Top 5 Social Media Stories 7th November 2014

1. Google’s Penguin 3.0 Continues
Why it matters? On October 17, 2014, Google began to release their new update to their Penguin algorithm. It is a worldwide update, and SEOs and Webmasters should track which of their websites may have gotten hit by the update–whether positively or negatively. Sites with low quality links, particularly those who bought links and got them from link networks, may be hit. Those who have been penalized in previous updates but fixed their links by using the Google links disavow tool may find their rankings improve.
Importance Level: 8/10
 
2. How To Perform A Local SEO Audit
Why it matters? If you own or promote a local business, it’s important to know where you are at, what’s been done, and what’s missing. An SEO Audit will give you a better picture so you can come up with a plan for gaining advantage over your competitors.
Importance Level: 7/10
 
3. King of Usability Jakob Nielsen on Web Usability
Why it matters? Usability is one of the most important aspects of a website because it affects conversion and sales. If your users are having trouble doing what they intend to do on your website because of usability issues, then they might go to other competitor websites instead. Jakob Nielsen has been dubbed as the “king of usability” and has been helping improving usability of websites for more than ten years. Considerations include usability for the main website as well as for the mobile version of your site.
Importance Level: 6/10
 
4. Google Analytics Releases Enhanced Ecommerce
Why it matters? Merchants can now gain a more complete view of how their visitors navigate in their purchasing funnels using the Enhanced Ecommerce feature. By using this feature, you can find out which product lists are selling well, and where visitors are leaving the purchasing funnel. This will help you identify and weaknesses in your site and boost your sales.
Importance Level: 5/10
 
5. How To Build A High Quality Network In LinkedIn
Why it matters? Using your LinkedIn network is not just about quantity, but also quality. The more time you spend in ensuring that your LinkedIn contacts are focused on quality, the easier it will be to leverage your network down the road to build relationships, attract prospects, keep connected to existing clients and vendors, create new marketing opportunities, build joint ventures, and generate more referrals.
Importance Level: 5/10