Rudy Giuliani’s Crime Buddy Apparently Named His Company ‘Fraud Guarantee’ to Trick Google Search Results

Have you heard the news about Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani, and the company Fraud Guarantee? It’s even dumber than you can imagine.

Rudy Giuliani, personal attorney to President Trump, is in hot water after his associates were arrested for alleged illegal campaign finance hijinks. The two men at the center of the scheme, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, became the butt of a thousand jokes on late night TV when it was revealed that Parnas had a real company called Fraud Guarantee. But there may have been a reason for the absurd name, according to a new report. Parnas was trying to make sure that anyone who Google searched his name with the word “fraud” got only positive results.

The bizarre revelation comes from a new article in the Wall Street Journal about Parnas’s shady business practices. Parnas allegedly ran a penny-stock scam called Edgetech International that distributed a gadget called Edge, billed as the “Fastest Hand-held Internet Access Device,” in a press release from 2008. Parnas was also sued in federal court in 2011, according to the Wall Street Journal, over a loan he received that was supposed to finance a movie. The movie, it seems, never got made.

Enter Parnas and his company, Fraud Guarantee. Google results for the words “fraud” and “Parnas” likely brought back some pretty shady stuff before he started the company. But with his new company, a search like that would presumably show his strange new business on the first page of results.

From the Wall Street Journal:

Messrs. Parnas and Correia set up Fraud Guarantee in a Boca Raton office park. Mr. Parnas picked the name in part to clean up his Google search results, ensuring that the word “fraud” and his own name would be paired in a positive light, said people familiar with the matter.

Some associates questioned the name, but it worked: Negative search results about the bridge loan and Edgetech soon dropped in Google’s rankings, one of the people said.

So there you have it. Comedians have been making fun of Fraud Guarantee nonstop, but there was actually a reason for the name.

Obviously Parnas wasn’t the first genius to figure out that you can juice Google results, but this may have been the dumbest one we’ve ever heard. That is until Peter Thiel starts a company called Young Blood Import-Export.

The post Rudy Giuliani’s Crime Buddy Apparently Named His Company ‘Fraud Guarantee’ to Trick Google Search Results appeared first on AdInfusion.

source https://www.adinfusion.com/rudy-giulianis-crime-buddy-apparently-named-his-company-fraud-guarantee-to-trick-google-search-results/

AdInfusion Customer Reviews That Were Filtered on Yelp

So when we first started we knew it was important to collect customer reviews. What we didn’t realize was how risky it was to build on a platform we had no control over – one that will turn around and filter your reviews if you don’t pay them for advertising What’s frustrating is how long it takes and how much hard work it takes to get to the point where one of our clients is comfortable enough to leave a review – sometimes it’s 6 months, sometimes not for a year. So even though yelp doesn’t think you should see these, we do! We’re very proud of our work and so are all the people behind the companies we worked for that left these reviews:

 

The post AdInfusion Customer Reviews That Were Filtered on Yelp appeared first on AdInfusion.

source https://www.adinfusion.com/adinfusion-customer-reviews-that-were-filtered-on-yelp/

Attitude Inspires AdInfusion Customers to Pay It Forward

“SEO isn’t just a service, it’s our passion.” Our slogan might sound like a cliche to some, but here at AdInfusion, we know we’re a little nerdy, and we own it. 

Whether we’re doing keyword research like a boss, or expanding our clients’ link-building efforts, we hope our customers can tell how passionate we are about helping them be the best business they can be.

That’s why we’re excited to announce our first review on Clutch.co, a perfect 5 out of 5 stars on an SEO development project! Though we have plenty of case studies of successful projects, Clutch acts as a company resource by independently verifying client reviews, which adds another layer of credibility for our potential customers.\

 

 

In developing our clients’ brands and online presence, our top priority is always to deliver the smartest, most analytics-based options. We are committed to presenting our research and explaining our thought process.

We know digital marketing can be complicated, but we also think that if something is really the best decision for your company, you deserve to know why. 

 

 

 

In our most recent review, our client The Problem Solvers came to us for SEO services and blog writing to help boost their results for specific target keywords.

 

We were able to increase their website’s traffic quickly and dramatically. A big part of our ability to be successful was that we were also able to gain the client’s trust from the beginning of the project by focusing on understanding their industry and goals more deeply than most other service providers are willing to. 

We established efficient workflows based on the confidence we had in each other’s ability to successfully complete project objectives. 

“Because of their skill at SEO and their ability to rapidly understand our industry… they are very easy to work with.” – Owner, The Problem Solvers

Our team of marketing experts has successfully worked with companies in almost every industry, from financial institutions to educational startups.

One of the reasons we’ve been so successful is our partnership with Clutch. Their directories help increase brand presence, encouraging you to increase your audience on their sister sites, The Manifest and Visual Objects. 

Listings on those sites, which feature how-to guides and visual portfolios, can boost your visibility among clients who might be earlier on in the search process and might not otherwise encounter your company. 

If you have a specific digital media project in mind, or just want to increase your incoming leads but aren’t sure where to start, we’re just the agency for you! Contact us today to find out how we can partner with you!

The post Attitude Inspires AdInfusion Customers to Pay It Forward appeared first on AdInfusion.

source https://www.adinfusion.com/attitude-inspires-adinfusion-customers-to-pay-it-forward/

Google Showing Paywall Content in Featured Snippets.. But Should They?

Someone from the search marketing community tweeted his surprise that Google ranked a paywalled web page in the featured snippets.  Google’s official description of featured snippets precludes content that cannot be clicked through to be read.

But other documentation states that paywalled content is acceptable for Google Search as well as Google News. In addition to requirements for structured data that is missing, it’s unclear if this featured snippet is a mistake or if Google meant to do that.

I personally think paywalled content doesnt belong in @Google SERPs unless they’re marked, but I never realized they can even get featured snippets like this @Salem_Statesman content. pic.twitter.com/HfYu46gjO0

— Scott Hendison (@shendison) October 27, 2019

Honestly for all the work it is to get into a featured snippet, I feel like this is the best attempt to monetize it that I have personally seen

The post Google Showing Paywall Content in Featured Snippets.. But Should They? appeared first on AdInfusion.

source https://www.adinfusion.com/google-showing-paywall-content-in-featured-snippets-but-should-they/

Check Out Internet’s ‘Birth Certificate’ From 50 Years Ago Today

Fifty years ago today, on October 29, 1969, the internet was born. It was a humble beginning—a single login from a computer terminal at UCLA in Los Angeles to the Stanford Research Institute (SRI) in the Bay Area. But it was a tiny baby step that would eventually catapult the world into the information age.

Amazingly, we actually have a piece of paper that documents that important moment for the internet, first called the Arpanet because it was a project funded by ARPA. Today you probably know ARPA better by the name DARPA, the government agency that’s working on bleeding edge tech like warfighting robots and brain implants.

The computer terminal operators who were working at UCLA in 1969 kept a detailed logbook of everything that was happening as they set up their network. And in a notebook entry for “29 Oct 69″ we can see a particularly important notation at 22:30 (10:30 pm): “Talked to SRI, Host to Host.”

That sheet of paper, which currently sits at the archives of UCLA, is more or less the internet’s birth certificate—a written record of that moment when the two host computers at UCLA and SRI started communicating.

So hats off to those guys who created the internet all those years back. Without you there’d be no reason for us to be a Sacramento Marketing Agency.

The post Check Out Internet’s ‘Birth Certificate’ From 50 Years Ago Today appeared first on AdInfusion.

source https://www.adinfusion.com/check-out-internets-birth-certificate-from-50-years-ago-today/

AdInfusion Makes Top 50 List of Best Link Building Services

So I was busy updating our address in some directories we signed up for several years back when I noticed we made the list of TOPSEOS.com’s Best Link Building Services.

They’re an independent authority on Search Vendors that evaluates and ranks the best online marketing companies .

For each category they have 5 areas of evaluation that their research team uses to benchmark and compare featured in their list.

For example for SEO companies they examine the on-page optimization strategy, their off-page optimization strategy, the level of needs analysis performed prior to developing a marketing strategy. They also evaluate the strategy and tools used during keyword analysis, and how the vendors report their progress is also evaluated. They also visit companies at their headquarters – and take into consideration review trends and feedback from customers of the companies. They even take into consideration whether the companies are growing or if they’re downsizing.

They look at thousands of online marketing companies on an annual basis… and these list represents their recommendations of the best based on their research!

Evaluation Criteria: Link Building Companies

 

Assess Existing Links
When we analyze link building companies, we ensure the companies which we recommend have a strategy for assessing the current quality and relevance of links on the client’s currently existing website. Time is also spent understanding the types of software and tools which are used to gather information about external links and internal links in order to automate the link collection process.

 

 

 

Identify Potential Links
For link building services, it is important for us to understand how a vendor identifies relevant and authoritative websites to build links upon. Each of the recommended vendors has a system in place to determine which websites maintain a presence relevant to the industry in which the client operates and which are seen as an authoritative source in both the eyes of the industry and in the eyes of major search engines.

 

 

Analyze Link Quality
An important aspect which we approach with link building companies is their ability to take into consideration the target market of the client. These companies identify the quality of both the existing link profile of the client’s website in addition to the quality of the potential links which can be built linking into key pages. It is also important for link building companies to understand how new links will affect the website’s visibility in search engines as a whole.

Acquire Incoming Links
The processes and strategies which a link building company uses to generate and build links is an in-depth aspect of the evaluation to ensure leaders within the industry retain insights on the best practices and strategies available. We also investigate how each link building prioritizes the building of links based on the importance of the link and the relative value it will bring to the client’s website in terms of search visibility and traffic generation.

In-Depth Reports & Metrics
We understand that buyers of link building services require reports of the activities provided and ensure that the companies we recommend offer their clients an inside look into the efforts and the results achieved during their link building campaigns. Often times the vendors also provide their clients with a future look at other activities which may be of benefit to them from a linking perspective either internally or externally.

So when I started AdInfusion at a computer in my living room, I wasn’t even sure if I was going to even be able to get on the front page for my website’s primary keyword. I didn’t really know where it would take me! After several years of hard work its great seeing us rise the ranks and getting some national attention Looking forward to climbing the list!

The post AdInfusion Makes Top 50 List of Best Link Building Services appeared first on AdInfusion.

source https://www.adinfusion.com/adinfusion-makes-top-50-list-of-best-link-building-services/

SEO or PPC? When to Buy Traffic and When to Optimize

Let’s say your local business isn’t as popular as you used to be. There’s way more competition and old school tactics you used to rely on just aren’t working well anymore.

Many small businesses are faced with a similar problem of getting found by the right audience — it doesn’t matter how great your product or services are if potential customers can’t find you.

There are two popular search strategies by which organizations solve this problem — Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Pay-Per-Click (PPC). But which method is right for you and your business? Is it better to pursue an organic-first approach and find consumers through search engine rankings, or is it better to invest in an advertisement at the top of a keyword results page?

Here, we explore what each of these two traffic strategies do and shared some descriptive statistics to help you decide whether your business is best suited for PPC or SEO — or both!

SEO VS PPC

SEO — or Search Engine Optimization — can help your content rank higher and longer. Organic content found via search engines is more likely to be clicked on and trusted by audiences, more effective for local searches, and can grow your online presence for longer. PPC — or Pay-Per-Click — on the other hand, requires you to spend ad money to get your content in front of an audience.

What is SEO?

Just as you may go to your favorite search engine to look up a new Sacramento marketing agency or where to get good pizza, so do your customers. By investing in SEO, or search engine optimization, you’re increasing the likelihood of your target audience finding you when they search for things related to your product or service.

It’s important to build a Google presence if you want your organization to succeed, and by increasing your rank among search results you’re improving your online visibility and domain authority. In other words, by building up the content on your site, optimizing for keywords on which to rank, publishing your NAP (name, address, and phone number), and more, Google is more likely to think your site is relevant and push your link higher up on a keyword’s search results page.

 

What is PPC?

PPC, or pay-per-click, is a form of search engine marketing (SEM) where an advertiser pays a publisher (such as Google or Facebook) every time the ad is clicked. This model allows advertisers to only pay when consumers interact with their listing — meaning you attract people who are interested in your offer.

This method is mostly associated with search engines as advertisers bid on search keywords relevant to their target markets. You may have noticed that the top search results are tagged with an “Ad” marker. The higher the keyword search volume, the more advertisers need to pay.

If an organization does not have the domain authority to get their website ranking on search engines organically, PPC can help businesses stay competitive in a crowded market and quickly get in front of their target consumers.

S.E.O. vs. P.P.C. Statistics

SEO

1. Nearly 80% of users ignore paid ads in search results. People tend to prefer organic links more than paid ones, and of the links search users click, about 70% are organic.

2. Search is the #1 driver of traffic to content sites, beating social media by more than 300%. Organic search is one of the most effective marketing channels, often being a consumer’s first point of contact with an organization.

3. SEO drives 30% of traffic, and 20% of revenue. SEO ROI accumulates over time as content creators establish authority and visibility. Prospects often visit a website more than once before filling out a form or making a purchase, so ranking higher for more keywords increases the likelihood of conversions over time.

4. 36.2% of consumers recognize links that are paid advertisements, but don’t click on them. Many search users aren’t able to differentiate between paid ads and organic links — in fact, only half of searchers correctly identify ads. In spite of this, consumers are still preferring the organic links over the PPC ones.

5. 88% of searches for local businesses on a mobile device either call or visit the business within 24 hours. Local SEO has excellent ROI — the number of local searches have increased by 900% in two years, and by optimizing content and web pages for nearby audiences, organizations can see remarkable growth.

6. One in ten blog posts are compounding. This means that organic search increases their traffic over time, and as the number of visitors aggregates, so does the number of conversions. Historical content is a critical part of both SEO and customer acquisition strategy.

7. Organic SEO is about 5.66 times better than paid search ads. HubSpot’s co-founder, Brian Halligan, ardently believes in an organic-first strategy for its longevity and strong conversion performance. According to HubSpot’s inbound marketing philosophy, paid outbound marketing interrupts audiences with outreach they don’t want, whereas organic optimization draws in consumers with content they love.

Ultimately, whichever strategy you choose will depend on your business’s needs, budget, and mission. Oftentimes, organizations will invest in both to see which strategy will help them grow better.

PPC

1. The top 3 paid advertising spots get 46% of the clicks on the page. According to Power Traffick, the top three links on a search engine results page (SERP) capture almost half of all traffic for that keyword. This data supports the PPC method as it involves buying ad space at the top of the SERP.

2. Businesses make, on average, $3 in revenue for every $1.60 they spend on AdWords. PPC is a relatively inexpensive way to experiment, and there is a solid average ROI for investing in paid search ads.

3. More than 615 million devices use Adblock. As a consumer, Adblock is amazing: it stops all those eerily targeted ads from popping up on your Facebook feed. However, as a marketer, it can be frustrating to invest in PPC if huge numbers of your target consumers will never see your ad. Additionally, this number is growing quickly: ad blocking has grown 15-30% in the last four years.

4. PPC Ads can boost awareness by 80%. In spite of ad blockers, PPC is still effective in increasing your brand’s reach and awareness.

5. Google’s algorithm updates don’t affect PPC. While not a stat per se, a big benefit of PPC is that it’s immune to Google’s changing SERP ranking algorithm. In 2018, Google reported that they had updated their algorithm 3,234 times! If you’re using the SEO method, you have to adjust your content optimization to rank better according to the updated algorithm requirements.

6. 63% of people reported that they would click on a Google ad. A high CTR is the goal driving both PPC and SEO, and if the majority of surveyed consumers report that they would click into a paid search ad, it is a compelling statistic for investing in PPC.

7. 75% say it’s easier to find what they’re looking for from paid ads. The reason the first page of search results — especially the few few hits — get the vast majority of clicks is due to the combination of ease of use and finding what the searcher is looking for. Bidding on target keywords through PPC accomplishes both of these needs: the paid ads are easy to find at the top of the SERP and they answer the question of the searcher.

The post SEO or PPC? When to Buy Traffic and When to Optimize appeared first on AdInfusion.

source https://www.adinfusion.com/seo-or-ppc-when-to-buy-traffic-and-when-to-optimize/

How Keyword Research Makes Your Real Estate Agency’s Website Better

One of the most important factors in a successful digital marketing strategy for a real estate agency is relevant, high-quality content that addresses the questions and concerns of your ideal client.

But how do you determine what questions your potential clients are asking search engines?

You might be surprised to learn that the questions potential clients are asking online are probably the very same ones they are asking of your staff in the office.  However, conducting thorough keyword research can help you in answering even more of the questions your prospective clients are asking–and highly detailed questions at that.

Keyword research can help you build the type of website that compels web visitors to engage digitally with your agency, and provides instant authority and credibility to your realtors.

Here are four ways that keyword research improves your real estate agency’s digital marketing efforts.

1. Keyword Research Can Help You Optimize Your Content For Search Engines

In the early days of SEO, keyword density was the main tool in use to get your website ranking with search engines, but today that method is no longer effective. What this means for you is that you do not have to cram every single variation of your real estate keywords list into the content on your website.

In fact today, if you’re still trying to stuff as many keywords as possible into your website, it could actually be damaging your websites’s rankings on search engine results pages (SERPs).

No one outside of Google’s developers know the details of their complicated search ranking algorithms. But, everyone knows (because Google repeatedly reminds us) that the quality of your content is a very important ranking factor.

If you create top-quality content by addressing searchers concerns, it is highly likely that keywords will occur in natural ways as you write. Writing this way affords your website a much better chance of ranking well in search results when compared to websites that just repeat the same keywords or phrases over and over.

Another added benefit of keyword research is that it challenges you to start thinking about keywords in a different way for your real estate agency.

When you start understanding the value of high-quality content in Google search rankings, along with understanding how people actually conduct searches for information online – your focus will naturally shift from the wrong ways of thinking about keywords (“Which keywords is Google looking for? or How many times do I need to repeat certain keywords?”) to a much better way of thinking about keywords (How do my clients talk about their case or problems?” What information is a potential client looking for?”).

2. Keyword Research Can Help You Determine Engaging Topics For Your Real Estate Agency’s Website and Blog

Comprehensive keyword research will help you determine which topics your potential clients are interested in learning about. This information can help you develop and execute a content strategy that is focused on developing relevant, high-quality content that answers potential clients’ questions.

When you’re analyzing keywords and topics, it’s helpful to know how people actually search for answers online.

People generally utilize a search engine to find answers to complex and specific questions.

For example, a potential client’s search queries about buying a new home might include phrases like:

“how much is my home worth”
“How long does it take to buy a new house”

Your prospective clients might not know they require a real estate agent yet, and they may not know what services one offers. So, don’t limit your analysis to basic keywords like “Sacramento real estate agents.” It is also worth noting that a majority of your potential clients will not be searching in real estate jargon, but in layman’s terms, so aiming your content that direction will attract even more potential clients to your real estate agency’s website.

Thinking about how your potential clients ask questions online can help you produce the kind of engaging, relevant content that is more likely to be a result for their search engine queries. Content that addresses these types of concerns can also catch prospective clients’ attention in search engine results and make them more likely to click through to your real estate agency’s website.

Additionally, by focusing on the needs of your potential clients, the keywords will flow out organically as you are writing.

To learn more about how to figure out the types of questions your prospective clients are asking, see our blog post, “How to Write Content for Your Real Estate Agency’s Website Potential Clients Will Actually Read

3. Keyword research can help you write Client-focused content

Keyword research will also enable you use client-friendly words and phrasing in your content.

Your prospective clients most likely don’t have a real estate background, and they probably wont be searching in realty jargon online.

To continue with the new-home, a potential client may not use the words “real estate” or “property values” in their search engine queries. They may not know what those terms are, or they may use non-realty terms to describe their meaning.

During your keyword research, ask yourself: “Would I use this term if I wasn’t a realtor?” If the answer is no, consider the underlying issue or problem that a prospective client might be trying to solve and the kind of language they might use to describe that problem.

Conducting a few Google searches of your own might prove helpful as well. Search for related terms to your practice area(s). See what Google automatically suggests as potential search terms while you are typing your query. Look at what appears in the “People Also Ask” and “Searches Related To…” sections of Google’s search results. These are helpful gauge of the search terms that clients are actually using to ask questions similar to your practice area(s).

As a result, this can help you build informative content that provides real answers to their questions, using vocabulary they can understand, and are already using to initiate their searches.

Our blog article, “5 Things To Ask Yourself When You Write A Blog Post For Your Real Estate Agency?”offers more tips about writing useful client-centric content.

4. Keyword research can help you focus on what works

Writing client-friendly, high-quality content for your real estate website is the single most effective way to increase the visibility of your website in search engine results (SERPs).

Learning the basics of real estate SEO and how to properly utilize keywords can also help you avoid ineffective and potentially harmful tactics like keyword stuffing that can be detrimental to your website’s rankings.

Let AdInfusion write the content for your Real Estate Agency’s website

AdInfusion makes it simple to write and publish content for your real estate agency’s website.

We understand that some realtors are too busy to write their own content, or they just plain don’t want to, which is why AdInfusion offers content marketing solutions for real estate agencies of any size. Our content experts are well versed in how to use content to drive new clients to your practice, and we have contributed to some of the most successful real estate agents in the state.

AdInfusion writes unique and highly effective content for realtor websites and blogs that considers how your clients search and think. The result is superb content that not only educates potential clients, but compels them to take action.

Contact us today to learn how quality content can boost your real estate agnecies website’s traffic and conversion rates!

The post How Keyword Research Makes Your Real Estate Agency’s Website Better appeared first on AdInfusion.

source https://www.adinfusion.com/keyword-research-makes-real-estate-agencys-website-better/

Google brings in BERT to improve its search results

Google today announced one of the biggest updates to its search algorithm in recent years. By using new neural networking techniques to better understand the intentions behind queries, Google says it can now offer more relevant results for about one in 10 searches in the U.S. in English (with support for other languages and locales coming later). For featured snippets, the update is already live globally.

In the world of search updates, where algorithm changes are often far more subtle, an update that affects 10% of searches is a pretty big deal (and will surely keep the world’s SEO experts up at night).

Google notes that this update will work best for longer, more conversational queries — and in many ways, that’s how Google would really like you to search these days, because it’s easier to interpret a full sentence than a sequence of keywords.

The technology behind this new neural network is called “Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers,” or BERT. Google first talked about BERT last year and open-sourced the code for its implementation and pre-trained models. Transformers are one of the more recent developments in machine learning. They work especially well for data where the sequence of elements is important, which obviously makes them a useful tool for working with natural language and, hence, search queries.

This BERT update also marks the first time Google is using its latest Tensor Processing Unit (TPU) chips to serve search results.

Ideally, this means that Google Search is now better able to understand exactly what you are looking for and provide more relevant search results and featured snippets. The update started rolling out this week, so chances are you are already seeing some of its effects in your search results.

The post Google brings in BERT to improve its search results appeared first on AdInfusion.

source https://www.adinfusion.com/google-brings-in-bert-to-improve-its-search-results/