the portion of the website visible without scrolling). While this doesn’t affect any of our websites, we’re still excited by the direction that Google seems to be moving with their recent algorithm changes. Last year, Google released an algorithm update (Panda, which you can learn about in one of our earlier blog posts) that begins ranking sites based on aesthetics as well as the normal technical aspects.
Some people are accusing Google of telling people to “do as I say, not as I do” because of how many ads Google shows in their search results through their pay per click program. However, we still think this recent update is another step in the right direction, pushing web designers and developers to develop sites that present relevant content instead of ads.
To read more about the algorithm update, check out this Google Search blog post.
FHD in the Wichita Business Journal
While I’ve been working here in Kansas City for a few months now, we figured it was finally time to “officially” announce our Kansas City location to the public. After hearing about our Kansas City office, a reporter from the Wichita Business Journal gave us a call to get some more detailed information for their write-up about our expansion to Kansas City. Check out the article here to learn more about our expansion to the Kansas City area!
Social Media Tracking
For those of you who have a social media presence, you know how it can sometimes be time-consuming generating new content. That’s why it’s important to know what people are actually looking at on your social media profiles.
Mashable recently worked with EyeTrackShop, a company that runs eye-tracking studies for advertisers, to find out what users look at on different social media sites. You can check out the study here.
A couple of takeaways we learned from this study:
- On Facebook, profile pictures and recent content are king. However, Google+ users are less inclined to study profile pictures as they are to spend time looking at your recent content and your circle of friends.
- Recent content is extremely important on Facebook and Google+, but Flickr and Twitter users are more likely to browse through your older posts in addition to your newest content.
