How to survive after Google panda update

 bl0g  Comments Off on How to survive after Google panda update
Dec 072011
 

What changed exactly cannot be told. Google are very clingy to their secrets.

Maybe that’s why, they are the most widely used search engine. The big G.

What really happened is, that sites rich in ADs above the fold, got penalized in SERP (Search Engine Results Page) and sites that were once with enormous Page Rank as 8 and 9 got kicked to pages 2 and 3 of SERP. Stolen content sites (Scrappers and Autoblogs) almost disappeared. Article zines suffered.

Above the fold.

Above the fold. (image source THEO @ Flickr)

What means “above the fold” ?

Imagine a newspaper folded in two (as it usually sells). The visible part, that is not folded is “above the fold”. Where the big Header titles are.

What it means “Above the fold” for a web site? The visible part when you load the page in the browser. (before you start to scroll down)

In present days, the casual Internet surfer has attention span of ~10 seconds per web page. To be sure he will notice the ADs and Affiliate sales on your site, you need to place it where all the users will look first.

Above the fold.

This makes sure the user will sometimes click ADs and your advertisers will be happy.

Unfortunately, human greed is endless. There were dozens of high Page Rank sites that started exploiting the limits. There was NOTHING else but ADs above the fold. The big G put a limit of 3 AD units per web page.

Then the Scrapers and Auto-bloggers came. They had nothing but ADs and stolen content, scrapped from everywhere. That’s why, Google had to make sure spammers get below their fold and original content gets up.

The Farmer update.

This update, also called “Google Panda update” penalized the sites that have so much ADs above the fold, that are so abundant on affiliate links and banners, that barely or no real useful information is visible.

How they did it? 80% of all ADs served worldwide are Google AdSense. It’s quite easy. They already have the data.

And then came social buttons, that say “Tweeet“, “I like this” and “I plus’d this“, which told even more about user experience. Frequently shared sites get better results in SERP. Never appreciated sites get penalized.

It’s all about user experience. AD Spamming useless sites get down, Unique content-rich sites get up. As simple as this.

Content farms, that have thousands of SEO optimized articles rich on keywords but poor on actual meaning, answering NO question, giving nothing but general talk – got penalized. Why? Because articles spanning on 2000 words take time to read and if they don’t help you at all – it is simply time loss. (zero user experience).

Article resellers, that have articles for sale got penalized too. Why? Because they sell (non-exclusively) the same article to 100 people for $20 per sale. What really happens is – 100 personal blogs with equal articles. Who the hell needs to read the same article in all his friends blogs? (again – bad user experience)

So, how to avoid penalty?

  • Never. Literally. Never copy and paste content, that is not yours. Even bought content, needs to be unique. Make sure, when buying articles from Article *zines and *How-to’s – that you are the sole owner and rights holder of the article. (Also – If you have 2 or more sites – do not duplicate content between them.)
  • Do not overdo SEO optimization. It’s pointless. Repeating “structural settlements” in article, because some BlackHat site in the internet claims it is top-10 paying keyword is pointless and you WILL get penalized. Spamming keywords in articles = penalty.
  • Put only one AD unit above the fold. Even AdSense help pages revised the “hot” areas, where the user is probably going to look first. They are less now. Stick with their suggestion. They know better than you – where their money come from. If your ADs push the real content below the fold, you will never reach page 1 of SERP. Ever. (Yesterday a commenter in Darren Rowse’s blog said his visits tripled when he removed AdSense from his blog.)
  • Avoid high paying keywords if you are not able to make really useful article for them.
  • Avoid key words with gazillions monthly searches and stick with long tail key words (sentences) that have ~ 10k local searches per month with lower competition. It is the golden area. You can’t survive El dorado, because there are one million cowboys trying their luck. But if you are good – you can be a small town mayor.

And if you pass by a blog article you like, share it and like it. 😉

 Posted by at 3:34 pm

How to avoid banner blindness?

 bl0g  Comments Off on How to avoid banner blindness?
Dec 062011
 
Banner blindness

Attention span on main page

The term is quite old and is quite self-explanatory. If you have a look at the picture on your right, you will see some areas in red, that are actually taking the visitor’s attention first and/or gets clicked while the others are not even looked upon. (I’ve hidden and pixellated the actual ADs and the Google Analytics result, so I don’t break Google TOS, but you can get your own by simply applying to the program.)

This is called Banner blindness.

It happens often to sites, that use AdSense or other AD programs to see some decline in revenues, even if the visitor numbers grow. For what is important in sites that give away free information, walk-through, how to’s and other important stuff is … to generate some revenue from ADs.

In present days, the attention on a page in the internet is … 10 seconds. To write an article that can take a visitor to actually read it, you need some talent to write or some ability to help the others. So if you are one of the common present-day breed that wants to make money online by blogging and writing articles – you probably already know what I mean.

To write an interesting article is the hardest part. Then you get some higher paying keywords inside; sit back and wait for the readers to come and read.

That’s not enough though. You want to sell your article and/or generate passive monthly income from it. The common  Click-through rate (CTR) according to Wikipedia is 0.3% (on 1000 visitors ~3 will click ADs). You want more, and that’s why you need a way to make the visitor

Lose Banner Blindness

at least as long as he reads your article. 😉

There are few methods that can help you in this.

1. Fusion.

Make the text banner look like the text itself. Same color, same link color, same background color, no borders and if possible – as wide as the paragraph of the text.

2. Randomness

This method is helpful for returning visitors and is covered by some WordPress plugins. Probably in some future time Blogger will implement it too.

In basic – you change the place for the AD. One time it is aligned right, one time it is aligned left, one time it is above the fold, the next time it is between article and comments (below article in general). And once in a while – it is totally absent.

3. Interactive ADs.

The time for text ads is over. Lots of Bloggers out there will try to tell you, that you need to count on text ADs and optimize your site this way, so text Ads stick. This may have been so once.

It is not anymore now.

  • 50% of your clicks will come from image ADs.
  • 25% will come from text ADs.
  • The remaining 25% will be from Rich Media, Flash and Movie ADs. Why? Because user loves to CLICK play.

The problem is … the biggest AD provider (Google AdSense) does not allow you to choose image ADs only.

4. Search oriented ADs

Some AD providers such as Chitika (referral link) will only place ADs on pages that are reached by visitors through search engines. This way, if you reached a site with the search terms “student loans”- you will receive relevant ADs by Chitika and the visitor coming to your site will actually BE quite interested in this AD. The best place for Search oriented ADs are below article and above the comment section.

CaptchaAd

ADs in CAPTCHA

5. ADs in CAPTCHA

You know the places you need to enter some random text in a field, so the site knows you are not an internet robot?

This is where some clever advertisers are placing ADs now. It is very Banner Blindness oriented but the click-through rate really sucks.

The banner GETS shown and is read by the visitor.

But the visitor wants something else and ignores everything but the text he needs to enter.

If you find CAPTCHA AD network that pays per 1000 impressions – you can get some $0.01 per 10 (or 100) visits (or less). Otherwise – I don’t recommend this method.

6. Pop up

The most hated method, that is absolutely forbidden by Google AdSense and will get your account disabled but with the biggest click-rate. Very often there are sites that detect even pop-up and ad-blockers and don’t allow you to enter the site if you don’t disable the AD Block add-on.

Such sites are no longer tolerated by the big G after the Panda Update. Heavy AD sites get their Rank and Authority lowered.

If you are in the Blogging for long – you already know how the Panda impacted on organic traffic on most AD Heavy sites. If you are newcomer – please don’t do this.  It sucks.

7. Relevant affiliate banners.

Nothing sells better than affiliated product! Nothing.

Most of the people coming to your site via Search engine know what they need. Affiliate link or banner with picture and prices is the next thing they will click. You only need good promotional article with good keywords, that will make people land on your page instead on the others. Why would anyone need to read review for latest Canon EOS camera? Because they need it and are ready to buy!

8. Any ADs that pay per impression.

You will rarely find that Advertiser breed anymore, but this is an AD type, that is absolutely the winner. You don’t need to do anything more than negotiating the place with the Advertiser. He will give you the AD code and will pay you either for the whole Year, based on your traffic, or per 1000 impressions. There are some scammers out there, that are still trying to get to your site for literally CENTS, but remember – it is your site. Research the Advertiser in the first page search results. If it is receiving good reviews – why not. Let them place an AD on your site.

You can always get them down if you are not happy with the results, or they place an AD, that is not good for your site, is offensive, is not what you negotiated, is adult or any other suspicious activity from their side.Your blog – your rules.

Anyway, this article is going to pass 1000 words, and I don’t want to bore you to death. If you have any good idea against Banner blindness, please drop me a mail or a comment. I am open to all suggestions 😉

 Posted by at 2:37 pm
Dec 032011
 

Demon hunter walkthrough and maps

This part of the walkthrough is after you complete “To Talagaron” quest given from Hotsan in Naru camp. If you are not yet there, DON’T spoil your game story but refer to previous parts of the walkthrough:

Part 1 – About Kamael and Dubaq

Part 2 – About Inferno

Part 3 – About Stigia and Cave of Darkness

Part 4 – About Gehena

Part 5 – About Distia

Once in Talagaron Camp – Emil assigns you a quest to “Trace” the twins. Grab the two subquests from Beros and Nutov.

Illusion powder” is to collect 5 drops from the local bees. 3000 xp and 1200 gold. Just one map west of camp.

What a power” is to collect 50 power fruits. 2000 xp and 1850 gold. Don’t do this quest yet if you use the fruits for potions. But don’t erase it either. Doing this opens the “Relic of the treasure king” quest. It is a 12 piece collecting quest. If you followed my walkthrough – you already have at least 5 of them.

Forest of moonlight-1 is interesting place to grind a bit for drops and XP. They hit badly from far and poison, but the map is attached to the camp and you can quickly return and regenerate. Poison will also dissipate. You can grind and heal there up to level 51 with returning to camp when low on health. Drop rate sucks though.

Map of Marlborose

Map of Marlborose

On your way west, you will reach Forest of fantasm-2. Another treasure king relic in a chest. Double jump + skill + jump. 7 from all 12 pieces if you followed this walkthrough until now. Adjacent to Forest of Moonlight-5 is the room with the local boss. As soon as you enter the door “Trace quest” is complete. 3400 xp; Greed shows again with another long story and attacks you.

ABOUT TIME!

Tactics and timing to “kill” Greed-1.

  • Greed will use 4 attacks on you. 2 ranged and 2 physical.
  • Lightning ball is far range attack, doing ~1000 damage.
  • Ice cloud is another far range attack, doing ~700 damage/s until you are in the cloud and a frostbite that will slow you a bit.
  • Sword slash x 4 will all do some 1000-1200 damage per hit, so try to avoid them.
  • Jump slash will do ~1200 damage and will always aim to where you are standing. There will be a white shadow on the ground where Greed will land and attack. Just double jump/dash away from It and you will be fine.
  1. Use DoT skill as soon as the talk ends and run away. Run a bit until you understand how much time do you have between hits.
  2. Greed is very fast when jump-slashing but gets a bit tired every time he uses his other three attacks. Take advantage and hit him hard.
  3. The fight is not hard, about 5 minutes and he falls. Remeber the tactics you used. Greed will meet you again later in game.

After the battle is over, Greed will backstab you and go away to bring the tower of sin to this world. Jabra will come to collect your body. Some BS talk and you will have to go to Distia to find the portal to Makerusia.

An Important recipe “Light of fate” will be yours. It opens the gate to hell! 😀

You need the ingredients but there is another subquest in Talagaron camp named “Dignity of Talagaron” – simply go outside base and kill 30 Rurupas. 3200 xp and 1600 gold. Opens

Real warrior” – kill 100 Rugias.  Frozen cave-1 in Makerusia has half dozen of them. This quest truly sucks with Slasher, because their ice breath cannot be canceled. You take the hit always. The only way to steal some time is to use few consecutive combos likeDown + A” to drop them on the ground. There is a level requirement for this quest, so if it does not pop in the first time – get Gun to level 55 and come back to Talagaron camp.

Regarding the “Light of fate recipe“:

  1. Orodique is the monster you need for cursed spellbooks. Collect 7 of them. Best map is Forest of Fantasm 4 and 5.
  2. The white soulstone is dropped by Tearsmorem @ Distia, Cold of death 1-3. Collect 10.
  3. The leaves are probably already in your pocket, while you were grinding in Marlborose. Otherwise, go back and collect some.

Now you need to go in Hearth of chaos-6 (The room below Bormenta the guardian). (A)ctivate the portal where the yellow sparks are blinking.

There. You are set for Makerusia. Enter. 3000 xp and the next quest opens

Map of Makerusia

Map of Makerusia

Makerusia’s feather” you have to find the feather to open the gate to hell. For this, you need to kill Ice witch. On the  way to Ice witch, you will find lots of ice ore and plants that will yield good herbs for strong potions. There is another relic in Cave of frost-2, reachable with rock cutting sword. 8/12. Break the column in south west part of Cave of frost-1.

The souleaters (well … a Shinigami obviously) in Cave of frost-3 are very easy to grind on. They are the only non-ranged monsters in Makerusia. They are level 52 and you can collect 5-6 of them in one slash-range with few jumps. Drop rate sucks though. Lots of Death God (Shinigami) blades, few abyss stones and occasional rare or set sword for 30 minutes grinding. Do this for some time, until you reach level 53. You are not ready for Kalax yet. She hits very hard with ice attacks.

When you become level 53, Leus in Naru camp will have another quest for you named “Wakuro flower clip“. Bring him wakuro flower. 5500 xp 3500 gold.

Then he opens “Wakuro flower clip gift“. Go to Dubaq camp for 4 minutes without using teleport stone. 3780 xp, 600 gold.

Now back to grinding or give Kalax a try. My personal advice is to grind to level 55.

Tactics and timing to kill Kalax.

  • Kalax uses hide, hit and run tactics and Ice attacks.
  • Every successfull hit has a chance to slow you down for 15 seconds. She will hit you with 2 attacks at start.
  • Icicles growing from earth and then falling on the ground. Very heavy damage, run away. This attack she does once and then 3 times icicle slash. This pattern can be used to run away. Just count this attack: …
  • The other attack is icicle slash. 4 icicles will go towards you and if you are near Kalax, she will strafe back. This attack is bearable. “Only” 2k damage. If you want to fool her, get near the room wall and turn your back to the wall. She will appear behind you but will have nowhere to run.
  • When below 25% health, Kalax will go desperate and start hovering and attacking you with falling icicles that do very heavy damage. Be sure to avoid them.
  • 3 hits of her desperate attack  => death.
  1. My suggestion is to set the game speed to very slow and to watch the floor for shadows.
  2. If there are shadows on ground – dash quickly to safety. Most often BEHIND Kalax. Then
  3. … turn around. After her aerial ice attack, she will be on the ground doing nothing for 2-3 seconds.
  4. If your WING is charged, use it when she is about to get on the ground.
  5. HIT HARD and get running and watching for shadows of falling icicles.
  6. Repeat until Kalax falls.
  7. DO NOT go to the edge of the map when Kalax starts hitting from above. You can better predict when the icicles will fall when you see her floating.

 4500 xp and feather of Makerusia is the reward when you kill her.

Next quest is “Arbenus feather” and It will guide you to inferno. But first finish those 3 quests:

Gina in Dubaq wants “Favor“. Kill 20 white turtles Bekataras in Makerusia. The turtle is actually called Whitetaras and the best map is Frozen cave-5. 3460 xp and 200 gold. Then she gives you the quest

Denied“. Collect 10 poisonous mushrooms to create few days of diarrhea :D. Marlborose is the best choice for this “herb”. 3000 xp and 3200 gold. And now a timed mission

Take a cake to Leus in 4 minutes” 😉 obviously she hates Leus or hates the gift he sent her. 1500 xp, 500 gold. Use double dash on straight maps, or you can’t complete it in time.

With this complete, you may head to the eastern part of Inferno, where the rocktasha’s reside (Flame of devil-6). Once you reach the map a new portal will open – heading east to Arbenus.

The hunter quests in those 2 maps are a bit hard and not too generous, but if you have nothing better to do:

Target Description/place Hunter points Gold
kill Maku Forest of fantasm 3 520 570
Devil Wakuku Forest of moonlight 4 520 570
Captain of Oro Kill Rodique at Cave of Frost 4 580 610
Crom of hell Kill Crom at Frozen Cave 4 580 610
Frozen heart Kill Kalax again 810 1080
Totals 3010 3440
 Posted by at 11:54 am