Can Twitter help my Google search rankings?

The simple answer is 'yes'. 

A help forum comment from Google representative John Mueller explains:

Rest assured, Googlebot doesn't just count words on a page or in an article, even short articles can be very useful & compelling to users.

For example, we also crawl and index tweets, which are at most 140 characters long. That said, if you have users who love your site and engage with it regularly, allowing them to share comments on your articles is also a great way to bring additional information onto the page. Sometimes a short article can trigger a longer discussion -- and sometimes users are looking for discussions like that in search.

That said, one recommendation that I'd like to add is to make sure that your content is really unique (not just rewritten, autogenerated, etc) and of high-quality. to bring additional information onto the page. Sometimes a short article can trigger a longer discussion -- and sometimes users are looking for discussions like that in search. 

 

Also, John Mueller has an awesome avi on Google+ and you should go and look at it :)

The SEO death march? Matt Cutts' warning on Google Penguin

I wrote the other day about how changes to the Google search engine 'Penguin' will change you SEO and content marketing strategy. 

Further comments from Google's head of search spam Matt Cutts should have the entire SEO industry and online marketers on high alert:

"You don't want the next Penguin update". 

Barry Schwartz summarised his murmurings from a conference yesterday:

"He even added the next few updates will be "jarring and jolting" for webmasters and SEOs.

"I've never seen a warning like this before from Google. It makes it sound like the Penguin update will be felt by many many more SEOs. Our initial poll said about 65% of SEOs were hurt by Penguin - why so many more than Panda which was 40%? Well, this is aim more at SEO techniques despite what Google wants to say otherwise."

Matt Cutts is known for openly dismissing any efforts to 'game' Google search and any warnings should be taken seriously. 

Is this the end of SEO as we know it?

How Google Penguin may change the way you distribute press releases

Changes to the Google algorithm "Penguin" mean you may need to change the way you distribute press releases. 

Google is always coming up with new ways to improve search and prevent people gaming search rankings with keywords and link stuffing. 

So if you (or your PR/SEO) agency are sending out press releases with links back to your site that fill directory type sites, you may be actually damaging your site's page rank. 

Many agencies have big email lists of supposed "newswire directories" that they are sending SEO optimised copy to such as press releases or infographics. They'll tell you "we sent your press release to 50 business wires". 

Maybe they did but if they are sending to sites like this, it will actually damage your rank. 

Get the lists off your agency now and check the quality of the content and anywhere else you have referral links. 

If they look spammy, kill the link backs and stop sending to them. One proposed solution is here. 

SEO experts have blosomed in the last few years so keep an eye on them and question their tactics. PR agencies often don't keep abreast of changes and will be advising you on old strategy. 

Find out more on the offical Google blog.