Google’s 27th Panda Update - Panda 4.1 - Is Rolling Out

 

Google has announced that the latest version of its Panda Update — a filter designed to penalize “thin” or poor content from ranking well — has been released.
Google said in a post on Google+ that a “slow rollout” began earlier this week and will continue into next week, before being complete. Google said that depending on location, about 3%-to-5% of search queries will be affected.
Anything different about this latest release? Google says it’s supposed to be more precise and will allow more high-quality small and medium-sized sites to rank better. From the post:

Based on user (and webmaster!) feedback, we’ve been able to discover a few more signals to help Panda identify low-quality content more precisely. This results in a greater diversity of high-quality small- and medium-sized sites ranking higher, which is nice.

New Chance For Some; New Penalty For Others

The rollout means anyone who was penalized by Panda in the last update has a chance to emerge, if they made the right changes. So if you were hit by Panda, made alterations to your site, you’ll know by the end of next week if those were good enough, if you see an increase in traffic.
The rollout also means that new sites not previously hit by Panda might get impacted. If you’ve seen a sudden traffic drop from Google this week, or note one in the coming days, then this latest Panda Update is likely to blame.

About That Number

Why are we calling it Panda 4.1? Well, Google itself called the last one Panda 4.0 and deemed it a major update. This isn’t as big of a change, so we’re going with Panda 4.1.
We actually prefer to number these updates in the order that they’ve happened, because trying to determine if something is a “major” or “minor” Panda Update is imprecise and lead to numbering absurdities like having a Panda 3.92 Update.
But since Google called the last one Panda 4.0, we went with that name — and we’ll continue on with the old-fashioned numbering system unless it gets absurd again.
For the record, here’s the list of confirmed Panda Updates, with some of the major changes called out with their AKA (also known as) names:

1. Panda Update 1, AKA
   Panda 1.0, Feb. 24, 2011 (11.8% of queries; announced; English in US only)
2. Panda Update 2, AKA
   Panda 2.0, April 11, 2011 (2% of queries; announced; rolled out in English internationally)
3. Panda Update 3, May 10, 2011 (no change given; confirmed, not announced)
4. Panda Update 4, June 16, 2011 (no change given; confirmed, not announced)
5. Panda Update 5, July 23, 2011 (no change given; confirmed, not announced)
6. Panda Update 6, Aug. 12, 2011 (6-9% of queries in many non-English languages; announced)
7. Panda Update 7, Sept. 28, 2011 (no change given; confirmed, not announced)
8. Panda Update 8 AKA
   Panda 3.0, Oct. 19, 2011 (about 2% of queries; belatedly confirmed)
9. Panda Update 9, Nov. 18, 2011: (less than 1% of queries; announced)
10. Panda Update 10, Jan. 18, 2012 (no change given; confirmed, not announced)
11. Panda Update 11, Feb. 27, 2012 (no change given; announced)
12. Panda Update 12, March 23, 2012 (about 1.6% of queries impacted; announced)
13. Panda Update 13, April 19, 2012 (no change given; belatedly revealed)
14. Panda Update 14, April 27, 2012: (no change given; confirmed; first update within days of another)
15. Panda Update 15, June 9, 2012: (1% of queries; belatedly announced)
16. Panda Update 16, June 25, 2012: (about 1% of queries; announced)
17. Panda Update 17, July 24, 2012:(about 1% of queries; announced)
18. Panda Update 18, Aug. 20, 2012: (about 1% of queries; belatedly announced)
19. Panda Update 19, Sept. 18, 2012: (less than 0.7% of queries; announced)
20. Panda Update 20 , Sept. 27, 2012 (2.4% English queries, impacted, belatedly announced
21. Panda Update 21, Nov. 5, 2012 (1.1% of English-language queries in US; 0.4% worldwide; confirmed, not announced)
22. Panda Update 22, Nov. 21, 2012 (0.8% of English queries were affected; confirmed, not announced)
23. Panda Update 23, Dec. 21, 2012 (1.3% of English queries were affected; confirmed, announced)
24. Panda Update 24, Jan. 22, 2013 (1.2% of English queries were affected; confirmed, announced)
25. Panda Update 25, March 15, 2013 (confirmed as coming; not confirmed as having happened)
26. Panda Update 26 AKA
    Panda 4.0, May 20, 2014 (7.5% of English queries were affected; confirmed, announced)
27. Panda Update 27 AKA
    Panda 4.1, Sept. 25, 2014 (3-5% of queries were affected; confirmed, announced)

The latest update comes four months after the last, which suggests that this might be a new quarterly cycle that we’re on. Panda had been updated on a roughly monthly basis during 2012. In 2013, most of the year saw no update at all.
Of course, there could have been unannounced releases of Panda that have happened. The list above is only for those that have been confirmed by Google.

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Remove Unnecessary ads from Web browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox and Chrome)

Remove Pop-up Ads from Internet Explorer, Firefox and Chrome

Pop-up ads, or advertising-supported software, is any software package which automatically renders advertisements in order to generate revenue for its author. The advertisements may be in the user interface of the software or on a screen presented to the user during the installation process. The functions may be designed to analyze which Internet sites the user visits and to present advertising pertinent to the types of goods or services featured there. The term is sometimes used to refer to software that displays unwanted advertisements


Adware, or advertising-supported software, displays advertising banners or pop-ups on your computer when you use your Internet Browser (Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome or Opera). This is not necessarily a bad thing. Such advertising can fund the development of useful software, which is then distributed free (for example, Android apps, many of which are adware funded).
However, adware becomes a problem if it:

• installs itself on your computer without your consent
• installs itself in applications other than the one
• it came with and displays advertising when you use those applications
• hijacks your web browser in order to display more ads
• gathers data on your web browsing without your consent and sends it to others via the Internet
• is designed to be difficult to uninstall

Adware can slow down your PC. It can also slow down your Internet connection by downloading advertisements. Sometimes programming flaws in the adware can make your computer unstable. Advertising pop-ups can also distract you and waste your time if they have to be closed before you can continue using your PC.

Malware Adware are computer infections that are typically installed on your computer through two methods. The first method is when these Adware programs pretend to be something innocuous so that you will download and install them, but once installed all they do is display ads. The other method is when they are installed without your permission or knowledge through Windows or software vulnerabilities on your computer. Adware of this type are the most difficult to remove and typically use protection mechanisms that make it hard to run security programs to assist in removing them.
If your computer is infected with Adware or any other type of malicious software, you can follow the below guide, and easily clean up your infected computer.

How to remove Adware and pop-up ads (Removal Guide)

This page is a comprehensive guide, which will remove Pop-up Ads from Internet Explorer, Firefox and Google Chrome.
Please perform all the steps in the correct order. If you have any questions or doubt at any point, STOP and ask for our assistance.
STEP 1: Uninstall Pop-up Ads malicious programs from your computer
STEP 2: Remove Pop-up Ads from Internet Explorer, Firefox and Chrome
STEP 3: Remove Pop-up Ads adware with AdwCleaner
STEP 4: Remove Pop-up Ads browser hijackers with Junkware Removal Tool
STEP 5: Remove Pop-up Ads virus with Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Free
STEP 6: Double-check for the Pop-up Ads infection with HitmanPro

STEP 1 : Uninstall Pop-up Ads program from your computer

Most Pop-up Adss will install a program on your computer, while this is not a general rule, we will need to check for any malicious programs.
In this first step, we will try to identify and remove any malicious program that might be installed on your computer.

1. To uninstall the program that has installed is responsible for the pop-up ads, click the Start button, then click on the Control Panel menu option.
   
   If you are using Windows 8, simply drag your mouse pointer to the right edge of the screen, select Search from the list and search for “control panel” .Or you can right-click on a bottom left hot corner (formerly known as the Start button) and select Control Panel from there.
   
2. When the Control Panel window opens click on the Uninstall a program option under Programs category. This option is shown by the arrow in the image below. If you are using the Classic View of the Control Panel, then you would double-click on the Programs and Features icon instead.
   
3. When the Programs and Features or the Uninstall a Program screen is displayed, scroll through the list of currently installed programs and uninstall AlllCheapPeruiCe 5.2, YoubeAdBlocker 1.2, TheBlooccker 1.3, Video Player, Plus-HD 1.3, BetterSurf, CouponMeApp, TubeAdblOCkER, BLoCkTheADApp 3.2, WatchItAdBlocake, Media Player 1.1, Savings Bull, Start Savin, Websteroids, ScorpionSaver, HD-Plus 3.5, Media Watch, Re-Markit, Remarkable, SupTab, Key-Find uninstaller, Feven Pro 1.2, HD-Plus, HD-Professional-HQ, Quick Share  and any other recently installed unknown program from your computer.
   To view the most recently installed programs, you can click on the “Installed On” column to sort your program by the installation date. Scroll though the list, and uninstall any unwanted or unknown programs
   
   Depending on what program has installed the adware infection, the above program may have a different name or not be installed on your computer. If you cannot find any unwanted or unknown programs on your machine, then you can proceed with the next step.

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STEP 2 : Remove Pop-up Ads from Internet Explorer, Firefox and Chrome

Remove Pop-up Ads from Internet Explorer

You can reset Internet Explorer settings to return them to the state they were in when Internet Explorer was first installed on your PC.

1. Open Internet Explorer, click on the “gear icon”  in the upper right part of your browser, then click again on Internet Options.
   
2. In the “Internet Options” dialog box, click on the “Advanced” tab, then click on the “Reset” button.
   
3. In the “Reset Internet Explorer settings” section, select the “Delete personal settings” check box, then click on “Reset” button.
   
4. When Internet Explorer has completed its task, click on the “Close” button in the confirmation dialogue box. You will now  need to close your browser, and then you can open Internet Explorer again.
   

Remove Pop-up Ads from Mozilla Firefox

If you’re having problems with Firefox, resetting it can help. The reset feature fixes many issues by restoring Firefox to its factory default state while saving your essential information like bookmarks, passwords, web form auto-fill information, browsing history and open tabs.

1. In the upper-right corner of the Firefox window, click the Firefox menu button (), the click on the “Help” () button.
   If you’re unable to access the Help menu, type about:support in your address bar to bring up the Troubleshooting information page.
   
2. From the Help menu choose Troubleshooting Information.
   
3. Click the “Reset Firefox” button in the upper-right corner of the “Troubleshooting Information” page.
   
4. To continue, click on the “Reset Firefox” button in the new confirmation window that opens.
   
5. Firefox will close itself and will revert to its default settings. When it’s done, a window will list the information that was imported. Click on the “Finish“.

Note: Your old Firefox profile will be placed on your desktop in a folder named “Old Firefox Data“. If the reset didn’t fix your problem you can restore some of the information not saved by copying files to the new profile that was created. If you don’t need this folder any longer, you should delete it as it contains sensitive information.

Remove pop-up ads from Google Chrome

1. Click on Chrome’s main menu button, represented by three horizontal lines () .When the drop-down menu appears, select the option labeled Settings.
   
2. Chrome’s Settings should now be displayed in a new tab or window, depending on your configuration. Next, scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the Show advanced settings link (as seen in the below example).
   
3. Chrome’s advanced Settings should now be displayed. Scroll down until the Reset browser settings section is visible, as shown in the example below. Next, click on the Reset browser settings button.
   
4. A confirmation dialog should now be displayed, detailing the components that will be restored to their default state should you continue on with the reset process. To complete the restoration process, click on the Reset button.
   

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STEP 3: Remove Pop-up Ads adware from your computer with AdwCleaner.

The AdwCleaner utility will scan your computer and web browser for malicious files, adware browser extensions and registry keys, that may have been installed on your computer without your knowledge.

1. You can download AdwCleaner utility from the below link.
   ADWCLEANER DOWNLOAD LINK (This link will automatically download AdwCleaner on your computer)
2. Before starting AdwCleaner, close all open programs and internet browsers, then double-click on the AdwCleaner icon.
   
   If Windows prompts you as to whether or not you wish to run AdwCleaner, please allow it to run.
3. When the AdwCleaner program will open, click on the “Scan” button as shown below.
   
   AdwCleaner will now start to search for the any malicious files that may be installed on your computer.
4. To remove the malicious files that were detected in the previous step, please click on the “Clean” button.
   
5. AdwCleaner will now prompt you to save any open files or documents, as the program will need to reboot the computer. Please do so and then click on the OK button.
   

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STEP 4: Remove Pop-up Ads browser hijacker with Junkware Removal Tool

Junkware Removal Tool is a powerful utility, which will remove Pop-up Ads redirect from Internet Explorer, Firefox or Google Chrome.

1. You can download the Junkware Removal Tool utility from the below link:
   JUNKWARE REMOVAL TOOL DOWNLOAD LINK (This link will automatically download the Junkware Removal Tool utility on your computer)
2. Once Junkware Removal Tool has finished downloading, please double-click on the JRT.exe icon as seen below.
   
   If Windows prompts you as to whether or not you wish to run Junkware Removal Tool, please allow it to run.
3. Junkware Removal Tool will now start, and at the Command Prompt, you’ll need to press any key to perform a scan for the Pop-up Ads hijacker.
   
   Please be patient as this can take a while to complete (up to 10 minutes) depending on your system’s specifications.
4. When the scan Junkware Removal Tool will be completed, this utility will display a log with the malicious files and registry keys that were removed from your computer.
   

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STEP 5: Remove Pop-up Ads virus with Malwarebytes Anti-Malware FREE

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Free uses industry-leading technology to detect and remove all traces of malware, including worms, Trojans, rootkits, rogues, dialers, spyware, and more.
It is important to note that Malwarebytes Anti-Malware works well and should run alongside antivirus software without conflicts.

1. You can download download Malwarebytes Anti-Malware from the below link.
   MALWAREBYTES ANTI-MALWARE DOWNLOAD LINK (This link will open a new web page from where you can download Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Free)
2. Once downloaded, close all programs, then double-click on the icon on your desktop named “mbam-setup-consumer-2.00.xx” to start the installation of Malwarebytes Anti-Malware.
   
   You may be presented with a User Account Control dialog asking you if you want to run this file. If this happens, you should click “Yes” to continue with the installation.
3. When the installation begins, you will see the Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Setup Wizard which will guide you through the installation process.
   
   To install Malwarebytes Anti-Malware on your machine, keep following the prompts by clicking the “Next” button.
   
4. Once installed, Malwarebytes Anti-Malware will automatically start and you will see a message stating that you should update the program, and that a scan has never been run on your system. To start a system scan you can click on the “Fix Now” button.
   
   Alternatively, you can click on the “Scan” tab and select “Threat Scan“, then click on the “Scan Now” button.
   
5. Malwarebytes Anti-Malware will now check for updates, and if there are any, you will need to click on the “Update Now” button.
   
6. Malwarebytes Anti-Malware will now start scanning your computer for the pop-up virus. When Malwarebytes Anti-Malware is scanning it will look like the image below.
   
7. When the scan has completed, you will now be presented with a screen showing you the malware infections that Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware has detected. To remove the malicious programs that Malwarebytes Anti-malware has found, click on the “Quarantine All” button, and then click on the “Apply Now” button.
   
   Please note that the infections found may be different than what is shown in the image.
8. Malwarebytes Anti-Malware will now quarantine all the malicious files and registry keys that it has found. When removing the files, Malwarebytes Anti-Malware may require a reboot in order to remove some of them. If it displays a message stating that it needs to reboot your computer, please allow it to do so.
   
   After your computer will restart, you should open Malwarebytes Anti-Malware and perform another “Threat Scan” scan to verify that there are no remaining threats

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STEP 6: Double-check for the Pop-up Ads infection with HitmanPro

HitmanPro is a second opinion scanner, designed to rescue your computer from malware (viruses, trojans, rootkits, etc.) that have infected your computer despite all the security measures you have taken (such as anti virus software, firewalls, etc.). HitmanPro is designed to work alongside existing security programs without any conflicts. It scans the computer quickly (less than 5 minutes) and does not slow down the computer.

1. You can download HitmanPro from the below link:
   HITMANPRO DOWNLOAD LINK (This link will open a new web page from where you can download HitmanPro)
2. Double-click on the file named “HitmanPro.exe” (for 32-bit versions of Windows) or “HitmanPro_x64.exe” (for 64-bit versions of Windows). When the program starts you will be presented with the start screen as shown below.
   
   Click on the “Next” button, to install HitmanPro on your computer.
   
3. HitmanPro will now begin to scan your computer for any malicious files that may be on your machine.
   
4. When it has finished it will display a list of all the malware that the program found as shown in the image below. Click on the “Next” button, to remove any virus that has been found.
   
5. Click on the “Activate free license” button to begin the free 30 days trial, and remove all the malicious files from your computer.
   

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Your computer should now be free of the Pop-up Ads infection. If your current anti-virus solution let this infection through, you may want to consider purchasing the Premium version of Malwarebytes Anti-Malware to protect against these types of threats in the future.
If you are still experiencing problems while trying to remove Pop-up Ads from your machine, please start a new thread in our Malware Removal Assistance forum.

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Google no longer has that 100-links-per-page

Google’s Matt Cutts posted a video explaining why Google no longer has that 100-links-per-page Webmaster guideline.

In fact, the guideline was dropped well before 2008, but SEOs and webmasters still think having over 100 links on a page is something that may lead to a penalty.

The truth is: no, it won’t. Sites like Techmeme likely has thousands of links on their home page, and they are not penalized by Google.

That being said, Google said if a site looks to be spammy and has way too many links on a single page — Google reserves the right to take action on the site.

Matt also explained that your PageRank is divided by the number of links on a page. So if page A links to page B, C and D, that PageRank is split into three. If you have hundreds of links, it is divided by hundreds, and so forth.

Watch Video and Source Article

Best Social Networking / Bookmarking Sites

https://www.xing.com
https://www.tuenti.com
http://www.mindtalk.com
http://www.dudu.com
http://www.stumbleupon.com/
https://www.diigo.com
https://delicious.com
http://www.tumblr.com/
https://myspace.com
https://twitter.com
http://lovdbyless.com
http://www.livejournal.com/
https://foursquare.com
http://www.deviantart.com/
http://www.pinterest.com/
http://www.linkedin.com/
http://www.folkd.com/
http://www.bibsonomy.org/
http://www.plurk.com/
http://servicesitus.com
http://newsvine.com/
http://dotnetkicks.com
https://www.traiborg.com

What is international targeting?

If you manage one or more websites designed for users in a specific country speaking a specific language, you want to make sure that search results display the relevant language and country version of your pages. To ensure that your content reaches the correct audience, you will use two general mechanisms:

• URL-level targeting
  You can use three implementation mechanisms for this:
  1. Page-level markup
     Use the <link rel="alternate" hreflang="x" href="alternateURL"> tag in the <head> section of your pages to list alternate language versions for each page.  Each page should provide an hreflang tag that links to all other language variants of itself, as well as a tag that refers back to itself.  For more granular targeting, you can use the hreflang attribute to indicate language and country combinations (e.g. en-ie, en-ca, en-us). Read more about the hreflang tag in our Content guidelines section.  
  2. Sitemaps
     You can use sitemaps to submit language and regional alternates for your pages.  Read more about using a sitemap to indicate alternate language pages in our Content guidelines section.
  3. HTTP headers
     If you publish non-HTML files (like PDFs), you can use an HTTP header to indicate a different language version of a URL. 
• Site-wide targeting
  In addition making sure your site URLs map to alternate language variants, you will also likely use geographic-specific domains or configure your entire site structure to deliver content to a specific geographic and language preference.  To learn more, read the best practices as explained in Multi-regional and multilingual sites in our Content guidelines.

Once you have configured multi-language or multi-regional sites and pages, you can use two sections in the International targeting pages to keep your international presence healthy:

1. The Language section—this helps you ensure your hreflang tags use the correct locale codes (language and optional country).  More commonly, you can make sure that alternate pages have tags that link back to the pages for your site.  
2. The Country section—you can use this tool to set a site-wide country target for your entire site, if necessary.

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Top 10 Most Popular Video Submission Websites

1-   YouTube.com
2-   Netflix.com
3-   Vimeo.com
4-   DailyMotion.com
5-   Vube.com
6-   TV.com
7-   MetaCafe.com
8-   UStream.tv
9-   Hulu.com
10- Tartle.info

Publisher Guide for Adding Custom Variables in Google Tag Manager

If you're an online publisher using Google Analytics, I'm sure you've heard this before: you need to use custom variables so that you can really segment and measure your audience.
You also most likely are currently working on migrating to Google Tag Manager in order to make your life easier.
So how do you implement them together? What follows is a step-by-step guide for installing publisher-centered custom variables using Google Tag Manager.
I am going to assume, that you already have Google Tag Manager installed in your site and that one of your tags is the asynch GA js. If you don't, read this first.
Google's Justin Cutroni recommends adding seven custom variables for publishers. This article will go in detail and breakdown how to install four of them:

• Category
• Content Type
• Publication Date
• Author

These four custom variables at the most basic level gets you a good idea of your overall site performance. Once you add these data points, you can also get closer to information that other publisher-centered analytics tools such as Parsely track.
Let's jump in!

3 Things You Need to Know Before You Begin

• These custom variables should be implemented on the page level. For all the custom variables mentioned above, the value changes as the user goes from one page to the next. For example, a user might read an article by author one and then click on a link that goes to an article by Author 2. This is true for all the custom variables aforementioned
• You're going to need a data layer. Do not pass go, do not collect $200. The best and only way to have these custom variables on your site is via data layer. If you want to read more about this, here's an article that gives a good explanation of how data layers work.
• You need the help of your front-end engineer. If you don't know this yet, you will, a good analytics person is always good to his or her front-end engineers.

Ask your front-end engineer to create a data layer that contains the four custom variables we want to add: Content Type, Author, Category, and Published Date. Direct them to the developer documentation on adding data layer for Google Tag Manager. There are two key things to check in the developer implementation:

• Make sure that the data layer comes before the Google Tag Manager code (we inserted ours before the /head tag).
• I like keeping my values in small caps, this eliminates any potential duplicate entries that could be created due to any weird capitalizations.

Check out the way we set up the data layer in one of our sites. The data layer in the source code for that page will look like below.

Note: pagetype is our data layer entry for content type

How to Add These Custom Variables as Values in Google Tag Manager

1. Create 4 Different Macros

You will need one for each data point that is pushed to data layer. Below is my Author macro as an example. You will need to create one macro each for content type, author, category, and published date.

2. Edit Your Existing Google Analytics Asynch Tag in GTM

• You don't need to create a new GA Asynch Tag.
• Add the four new custom variables in GTM based on your data layer.
• The final implementation in GA Classic Tag should look something like this, the Value is the Macros you created in step 1.

3. Create a New Version of GTM

I like to name my versions based on what changes I pushed in the version.

4. Preview Version to Make Sure the Tags and Custom Variables are Firing Correctly

I love using the preview function of GTM to check if what I implemented will work. You can see the preview button on the top right of every version you create in Google Tag Manager.

5. Publish the New Version of Google Tag Manager

You will start to see your new data points flow through after a few hours.
Once you have completed this setup, here are some examples of additional insights you can now access:

Isolate the Increase/Decrease in Traffic to a Specific Content Type

In the example below, I was able to drill down that it was article content type that caused the decrease in sessions. You can now drill down to # of articles published for the time period and get a better understanding of what may be causing the traffic to decline.

Uncover Pages With Errors by Tracking Your 404 Pages

Uncover More Insights on the Performance of Your Authors

This is where an advanced Google Analytics implementation can get you similar insights you have to get from signing up with other data providers such as Parsely.
You can drill down to the number of articles, each author writes for the month, the number of pageviews per post, and the categories each author is writing about.

This table was derived from using data for author and published date.

This is Just the Beginning...

There are so many other possibilities of additional analysis points once you have these custom variables set up. I'd love to hear your ideas and get more conversations going on publisher specific Google Analytics setups.

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