Not long ago, it was believed that Google would prefer m.sites because they were specially optimized for mobile users, but that’s certainly not the case today. Big G states “Google does not favor any particular URL format as long as they are all accessible to both Googlebot and Googlebot-Mobile.”

The above link mentions the 2 most common misconfigurations: faulty redirects and smartphone-only errors.

Faulty redirects

Google reports it’s a common error for sites that employ user agent detection and redirection to pages on a mobile domain to send users to the wrong URL, such as the home page. Because the user experience is so poor when you don’t deliver the right page, Google advises it’s better to redirect to a desktop page than to an irrelevant page.

Peter McLachlan, chief architect at Mobify cautions that using proxy vendors that rely on device databases contribute to these errors, as these databases are often incomplete, and there is no authority that mandates device manufacturers register with them. With thousands of devices in users’ hands, going responsive is a safer bet for new and fringe devices.

Smartphone-only errors

404 pages are painful, but shutting mobile users out of content that exists on desktop is downright cruel. Common snafus include incorrect handling of Googlebot-Mobile (sending it to the feature phone page instead of smartphone, redirecting to desktop, creating an infinite loop of redirects), and (headsmack) making the smartphone-friendly page itself a 404.

But wait, there’s more…Google hints that you should care about all their recommendations for optimizing the mobile experience.

Unplayable videos

Some video can’t be played on smartphones (cough, Flash on iPhone). Google suggests standard HTML5 tags for video, steering clear of formats that are not supported by all mobile devices.

App download interstitials

It’s tempting to pimp your app to visitors that hit your site from a smartphone, and it can be smart. But when your request is a splash page, or even lightbox overlay, you risk turning visitors (and Google) off.

Some sites use the less disruptive method of showing a banner above or below content. So long as it’s not disruptive to users, Google’s cool with it (and recommends it).

Irrelevant cross-linking

Bad linking will get you in SEO trouble, and mobile offers a new way to mess up. Similar to the redirect issue, a common glitch is when a website allows users to switch from the mobile version to desktop, and vice versa, but points the link at an irrelevant page, like — you got it — the home page. Google crawls links. It’ll catch you if you do this.

Slow loading pages

Just like on desktop, every second counts (though mobile users are reportedly willing to wait longer than the 2 second threshold for desktop, mobile users are often using flakier connections). While redirection can slow down page load, responsive sites can be slow if they’re not optimized. (Heads up: next week we’ll look at 5 ways to ensure your responsive pages are loading lightning quick).

Why Google recommends responsive design on smartphones and tablets

1. A single URL makes your pages easier to link to, share in social networks, email to other users and bookmark with tools like Google Bookmarks for users, and for Google’s algorithms to assign indexing properties to.

2. Google’s goal is to deliver the best quality results to users at all times. User-agent detection and redirection is not foolproof, and can degrade your site’s user experience and increase page load time (though responsive sites, if not optimize for page load speed, can also frustrate users).

3. Googlebot has less work to do when your content lives on one URL. Rather than crawling your site multiple times with different user agents (and at different times), Google can efficiently keep up with your site, and keep indexed content consistent across devices.

Igor Faletski, CEO of Mobify suggests a fourth reason for a one-URL approach — PPC. Google Adwords now treats tablets and desktop as one, leaving smartphones as the only device left in the mobile bucket. One URL is easier to maintain and scale in paid search campaigns.

How dangerous?

To be clear, Google will not penalize you for not using responsive design. You may not even be penalized for doing one or more of the above (there’s a difference between a penalty and just having less ranking power). It’s also important to note Google doesn’t play favorites with responsive sites, it recommends responsive because in some ways it’s better for users and search bots. If you’re not using responsive, maximize your mobile SEO by correcting any misconfigurations your mobile set up may have.

Join Linda Bustos at the Shop.org Merchandising Workshop July 16 for Mobile Commerce: Is Responsive Right for Retail?

While Enhanced Campaigns aims to offer advertisers more bidding options and metrics for smartphone targeting, many are mourning the loss of control over tablet-targeted campaigns. Who will this affect most and what workarounds exist?

Who will miss tablet targeting

Advertisers with tablet-specific products Yes, this is a Captain Obvious point, but paid content, software, gaming and other products (like accessories) intended for download or use with specific devices are going to suffer most.

Here’s what previous targeting options were like, including OS, manufacturer, device and even wireless carrier:

Though operating system targeting generally will no longer be available, Google is making an exception for click-to-download ads. A Google spokesperson says “the advertiser would tell us which app they want to promote and then we’ll make sure to only show it on the devices that can download it.”

Any marketer who wants to segment

Search and click through may be similar between tablets and desktop, but landing pages are what make money for advertisers. Responsive design is great, but what if you could craft the optimal iPad landing page that doesn’t require scrolling, or even takes advantage of gestures for touch screens? This change forces marketers to use the same landing page for desktop and tablet users, or employ device detection and dynamic content to serve a tablet optimized landing page.

Some advertisers recognize iPad owners as a unique segment with different spending habits, for example Orbitz ranked pricier hotels for Mac and iPad users. Though some may question the ethics of the merchandising strategy, it’s possible iPad users are more satisfied seeing more premium accommodation suggested (not everyone only cares for lowest price). This is just one example of how the iPad user segment might be romanced. Enhanced Campaigns doesn’t allow for tablet-specific ad groups, but with device detection and redirection on the advertiser’s end, targeted landing page content can still be served.

Advertisers with strong tablet ROI

Several studies show tablets convert higher from paid search than desktop, and smartphones lower. For example, Adobe found 20% higher conversion for tablets, and 42% poorer for smartphones vs. desktop, with tablets also enjoying 30% lower cost per click (thanks to less competition). With tablets lumped in with desktop, up goes the ad competition, and likely CPCs as well as click through rates dilute.

Advertisers without optimized tablet experiences

Responsive design or device targeting / serving landing pages is more important than ever — now you can’t exclude tablets from your campaigns, and a poor experience on tablets (bounces) will drag your campaign performance down, hurt your ad positions and drive your cost per click up. Get on it.

Many marketers disparage social networks’ conversion power, but it’s no wonder when nearly half of it’s potential is wasted by some of the Web’s biggest retail brands. Make sure your site doesn’t squander Pinterest and other link opportunities with one of 4 better ways to handle sold out product pages.

Redirect to Home page

Dumping visitors on the home page is the most popular redirection. Not surprisingly, site owners and marketers often assume everyone is as enthralled by their home page as they are — they’re not. The only way you could further remove the visitor from the context of their visit is to throw up a 404 page.

That said, it’s 1,000 time better than a 404 page (however clever), and at least recoups some SEO link benefit so long as the redirect is a 301 permanent redirect.

Redirect to Category page

Think about the mindset of the visitor. If she’s referred from Pinterest, she’s seen a yummy image and hungry to find a close up, more information, to own it, or find out who is the purveyor of such fine merchandise. If you must pull the product page, redirecting to a category page at least could result in some engagement with similar products.

Redirecting to a category page can also help SEO (depending on how search engines are valuing such links these days).

Keep URL, ask for opt-in

The best choice for usability is to keep the product page live, and allow the visitor to see the product and read the description. Nobody really wants to land on a surprise page, even if the product is sold out.

If there’s hope of your product’s resurrection, let the visitor opt-in to being contacted by you when it’s back.

While you’re at it, ask the user to opt-in to your regular email program and follow in social networks. Seize the click!

Keep URL, suggest close alternatives

Showing cross-sells on a product page is a start, optimizing their placement will go further. Etsy does a fantastic job suggesting similar products based on seller-generated categorization and keyword tags.

These cross-sells are only displayed across the top when the user hits a product page that’s no longer active. All other pages are merchandised along the bottom.

Showing a smaller set of suggestions likely has a higher click through rate than sending the user to an entire category page of alternatives. The tighter you can tie the products (by keyword, brand, category, social affinity or combination of these), the better.

A creative approach is to suggest connecting with a “fashion advisor” or an expert from your customer service team.

This call to action can be combined with prominently displayed, smart cross-sells is a one-two punch for avoiding abandonment.

While this tactic isn’t a magic bullet for converting all social traffic, minimizing any leaks from unavailable products can have a positive impact on your reported conversion rates from sites like Pinterest (or Google Images).

Mark Zuckerberg hinted at this functionality at TechCrunch’s Disrupt conference last fall:

Search is interesting. We do on the order of 1 billion queries a day and we’re basically not even trying. Today with search, the vast majority of it is people trying to find people, but there’s also a meaningful portion of queries where people are trying to find Pages, brand Pages, other business Pages — so there’s a bunch of that that actually does link to commercial behavior, and I think there’s a big opportunity there and we just need to go do that…

Though the initial rollout is not necessarily commercaily-focused, let’s look at the potential for ecommerce marketing.

Boosting word of mouth

Someone who wants to buy a gift for their teenage niece who may search “What brands do friends of Jacqueline like?” for ideas where to shop.

Merchandising and persona research

An ecommerce marketer could discover what people who like [brand, product, etc] also like, to merchandise emails and home pages, brainstorm cross-sell associations or develop marketing personas.

Facebook advertising strategies

Facebook ads let you target by interest keyword. Discover keywords by searching “Brands that people who like [your brand]” also like,” and target your ads to users who like those brands (or interests, music, TV shows).

HR recruiting

Elastic Path’s HR manager could search “friends of friends who work at Elastic Path that like Java.”

Facebook Graph Search Optimization

The best way to optimize for Graph Search is to simply get as much of your content in the social graph. Beyond adding Like buttons to your home page and product pages, update your fan page frequently with posts that provoke sharing (see our post on Facebook News Feed Optimization for ideas). Explore non-product page content marketing (stay tuned for an upcoming post on content marketing for ecommerce). The point is, get site visitors to share the heck out of your content if you want a chance to be found.

Potential derivative products for businesses

Going back to Zuckerberg’s comment on commercial queries, future updates to Graph Search could potentially include the ability for Business Page administrators to query the social graph of users who’ve liked their Page.

Facebook could also explore native advertising options like promoted search results. For example, if your brand appears in search results, you could pay to have it highlighted or ranked higher (with disclosure, of course).

Advanced fan marketing could enable a business Page administrator to query which fans like a certain TV show or event and send permission-based Facebook Messages to these users with offers (e.g. Coachella style offers, or pre-order Halo 5).

There’s a lot of potential for consumers and marketers, but the big question is, do Facebook users care about Graph Search, or is this just Facebook’s attempt to do something search-y that fizzles out?

The article mentioned that Google would likely release a disavow tool through which webmasters could report sources of questionable backlinks that webmasters don’t want to be associated with.

Well, that tool is now here.

if you’d like the details from Google’s Matt Cutts’ mouth, here’s the video announcement:

Remember, most folks don’t need to use this tool (Dr. Pete from SEOmoz has a good explanation on this). If you believe you’ve been the target of “negative SEO” by a competitor or have hired a sketchy SEO in the past and your rankings appear to have been affected by recent Google updates, the disavow tool is a way you can signal to Google you reject these links pointing to you.

Tips

1. Try to work with the webmaster first. This is a directive, not a way to force Google into disavowing the links. Google has an override if it believes the links should be counted. (This may work in your favor if Google believes these are “good” links). Working with webmasters will get you a faster and more guaranteed result. Failing that, use the disavow tool.

2. Understand it will take several weeks for changes to be in effect. So make sure you submit the domains you want to submit in your file – ammendments will put you further back in the queue.

3. If you haven’t already, double up your disavow efforts with Bing, as submitting to Google does not affect Bing.

Ever chasing shady link building tactics, Google has changed the way its valued links many times over the years through search engine algorithm updates. Perhaps no update has ruffled as many feathers as Penguin in April, 2012. Not only did some sites’ rankings hit an iceberg, thousands of webmasters found warning in their Google Webmaster consoles of suspect “unnatural links” (spam and/or paid links) in their link graphs, with a recommendation to go after and remove them.

Naturally, that spread panic through the search blogs and forums. Google webspam lead Matt Cutts assures us that the warnings were sent out to improve transparency, and receiving a warning does not mean your site has been penalized. Unless you’ve experienced a dramatic drop in traffic (that hasn’t rebounded since the update indicating it could have been some other factor responsible), you’re likely okay. You can determine this from your Webmaster Tools account or web analytics. (Hint, rankings would tank across your keyword profile, not just individual words). Remember, the update occurred in February, 2012, but “aftershocks” have been and will continue to be felt as the algorithm is tweaked further.

How to take action on link removal

Whether or not you’ve been slapped by Penguin, there are a few tools that can help you organize a “link teardown campaign:”

SEOGadget

Download your link profile from Webmaster Tools and upload it to SEOGadget, and for the price tag of zero dollars, the tool will flag low quality links and even attempt to find contact information for each linking site so you can follow up with a removal request.

Remoove’em and Rmoov

Despite the dreadfully difficult to spell and remember branding (and confusing as Removem is a video game), these services can help automate the campaign for you, creating and sending email, following up with reminders to contacts, and reporting on results. Though they are paid tools, the time you save and errors you spare make them worth it. (You don’t want to risk copy-and-paste errors so common with manual PR and link building campaigns).

Other options are LinkDelete.com and DeleteBacklinks.com.

In the future, Google may adopt a “disavow” feature, similar to Bing, which allows you to flag links from domains you don’t support linking to you. Matt Cutts mentioned at a recent conference that it’s something his team is considering.

If you’re on the receiving end of these removal requests

I’ve been receiving a lot of requests from sites who, in the past, have spammed Get Elastic‘s blog comments, and slipped through moderation (years ago, we did not pre-moderate blog posts, as we grew we had to stop it before they got through, don’t want spam links live for any amount of time.

If like us, you’re a blog or website receiving these requests – it’s the TYPE of link, not your site, that’s the problem. The blog comment spam is the tactic getting in trouble, it doesn’t mean your blog or site is not trusted by Google. Don’t be offended! Though you may be annoyed at the demands of spammers, think of it as helping you find spam you missed in moderation.

How to build good links to ecommerce sites

If you missed it, we have a number of ideas in our Guide to Link Building for Ecommerce.

In Marketing Experiments’ web clinic Headline Optimization: How testing 10 headlines revealed a 3-letter word that improved conversion more than major changes features a case study that tested — you guessed it — 10 headlines with various wording:

The top converting headline began with the word “get”:

And when arranged by conversion improvement, you can identify the top of the crop as headlines which emphasize what the user “gets” (value-centric), and the second tier focuses on taking action.

This is critical, because we may tend to think of affirmative verbs, or “commands” as more psychologically powerful.

Another example comes from paid search expert Mona Elesseily’s post 5 Tips To Fine Tune PPC Ad Copy. Mona advises to incorporate “power words” into copy.

Some examples of words I like to try in PPC testing are try, get, fast, online, etc. Here are some examples (altered to protect client confidentiality) of headlines with and without power words, along with their associated cost per conversion. This is based on a large sample size.

Get Eagle Talons – $7.75

Eagle Talons Fast – $10.24

Eagle Talons – OEM – $7.81

Parts of Birds Online – $12.10

What did we learn? Either “Get” or “OEM” were strong performers as opposed to mentioning speed. While fast shipping may be a benefit, we assume it looks cheesy in a headline or causes a few more hasty clicks than it should.

Is it as simple as start every headline with “get”?

Nope. But consider testing headlines that begin with this three-letter power word against similar value-centric words, and versus your action-centric headlines you’re already using. The point is value-centric words are more persuasive than action-centric. “Get” happens to be a good word to use, according to these two examples.

But the risk with retargeting is overexposure. It can have a negative effect on site abandoners who feel they are being ‘stalked.’ To control over-exposure, advertisers can use negative audiences, frequency capping and burn pixels (e.g. removing a user from the pool after conversion).

Recently, Google Adwords announced it will roll out a “mute this ad” feature for users to exercise more control over the ads they see.

While this helps, some challenges remain:

• Its efficacy depends on the user actually noticing the ad, then noticing the mute icon, understanding what it is and taking action.

• If user is pixeled by other networks aside from Google’s, she may continue to see the ad. This can be more frustrating as the user doesn’t understand she is in multiple buckets, and may assume the feedback system failed.

• The user may still be shown ads on other computers and devices if she visits the site from multiple touch points, or if re-cookied after clearing browser cookies.

• Users may be opting out of a specific offer, but may still respond to other campaigns from this advertiser. It is unclear whether the opt-out is for the ad itself or the advertiser.

In a perfect world, feedback would sync across ad networks and devices, and would be specify whether the user wants to opt out from the ad or advertiser. It will be interesting to see how this system evolves over time.

In the meantime, continue to adhere to best practices in ad retargeting.

Our friends at SEOmoz have created an excellent infographic on the topic that outlines the history of, how-tos, benefits and potential future of rich snippets.

Visual Guide to Rich Snippets on SEOmoz created by BlueGlass Interactive.

How this is different than every other search engine update intended to do the same thing, I’m not sure. But it’s got the SEO community buzzing, as anything that proceeds from Cutts’ lips will do, because we should be grabbing on to any hints the search engines give us about how they score and reward web content.

They told us not to buy links, how to speed up our sites, and hinted that bounce rates can influence SEO (also reiterated in the SXSW session).

Recently, Google’s Webmaster Central Blog posted a video containing 5 common SEO mistakes.

Mistake #1: No Value Prop

I want to hone in on the first mistake: “no value prop.” For years on Get Elastic, we’ve talked about the need for solid value propositions, not just on your home page and landing pages, but all the way to (and especially on) to your shopping cart, subscription and registration pages.

But value props belong off your site as well — in email marketing, paid search and even organic search.

Google gives the following examples as value propositions in search (to attract higher click through, a ranking factor):

But are these examples of great value propositions?

Taking your value propositions from good to great

• You’re not the best. Claiming you are the top, best, number one, greatest, most efficient, fastest, favorite or any other glowing adjective could actually hurt your persuasion if it’s not backed up by real support. Everyone says they are the best. Like too many antibiotics, today’s post-modern customer has become immune to the effects of puffery. Only toot your own horn if you can provide references.

• Numbers help. Numbers have a psychological impact. They draw the eye and suggest something quantifiable.

It’s unclear if CanadaFlowers is Canada’s “top” florist because of selection, sales or customer satisfaction, but “1000+ flowers” may be the reason. Supporting your claim with numbers strengthens the credibility and impact of your value prop. (Keep in mind large selection is not necessarily a strong motivator, as more choice means more difficulty making a choice).

• Free [blank]? Free bicycle repair estimate, free quote, free demo, free consultation, free trial etc. are not necessarily strong value props. Unless you’re in a complex B2B sales situation involving millions of dollars, who expects to pay for an estimate? These free activities are table stakes for most customers, and it’s very easy for competitors to offer the same. PPC ads and search engine snippets are short – fill the space with something more compelling.

This doesn’t mean you can’t promote “free.” If you offer a longer-than-usual trial period, or can attach a dollar value to the free service/trial, you strengthen the value proposition. Or, if you offer something for free that most of the competition charges for (or at least, isn’t claiming is free in ads), go ahead and use it.

But consider what you offer for free against what competing ads / search results do. When you’re head to head with completely free products, claiming a free demo or trial only reinforces that you are a paid product. Rather than highlight a free trial, bring the best reason to buy your premium product rather than the freebie.

Showing your pricing can also prevent free-seekers from clicking your ads and burning through your ad budget.

• Address the FUDD.

FUDD = fears, uncertainties, doubts and dealbreakers. Guarantees, free 2-way shipping, no contract, warranty, etc. are all elements that may reduce this anxiety. What’s on your FAQ page? What do customers want to know about the product or your service experience? Know what it is that runs through your customer’s mind during the purchase decision and address that in the copy.

• Make it unique. What do you do better than your competition? If you don’t offer anything unique, what value prop can you communicate that is more compelling than your competitors’ messaging? (Hint: use your search engine to review their ads and snippets, and view their landing pages.) Many of your competitors are already doing a poor job of communicating their value props. Take advantage of that.

Testing messaging

Use your PPC ads to test click through for various value props. Use the winners in your search snippet (meta description) and on your landing page, as search engines may substitute page text for your meta description. Test longer copy in A/B tests on your landing page.

Value props are not just about converting visitors, they’re also useful in driving traffic. Are you using them effectively in search?